On Wednesday June 9th, 2021 the Greater Victoria Green Team and the City of Colwood joined forces to remove invasive Himalayan blackberry from Murray Pond Park in Colwood.
We had a wonderful bunch of students from the Outdoor Education class at Royal Bay Secondary School helping to take down some huge blackberry patches!
This was Cassandra’s first event as Program Manager with the Greater Victoria Green Team and she left it feeling fulfilled – it was fun to be outside working hard with the students on a beautiful day!
This was our eighth time removing invasive species at this site and the impact is noticeable. We look forward to being back to remove more blackberry and Scotch broom, and maybe even plant some native species. Following the current COVID-19 restrictions, this activity had two sessions engaging a youth group in both and implemented the safety measures outlined in our COVID-19 Safety Plan.
Thank You!
Thank you to Kirk MacRae, a teacher at Royal Bay Secondary School, for being enthusiastic about this opportunity and bringing his hardworking Outdoor Education students out to the morning and afternoon sessions!
A huge thank you to the City of Colwood for seeing our value and supporting the work that we do! Our partnership with the City of Colwood has held strong for 4 years and we very much look forward to continuing our work in the community with you.
Photos from the first session can be found HERE, second session HERE!
First Session Group Photo
Second Session Group Photo
Highlights
- In total 25 GVGT volunteers participated and contributed 50 hours total!
- 5 cubic metres of Himalayan blackberry was removed, including some big root crowns!
- 20 volunteers removed invasive Himalayan blackberry for the first time
