Invasive Species Removal at UVic Queenswood Campus – November 19, 2022
Highlights
- 39 community members of all ages, backgrounds and experience levels joined us and contributed 121 volunteer hours total
- Thank you so much for your hard work and for making this day amazing: Ainsley, Ella, Kayvan, Serena, Sabrina, Santana, Alison, Luc, Joey, Leah, Michelangelo, Haruki, Finn, Khoi, Kaylee, Annarose, Peace, Denise, Sue, Heeba, Koharu, Karen, Blythe, Konosuke, Janet, Josie, Léa, Sasha, Elisa, Lee, Elizabeth, Kiersten, Kai, Clarisse, Will, Melissa, Kaden, and Jeannette!
- 22 cubic metres of invasive species were removed!
- Species removed included English Ivy, English Holly, and Daphne!
- An area of 600 metres squared had invasive plants removed from it and was revitalized thanks to the hard work of our Green Team
- Volunteers also filled 2 garbage bags with litter they removed from the forest!
- 21 participants visited Queenswood Campus for the first time
- 17 participants removed invasive plants for the first time
- 13 participants were UVic students
Thank you to the UVic Office of Campus Planning & Sustainability for partnering with us! Their support made this activity possible, and we appreciate their commitment to empowering UVic students and the surrounding community in carrying out environmental stewardship!
Before & After Photos
On Saturday November 19, 2022, the Greater Victoria Green Team hosted an invasive species removal activity in partnership with University of Victoria Campus Planning & Sustainability! 39 awesome community members spent the morning removing invasive English ivy from UVic’s Queenswood Campus. It was a great opportunity to continue working on revitalizing this beautiful, local ecosystem; this is GVGT’s seventh visit to Queenswood and it’s been incredible watching the campus transform over these past several months! It was also very inspiring to see people from all backgrounds, ages, abilities, and experience levels come together to contribute to the improvement of their community and feel a sense of belonging.
Queenswood Campus has many very large trees that have ivy growing over them. Since our first visit, GVGT community members have saved around 100 trees from being completely smothered. Ivy can kill a tree within ten years if left unchecked; it grows quickly and competes with the tree for resources, leaving it weakened and susceptible to being blown down.
By learning about environmental issues such as those caused by invasive species in a hands-on way, communities are better equipped to tackle such problems. Additionally, our community members met new people, gained new skills and were able to experience the benefits of being out in nature including reduced levels of stress and anxiety, and improved moody, memory, focus and mental clarity. Not to mention the great physical exercise everyone got while restoring the area! By connecting people to nature, we help instil responsible environmental behaviour that extends beyond our activities.
Thank you to Lush, Green Beaver, Tru Earth, EarthRated, and Elate for donating eco-gifts for our hard-working community members to take home!
Our community members took home a thank you gift from one of our in-kind supporters! If you have any suggestions for sustainable/eco-friendly rewards, know of or own a business who would like to provide in-kind to our Green Team, please contact Maria or Kaitlin at maria@greenteamscanada.ca or kaitlin@greenteamscanada.ca
Volunteer Testimonials
“I enjoyed meeting up with a friend that I made on a previous work party at that location, meeting new people, being outdoors/exercise, and seeing the huge pile of ivy that we removed. We all have to be involved in supporting our home on the planet and this program sets up ways that we can do that. I will continue volunteering whenever possible.”
– Blythe
“I loved the positive environment and working as a group”
– Serena
“It’s a great opportunity to meet new people while spending time outdoors!”
– Josie
Community in Action!
This activity was organized by the Greater Victoria Green Team‘s Program Manager, Maria Varem and Program Coordinator, Kaitlin Warren.
Maria and Kaitlin have both been hired as part of Green Teams of Canada‘s Youth Leadership Program, and are gaining hands-on experience organizing and leading communities, in addition to helping strengthen and build our organization!