The Greater Victoria Green Team spent the day engaging 2 community members at Brethour Park in an area covered with Daphne, English Holly, and numerous other invasive species!

We primarily removed Daphne and Holly, and even found some Himalayan Blackberry to tackle as well! Like many invasive plants in our region, Daphne and Holly were both introduced from Europe as popular garden ornamentals. Once they spread into our local forests, they outcompete native shrubs and trees, and act as potential fuels for fires (which are going to become increasingly more common due to climate change). By removing these species today, we created space for native plants like Trailing Blackberry and Snowberry to flourish, and helped strengthen this forest’s defences against potential fires.

THANK YOU

Thank-you to everyone for participating: Thadd & Andrew, and thank you to Cliff from Town of Sidney for coming by to help facilitate!

Thank-you very much to Town of Sidney for partnering with us and contributing to our Green Team activities and for recognizing the importance of collaboration in community engagement and ecological restoration! We look forward to hosting more events at Brethour Park later this year.

Group Photo!

Highlights

• In total 2 community members participated and contributed to 6.5 volunteer hours!
• Both volunteers were introduced to Brethour Park, while 1 volunteer had never removed invasive species before!
• We removed 3 cubic metres of invasive plants and revitalized 80 square metres of forest!
• We uncovered a pretty big field of our native Trailing Blackberry!

Before and After Photos

This activity not only benefitted the environment, but also the participants themselves. By being out in nature doing something positive as a team, our community members:

• Develop a sense of belonging to community and place
• Have improved mental and physical health
• Connect to nature, which leads to environmentally responsible behaviour
• Learn about local environmental issues and actions they can take
• Learn the value of bringing together people to work towards a common goal
• Become leaders in their communities
• Increase confidence, resilience and perseverance

Action Shots

Thank you to Level Ground Coffee and Ed’s Soup Shack for donating In-kind Gifts for our hardworking volunteers to enjoy!