The Greater Victoria Green Team engaged 28 community members at the Queenswood Campus of University of Victoria. We primarily removed English Ivy, with some Holly and Daphne removed as well. The invasive species have been growing all the way up the trees and threatens them growing in this beautiful forest! English Ivy can grow up to 9 feet in a year, and can grow up to 40 ft vertically on a tree or building! By cutting a section of ivy off the bottom of the tree, all the ivy above that point will die, and the tree will be safe! We also cleared 1m of ivy around the tree to ensure that it will not grow back any time soon. Some of the native species we saw in the area were Oregon Grape, Trailing Blackberry, Snowberry and Oceanspray!
In total 28 volunteers participated and contributed to 84 volunteer hours!
All 28 volunteers were introduced to Mystic Vale, while 3 volunteers had never removed invasive species before!
We removed 16 cubic metres of invasive plants and removed ivy from 60 trees!
Ramisa and Richard removed an Ivy Vine that was 7 inches wide!
Before and After
This activity not only benefitted the environment, but also the participants themselves. By being out in nature doing something positive as a team, our community members:
Develop a sense of belonging to community and place
Have improved mental and physical health
Connect to nature, which leads to environmentally responsible behaviour
Learn about local environmental issues and actions they can take
Learn the value of bringing together people to work towards a common goal
Become leaders in their communities
Increase confidence, resilience and perseverance
Volunteer Testimonials
“It helps increase awareness about invasive species and damage they can cause as well as taking action towards them. It creates space for native plants to flourish, many of which have strong historical and spiritual uses within Indigenous communities. It offers an outlet to take action against my climate anxiety, which when ignored can be debilitating. I can also make new friends in the community ?” – AJ
“It helps our community parks and native species; it provides a sense of community with other people; it also provides a feeling of contributing something positive to our environment and doing a small yet impactful and easy to see action in the face of the climate emergency” – Sarah
“The impact of this program is that we are training community leaders” – Conway
A team effort to cut this vine down!
Action Shots
Volunteers Enjoying In-kind Gifts from Tru Earth, Abeego, Salt Spring Coffee and Nelson Naturals!
