The Greater Victoria Green Team spent the day engaging 20 community members at Lund Rd Protection Area removing invasive species. We primarily removed Himalayan Blackberry and Scotch Broom, as well as Daphne, Thistle, and Queen Anne’s Lace. These invasive species were starting to take over the wonderful natural biodiversity of this park, which is one of the few remaining Garry oak ecosystems left in the CRD. By cutting these species back, this created more sunlight and space for native species to grow back and encourage the native biodiversity—we even uncovered a Garry oak seedling today!

This was the GVGT’s second visit to Lund Road Protection area this year. Return visits are especially important for removing invasive species, as it gives us an opportunity to check in on areas we cleared out last month and make sure nothing is growing back!

THANK YOU

Thank-you to everyone for participating: Richard, Houtian, Hong, Alix, Chloe, Thadd, Teresa, Edmond, Ellika, Ty, Akari, Devin, Julian, Kaitlin, Peter, Jenni, Robin, Rhianedd, Laird, and Lori, and thank you to Chris from View Royal for coming out and helping to facilitate!

Thank-you very much to Town of View Royal for partnering with us and contributing to our Green Team activities and for recognizing the importance of collaboration in community engagement and ecological restoration!

Group Photo!

Highlights

• In total 20 community members participated and contributed to 67 volunteer hours!
• 11 volunteers were introduced to Lund Rd Protection Area, while 5 volunteers had never removed invasive species before!
• We removed 8 cubic metres of invasive plants and revitalized 620 square metres of habitat!
• In a fantastic display of teamwork, a group of community members absolutely decimated an entire blackberry patch today after our break!

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 Green Room Body, Ed’s Soup Shack, Level Ground Coffee and Green Beaver Co for donating eco-gifts for our volunteers to take home today!