Thank you so much Greater Victoria Green Team participants for your hard work and enthusiasm:
Aaralyn, Akira, Allison, Arianna, Ashlin, Chloe, Cristiano, Emiko, Erika, Giorgia, Hunter, Jacqueline, Jennifer, Jessica, June, Kate, Kerem, Lillith, Mark, Matt, Matte, Mieka, Miranda, Muen, Stephane, Vasiliki, and Vittoria!
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
- 30 community members engaged
- 96 hours contributed to habitat restoration
- 9 people removed invasive plants for the first time
- 27 people visited this area for the first time
- 12 cubic metres (about 75 bathtubs full) of ivy, holly, blackberry, and daphne laurel removed
- 280 square metres of habitat revitalized
Highlights
- We spent the day removing invasive plants such as English ivy, English holly, daphne laurel, and Himalayan blackberry from the Joan Alston-Stewart Estate owned and managed by The Land Conservancy of British Columbia.
- During the education and safety briefing, the volunteers were provided with a detailed and engaging overview of the history and significance of the Joan Alston-Stewart property.
- We were joined by the District of Saanich’s councillor Mena Westhaver! Thank you for joining us and supporting the community & our Team!
- Habitat restoration is a very satisfying and empowering aspect of environmental stewardship in which to involve the local community and is a great way to connect people with neighbours and new friends.
- We had a lot of fun working together as a team to get out those larger plants and felt such a rewarding sense of accomplishment restoring habitat!
- Everyone loved the homemade brownies, fresh fruit and veggies, gummies, nuts, and granola bars to help keep energy levels up!
- Community members helped us out at the end with packing up: thank you for your help!
- Community members enjoyed the additional education provided by our plant signs, learning about identification in a fun, creative way!
- It was great to have a mix of first timers, newcomers to the community and local longtime residents together! Everyone learned more about local native and invasive species together as a community!
- The volunteers demonstrated a high level of engagement, ambition, and enthusiasm regarding the impact of the invasive species removal efforts. Everybody was eager to gather again as a community for the upcoming activity at this site.
- We look forward to continuing to work together on improving the health of this property and will be returning next month on October 26!
Community Investment Partner
A huge THANK YOU to The Land Conservancy of British Columbia for partnering with our charity, Green Teams of Canada, and making this activity possible with their financial support and direction!
Thank you to Frankie and Maya for helping facilitate 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 Canadian eco-friendly businesses Green Beaver, Wildside, Gathering Place, Blume, Nature Bee, and Honey Candles that donated In-kind for our hard-working community members to take home!
Please contact Viloka Luna 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 Partnerships Manager, Viloka Luna 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!