Thank you so much to the Lower Mainland Green Team community members that joined us to celebrate Earth Week!
Morning session (above): Curtis, Eddie, Idy, Jiwon, Ray, Shuang, Adrian, Amos, Heidi, Jan, Ivan, Otto, Caymanh, Gary, Andy, Anji, Jake and Anwar!
Afternoon session (below): Ayden, Bryan, Wing Kei, Alek, Katie, Denise, Elysia, Rosenth, Flavia, Sean, Verner, Mylo, Lester, Amber, Queenie, Sofie, Jasper and Anwar!
We celebrated Earth Week with a unique activity removing the invasive cultivated blueberry that has taken over the Richmond Nature Park!
After taking a 10 min walk through the park to our restoration area, we trimmed and bundled blueberry branches to then be transported out of the park with an ATV.
Despite a forecast of rain, we had a beautiful, mostly dry day and had a blast working in groups to take down these large shrubs! Keep reading for our impacts, highlights and more from the day…
Impacts
- 35 community members engaged
- 17 people visited this park for the first time
- 28 people removed invasive blueberry for the first time
- 100 hours contributed to habitat restoration
- 14 cubic metres of invasive blueberry was removed (equivalent to the volume of 88 bathtubs!)
- 304 square metres of habitat revitalized
Highlights
- This activity was part of Richmond Earth Week! More than 30 free activities were organized by the City of Richmond and community groups for people to join to celebrate and take care of the environment
- Richmond City Councillor Bill McNulty addressed and thanked our team at the start of our morning session
- This activity built on ongoing restoration work by the City of Richmond and Richmond Nature Park Society
- This was not the first time the Lower Mainland Green Team has removed blueberry bushes from this park, with our last activity doing so taking place in 2013!
- This activity was featured in the Richmond News TWICE!
- Thank you to City of Richmond staff Rich & Ben for sharing your expertise with our team!
- Community members were excited to learn about a new invasive plant (highbush blueberry or Vaccinium corymbosum) and contribute to improving the health of this beautiful bog habitat – see the before and after photos above!
- Community members joined us from across the Lower Mainland, including from Richmond (28), Delta, Vancouver, Burnaby, Surrey, Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge and Surrey!
- All ages, backgrounds and experience levels participated in this activity including families, returning LMGTers and first timers!
- Our Program Coordinator, Andrea Robles, baked vegan brownies for everyone to enjoy!
- Special thank you to:
- Anwar for arriving early and staying late to help with set up, take down and the smooth running of this activity!
- The 28th Terra Nova Richmond Scouts for joining us in our afternoon session!
Community Investment Partner
THANK YOU to the City of Richmond for providing the financial support and direction to make this Earth Week activity possible!
Together we are achieving our common goals and creating connected, healthy and resilient communities engaged in environmental stewardship.
In-Kind Support
Thank you to the fantastic local eco-friendly businesses, Green Beaver and Honey Candles, that donated products for our hard-working community members to take home!
Please contact LMGT Program Manager, Ashton Kerr, if you are interested in providing in-kind or have suggestions for businesses to contact.
Why We Do This Work
The Lower Mainland Green Team organizes hands-on educational activities that have a positive environmental impact to empower people. Through activities such as invasive plant removals, plantings, litter cleanups and more, we are fostering connections with others and nature so that health and well-being is prioritized, lifelong environmental stewardship is promoted, and community members are enabled to take care of themselves, each other and the places they live. We all have the power to make a difference!
We all experience mental and physical health benefits from spending time in nature, including reduced stress and anxiety, and improved mood, focus, memory and more. While doing so, we can also have a positive impact on the environment as demonstrated through this activity!
Staff Who Made This Activity Possible
Lower Mainland Green Team Program Manager, Ashton Kerr, and Program Coordinator, Andrea Robles, work hard behind the scenes to bring these high-quality activities to you.
Partnership building, fundraising, outreach, social media, activity logistics, leading on-the-ground, reporting on impacts and more – they can do it all!