Leland Avenue No Mow Review

In 2024, the City of Thunder Bay completed a reconstruction of Leland Avenue that included naturalization of the central landscape islands. Now, we're looking for input from area residents on the no mow approach.

On this page, you can learn more about this project and submit your feedback through a short survey.

Project Background

The naturalization of the landscape islands converted the existing regularly mown turf grass to a pollinator-friendly habitat by planting trees and seeding with native perennials.

The benefits of this approach include reducing the urban heat island effect, lower maintenance costs, and reduced stormwater run-off.

While the islands are considered no mow zones, a 1.2 metre-wide mown strip is maintained every two weeks on curbs to maintain sight lines, and an annual summer pull of invasive Sweet White Clover has been undertaken. The islands are mown in late fall after a killing frost to disperse seeds and cut off any woody species that may have established.

You can learn more about the no mow approach at thunderbay.ca/NoMow.

If you have further questions, comments, or concerns about this project, please don't hesitate to contact us - see the Who's Listening section on this page.

Share Your Feedback

We are inviting residents of Leland Avenue and abutting streets to fill out a short survey to share your feedback. This information will be summarized and presented to City Council as part of a review of this project.

This is your opportunity to provide direct feedback about the project, and will help inform how similar projects are approached in the future.

Please note the deadline to submit completed surveys is end of day on Friday, November 6, 2026.

Find a link to the survey below. If you require the survey in an alternate format, please contact 807-629-7907 or CorpComm@thunderbay.ca.