Invasive Species Removal at Lillian Hoffar Park, North Saanich, August 20, 2023!
Group photo of the amazing community members who joined us for this activity!
The Greater Victoria Green Team spent the day engaging 18 community members from all over the Greater Victoria region to remove invasive Himalayan blackberry and English Ivy from Lillian Hoffar Park as well as distribute mulch in much needed areas to promote plant growth! Ecological restoration is a team effort that provides many wonderful opportunities for community engagement. It was a great day with a ton of teamwork and smiles all around!
Before… and After!
Highlights from the day!
- In total 18 community members participated contributing over 50 Volunteer hours!
- We removed 7.7 cubic metres of invasive plants and revitalized about 67 square metres of the park!
- We distributed 9 cubic metres of mulch, spreading it in needed areas of the park!
- 17 community members were introduced to this location for the very first time!
- 5 community members learned about and removed invasive plants for the very first time!
Thank you to everyone for participating: Alan, Anne, Asher, Anne, Ava, Chloe, David, Echo, Jesse, Malary, Maryna, Nate, Rob, Sharon, Xu, and Yui!
Thank you very much to the District of North Saanich for partnering with us and contributing to our Green Team activities! Thank you for recognizing the importance of collaboration in community engagement and ecological restoration!
A big shoutout to Anne, Sharon, and Tom of the Friends of North Saanich Parks stewardship group who regularly work in Lillian Hoffar Park! Thank you, we really appreciated your direction and guidance to further the ongoing restoration efforts in the park! To learn more about the Friends of North Saanich Parks stewardship group and the restoration efforts of the dedicated volunteers who work to maintain parks throughout the District check out their website HERE.
Why we do this work?
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
Community In Action!
Thank you the fantastic local eco-friendly business Tru Earth that donated In-kind products for our hard-working community members to take home!
Our community members took home a thank you gift from one of our in-kind supporters! If you have any suggestions for sustainable/eco-friendly rewards, know of or own a business who would like to provide in-kind to our Green Team, please contact Kaitlin at kaitlin@greenteamscanada.ca
Kaitlin (left), Lyda (middle), and Severine (right)
This Activity was run by our Program Manager, Kaitlin and our Program Coordinator, Severine!
Severine was hired as part of the Youth Leadership Program, intended to empower the next generation of environmentally-focused community organizing!
We had a special guest at this activity all the way from the Lower Mainland: Lyda, the executive director and founder of Green Teams of Canada, joined us at this activity!