Thank you so much Greater Victoria Green Team participants for your hard work and enthusiasm:
Laura, Junna, Jieun, Karen, Scott, Tricia, Ryan, Rio, Fiona, Briana, Carla, Mark, Yuri, Amanda, Wayne, Mitchell, Jennifer, Wayne, Blake. Oliver, Jensen, and Fiona!
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
- 22 community members engaged
- 71 hours contributed to habitat restoration
- 6 people removed invasive parrots feather and Himalayan blackberry for the first time
- 15 people visited this area for the first time
- 10 cubic metres (almost 63 bathtubs full) of parrots feather and blackberry removed
- 75 square metres of habitat revitalized
Highlights
- This was an exciting day for us as this park has been stewarded by local residents who have taken great care to keep invasive species at bay in this imoprtant wetland ecosystem. We came together as a team to help create a huge impact in the park to open up space for native plants to grow!
- Not only did we remove an invasive wetland plant, parrots feather, but we also removed Himalayan blackberry from around the dryland edges of the park and from Game Nature Park across the street!
- 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.
- Everyone loved the homemade brownies, fresh fruit and veggies, gummies, nuts, and granola bars to help keep energy levels up!
- Community member Scott helped out with set up and ensured community members were able to find our site and Scott, Mitchell, and Laura 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!
- We had many passersby interact with the work we were doing; it was wonderful to be thanked and encouraged by the local neighbours and park users, some of whom are going to join us next time!
- 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!
- Stoneridge Wetland Park is a diverse and ecologically important habitat containing many native species, making it a critically important one to protect! The local residents have been stewarding this wetland collaboratively with the Town of View Royal for many years. They have a Facebook Page providing updates and notices of restoration days.
What Community Members are Saying
Community Investment Partner
A huge THANK YOU to the Town of View Royal for partnering with our charity, Green Teams of Canada, and making this activity possible with their financial support and direction!
Thank you to Chris, View Royal’s Habitat Restoration Volunteer Coordinator, 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, If You Care, Nature Bee, Ola Bamboo, 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!