Thank you so much Greater Victoria Green Team participants for your hard work and enthusiasm:
Allison, Atsumi, Becca, Bryan, Chloe, David, Eric, Gaogao, Judy, Kerry, Kuenley, Lawrence, Leia, Linus, Louis, Mary, Mark, Nishant, Rachel, Rhys, Sangay, Thomas, Tristan, Tshering, Yvonne, and Zoey!
What a fun day we had connecting people to one another and nature, all while restoring habitat! Keep on reading to find impacts, highlights and more from the day…
Impacts
- 26 community members engaged
- 70 hours contributed to habitat restoration
- 3 people removed invasive plants for the first time
- 14 people visited this park for the first time
- 7 cubic metres of invasive plants removed (about 44 bathtubs full!)
- 200 square metres of habitat revitalized
Highlights
- This activity took place on BC Trails Day which is a celebration of the beautiful natural areas in this province & serves to encourage responsible recreation and environmental stewardship!
- In celebration of BC Trails Day we had a good-natured competition for the wackiest roots of the day! Congratulations to Rhys who was the winner of the root competition and won the BC Trails Day hat!
- Removing invasive plants from this area was a great way to kick off Make A Difference Week in a hands-on, meaningful way! Make A Difference Week is part of the Society for Ecological Restoration’s initiative in the Decade on Ecological Restoration. It is a week full of hands-on initiatives designed to empower individuals to get involved in their local communities and see the impacts on a global scale.
- We were at this site last month with students from Royal Bay Secondary School, and with community members on Earth Day weekend. It was great to be able to return to this site and continue the restoration of this important habitat.
- Thank you so much to Colwood Councillor David Grove, for joining this activity! Your support means so much to us!
- The weather held up and we were graced with sporadic patches of sunshine, but no rain! It was a great day to enjoy time in nature.
- Everyone enjoyed a variety of refreshments, with fresh fruits and the homemade brownies were a hit!
- Community members Thomas, Rhys, Linus, Mark, Atsumi, and David helped us with packing up: thank you for your help!
- Community members enjoyed the additional education provided by our new plant signs, learning about identification in a fun, creative way!
- We
- People joined this activity from all over, including people who live in Royal Bay and others who travelled across the region to have fun connecting with each other.
- All ages, backgrounds, and experience levels were engaged including families, returning Green Team members, and first-timers.
Community Investment Partners and Sponsors
A huge THANK YOU to GableCraft Homes for making this activity possible with their financial support!
THANK YOU to the City of Colwood for providing direction and ecological expertise to guide this activity!
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 business Green Beaver, Honey Candles, and If You Care that donated In-kind products for our hard-working community members to take home!
Please contact Kaitlin Warren. if you are interested in providing in-kind.
Why We Do This Work
The Greater Victoria 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
Greater Victoria Green Team Program Manager, Kaitlin Warren and Program Coordinator, Severine Tyszewicz, work hard behind the scenes to bring these high-quality activities to you.
Partnership building, outreach, social media, activity logistics, leading on-the-ground, reporting on impacts and more – they can do it all!
Severine was hired as part of Green Teams of Canada’s Youth Leadership Program, intended to empower the next generation of environmentally-focused community organizing.