Ruth Johnson Park Apr 22, 2021

April 23, 2021

First Session Group Photo

Second Session Group Photo

Photos from the first session can be found HERE and second session HERE!

Highlights

In total 42 students from Earl Marriott Secondary School participated and contributed 75 hours total
8 cubic metres of English Ivy was removed, which is approximately the volume of 50 full bathtubs!
36 volunteers visited Ruth Johnson Park for the first time
35 volunteers removed invasive English Ivy for the first time
3 trees were freed from Ivy
Teamwork was used to pull out stubborn vines
Students found it satisfying to pull out long vines and felt a sense of accomplishment
We were featured in the Peace Arch News TWICE! Read the articles HERE and HERE!
A beautiful flowering Trillium plant was found and extra care was taken to not disturb this plant.
- Trilliums are a very slow growing plant that only begins to flower when they reach 7-10 years of age. As beautiful as the flower is, do not pick it! Picking the flowers can be detrimental to the plant

On Thursday April 22, 2021 the Lower Mainland Green Team and the City of White Rock joined forces to celebrate Earth Day 2021 and remove invasive English Ivy from Ruth Johnson Park in White Rock! Students from Earl Marriott Secondary School made the most of the beautiful sunny day by walking from their school to this local park to learn about invasive species, how climate change creates conditions for these species to thrive, and how they can take action. In removing the English Ivy, students helped increase biodiversity by making space for other native species to grow. These students demonstrated excellent teamwork and it was rewarding to come back to this site after our activity in March 2021 to continue our collaborative restoration efforts. Following the current COVID-19 restrictions, this activity was for youth only and implemented the safety measures outlined in our COVID-19 Safety Plan.

Thank You!

Thank you to Ms. Knapp’s Yearbook class and Mr. Robert’s Grade 8 PE class for coming out to this activity to celebrate Earth Day!

Thank you to all of the hard-working participants we had out: Anna, Max, Paisley, Kathryn, Ashley, Linda, Luka, Martin, Wenxun, Jillian, Alex, Derek, David, Andy, Avery, Julia, Ethan, Isabella, Ella, Ryan, Maya, Sydney, Cole, Katalina, Ellie, Cruz, Niko, Richard, Kaylem, Adam, Alfie, Kaelyn, Charlie, Sierra, Jackson, Amelia, Valentina, Carter, Alex, Gavin, Eva and Bianca!

A huge thank you to Rosaline Choy from the City of White Rock for being our partner and making this opportunity possible! Many thanks as well to Ken from the City of White Rock for setting up barricades to keep our volunteers safe and limit the amount of foot traffic in the area we were working in. We deeply value our partnership with the City of White Rock and look forward to our next activity!