Youth Earth Week Invasive Ivy & Holly Removal at Ruth Johnson Park, White Rock

April 23, 2024

THANK YOU to the 100 H.T. Thrift Elementary School students who joined us and contributed from:

Ms. Hiddleston’s grade 6 class: Beni, Yushan, Kacy, Gus, Charlie, Amy, Jason, Calvin, Lucy, Jonathan, Sawyer, Jennifer, Suzanna, Lachlann, Jack, Kaya, Jenna, Tiffany, Zerui, Jimmy, Ivy, Samuel, Naomi, Howard, Lenny and Marlene!

Ms. Ordeman’s grade 6 class: Coco, Owen, Tiffany, Lisa, Emma, Erwin, Tony, Keldan, Dora, Ivan, Neemah, Rain, Harnaam, Theo, Sadie, Angela, Jayden, Vincent, Mikhail, Misha, Allan, Jennifer, Jimmy, Samuelson, Ariel and Denis!

Mr. Wensink’s grade 5/6 class: Luisa, Braiden, Anthony, Hannah, Ralph, Quincy, Kian, Luca, Harrison, Joel, Luis, Amy, Jack, Sena, Bella, Sebastian, Zahra, Japreet, Pehel, Eva, Frances, Jacky and Raicy!

Ms. MacNamara’s grade 5 class: Mateja, Naomi, Casey, Demir, Jack, Sophia, Carrie, Hannah, Jaxson, Andrew, Ryan, Katherine, Eve, Kallen, David, Catalina, Iman, Jap, Yiyi, Zoe, Daniel, Jing, Lucy, Evelyn and Muhi!

And THANK YOU to our community member and City of White Rock staff supervisors: Jan, Gary, Spencer, Cole, Ryan, Steven, Jennifer, Andy, Mike, Nick, Ainsley and Jamie!

We had a fantastic time celebrating Earth Week through removing invasive English ivy and holly to restore habitat at this park! It was a beautiful day to spend quality time together with fellow classmates in nature. There were lots of smiling faces! Keep reading for our impacts, highlights and more from the day…

Impacts

112 people engaged, including 100 students
22 students visited this park for the first time
55 students removed invasive plants for the first time
196 hours contributed to habitat restoration
26 cubic metres of invasive English ivy and English holly were removed (equivalent to the volume of 162 bathtubs!)
195 square metres of habitat revitalized

Highlights

This activity was covered in the Peace Arch News, check out the article here or on our website here!
Our efforts built on restoration work completed by our team and the City of White Rock
- We most recently visited this area of the park on March 23, 2024, which you can read about here!
The students walked to and from their school for this activity
- They got lots of exercise at this fun outdoor education field trip!
Students had an awesome time pulling long vines of ivy and taking down small holly trees. There was even a friendly competition between the first two classes and the last two classes to see who could pull more invasive plants!
Yummy snacks were enjoyed before heading back to school
Special thank you to:
- Jan and Gary, two of our awesome, committed Lower Mainland Green Team volunteers, who helped supervise and support the youth
- City of White Rock staff who joined us to work alongside and support the youth: Spencer, Cole, Ryan, Steven, Jennifer, Andy, Mike, Nick, Ainsley and Jamie!
- Mr. Wensink, Ms. MacNamara, Ms. Hiddleston, & Ms. Ordeman for their work to bring their classes out to this activity
- Each and every teacher, supervisor, student who joined us and shared their smiling faces and enthusiasm throughout the day!

"It is a real pleasure to work with you and your team. You are all so kind, the energy is so positive, and you all know how to work with kids. It is so nice as a teacher to go on a trip like this and have it feel stress-free for me. This is one of the easiest and best field trips! This was our 2nd time and it was great once again! I really liked how everyone was engaging with the students so much by helping them, providing guidance, safety tips, and encouragement. Everything is very well organized, the students can see the impact they are making, and it is FUN! It is so important to get out of the classroom and have meaningful activities in our own community. It is very meaningful for the students to have these hands-on, outdoor experiences. They will remember this experience and they are interested in other volunteer opportunities. It opens the door for them to learn about (fun) ways that they can make a difference. Thank you!"

Community Investment Partner

THANK YOU to the City of White Rock for providing the financial support and direction to make this activity possible!

Together we are achieving our common goals and creating connected, healthy and resilient communities engaged in environmental stewardship.

We can’t wait to return on Saturday May 4th to help build community and restore habitat at West Beach!

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!