TD Tree Days at Nursery Hill Park, View Royal – October 29, 2022

Highlights

• 46 community members of all ages, backgrounds and experience levels joined us and contributed 175 volunteer hours total
  • Thank you so much for your hard work and for making this day amazing: Dennie, Danielle, Bruce, Kshrey, Jason, Ellery, Barbara, Andrew, Wes, Calan, Kurtis, Everett, Angie, Jeff, Jessica, Leona, Yineth, Ian, Laura, Melissa, James, Mike, Devin, Becca, Tyler, Agnes Jane, Morgan, Noel, Janet, Rhianedd, Shaun, Chenxi, Sam, Chloe, Naohiro, Lee, Wanda, Maggie, Nancy & Lisa!
  • Our Green Team brought together community members from across Greater Victoria, as well as TD employees!
• 12 cubic metres of invasive species were removed!
  • Species removed included Scotch broom, Daphne, English Holly, and English Ivy among others!
• 220 native trees & shrubs were planted along with 110 native wildflowers!
  • Species planted include Garry oak,, Douglas-fir, grand fir, arbutus, mock orange, oceanspray, red-flowering currant, Oregon-grape, great camas, red columbine, sword fern, yarrow, and small-flowered alumroot!
• An area of 800 metres squared had invasive plants removed from it and was revitalized thanks to the hard work of our Green Team
• 33 participants visited Nursery Hill Park for the first time
• 18 participants removed invasive plants for the first time
• 16 participants planted for the first time
• This activity was featured in the news! CLICK HERE to read the Victoria News article!

Thank you to the Town of View Royal for partnering with us! Their support made this activity possible.

Extra thank you to Chris, View Royal’s habitat restoration coordinator, and Rennie & James from TD for helping facilitate this activity, and to View Royal parks staff Dave & Ryan for helping with setup!

Before & After Photos

On Saturday October 29, 2022, the Greater Victoria Green Team and the Town of View Royal partnered up to host a TD Tree Days activity! 40 awesome community members spent an incredible day removing invasive species and planting native trees, shrubs and wildflowers at Nursery Hill Park in View Royal. We had over 300 native plants to get in the ground, plus many areas that needed to be cleared of invasive species before planting could take place. Our community members put in a TON of hard work to make that happen! Their efforts have helped increase the biodiversity in this beautiful, local habitat. It was also very inspiring to see people from all backgrounds, ages, abilities, and experience levels come together to contribute to the improvement of their community and feel a sense of belonging.

Why pair tree planting with invasive species removal? In order to grow and thrive, tree seedlings need water, nutrients, and light. Invasive species can crowd out and cover other species, blocking out their light and preventing them from growing. Furthermore, the established root networks of invasive plants are more efficient at absorbing water and nutrients from the soil. For these reasons, it’s really important to pair tree planting with a bit of invasive species removal first to clear out a patch of ground where the trees and shrubs can grow without having to compete against invasive species. 

By learning about environmental issues such as those caused by invasive species in a hands-on way, communities are better equipped to tackle such problems. Additionally, our community members met new people, gained new skills and were able to experience the benefits of being out in nature including reduced levels of stress and anxiety, and improved moody, memory, focus and mental clarity. Not to mention the great physical exercise everyone got while restoring the area! By connecting people to nature, we help instil responsible environmental behaviour that extends beyond our activities.

Thank you to Lush, Green Beaver, Tru Earth, Earth Rated, and OLA Bamboo for donating eco-gifts 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 Maria or Kaitlin at maria@greenteamscanada.ca or kaitlin@greenteamscanada.ca

Volunteer Testimonials

“The impact of this program is pretty far reaching, increased public knowledge and appreciation of their parks. Many native animal species such as bats, birds, snakes and insects depend on native plant species only present in Gary Oak ecosystems. Also helps people with allergies in the case of invasive species categorized as noxious such as broom and daphne. Encourages participants to recognize and plant native species in their own gardens. Also important as part of reconciliation as many invasives were introduced by colonists.”

– Devin

“I felt great satisfaction removing invasive daphne and planting native trees and bushes. The greatest impact is restoring habitat back to its natural diversity.”

– Barbara

Community in Action!