Thank you so much Greater Victoria Green Team participants for your hard work and enthusiasm:
Aaron, Ahmed, Alanah, Ashley, Atticus, Bryan, Catharina, Chloe, David, Deanna, Eric, Helena, Jada, Karen, Kay, Laura, Lily, Maria, Mark, Mahmet Kerem, Paige, Rob, Rowan, Sam, Scott, Seth, Steve, Sue, Susanna, Travis, Tricia, Yuri, and Zhi!
What a fun day we had connecting people to one another and nature, all while restoring habitat! Keep on reading to find impacts, highlights and more from the day…
Impacts
- 34 community members engaged
- 90 hours contributed to habitat restoration
- 12 people planted trees for the first time
- 13 people visited Brethour Park for the first time
- 82 trees planted including: Karpick maple, Red oak, London plain, Pacific crabapple, and Red alder
- 140 square metres of habitat revitalized
- 6 Cubic Metres of invasive English ivy & English holly were removed
Highlights
- We spent the day planting trees together to celebrate the Town of Sidney’s Tree Appreciation Day. The Town also handed out trees for local community members to take home to plant!
- Together we planted trees that were provided to the Town of Sidney through funding from BC Hydro! We also returned to the forested part of the park to continue removing invasive plants.
- We were so excited to return to this park after a huge invasive plant removal earlier in the month on September 7th! We continued removing invasive plants from the same area and were able to plant some native Pacific crabapple trees in the cleared area.
- We were joined by the Town of Sidney’s councillor and acting mayor, Steve Duck, and councillor Scott Garnett! Thank you both for joining us and supporting the community & our Team!
- Habitat restoration is a very satisfying and empowering aspect of environmental stewardship in which to involve the local community and is a great way to connect people with neighbours and new friends, especially when working as a team to dig large holes to plant big trees!
- We had a lot of fun working together as a team to get the large trees into the ground and felt such a rewarding sense of accomplishment restoring habitat, creating shade, and beauitfying this community park!
- Everyone loved the homemade brownies, fresh fruit and veggies, nuts, and granola bars to help keep energy levels up!
- Community members helped us out at the end with packing up: thank you for your help!
- Community members enjoyed the additional education provided by our plant signs, learning about identification in a fun, creative way!
- We had many passersby interact with the work we were doing; it was wonderful to be thanked and encouraged by the local neighbours and park users, some of whom are going to join us next time!
- It was great to have a mix of first timers, newcomers to the community and local longtime residents together! Everyone learned more about local native and invasive species together as a community!
- This activity was one part of increasing community engagement around this community park. The future plans for this park involve additional exciting elements to further increase outdoor activity in the area! Learn more on the Town of Sidney’s website
- This was the Fourth annual Sidney Tree Appreciation Day, an initiative that began to help increase the overall canopy cover in the Town and celebrate trees with local residents by planting and giving away trees.
- This activity was featured in the Oak Bay News!
- Read the Sep 26, 2024 article HERE
- Or find it under the Media Coverage section of our website here
What Community Members are Saying
Community Investment Partner
A huge THANK YOU to the Town of Sidney for partnering with our charity, Green Teams of Canada, and making this activity possible with their financial support and direction!
Thank you to Cliff, Kristi, Mike, and Clayton, the wonderful Town of Sidney staff, who helped facilitate this activity!
Thank you as well to Councillor and Acting Mayor Steve Duck and councillor Scott Garnett for joining us to connect with the community and help restore the park together!
Together we are achieving our common goals and creating connected, healthy and resilient communities engaged in environmental stewardship.
In-Kind Support
Thank you to the fantastic Canadian eco-friendly businesses Ola Bamboo, Green Beaver, Blume, and Myni that donated In-kind for our hard-working community members to take home!
Please contact Viloka Luna if you are interested in providing in-kind.
Why We Do This Work
The Greater Victoria Green Team organizes hands-on educational activities that have a positive environmental impact to empower people. Through activities such as invasive plant removals, plantings, litter cleanups and more, we are fostering connections with others and nature so that health and well-being is prioritized, lifelong environmental stewardship is promoted, and community members are enabled to take care of themselves, each other and the places they live. We all have the power to make a difference!
We all experience mental and physical health benefits from spending time in nature, including reduced stress and anxiety, and improved mood, focus, memory and more. While doing so, we can also have a positive impact on the environment as demonstrated through this activity!
Staff Who Made This Activity Possible
Greater Victoria Green Team Program Manager, Kaitlin Warren and Partnerships Manager, Viloka Luna work hard behind the scenes to bring these high-quality activities to you.
Partnership building, outreach, social media, activity logistics, leading on-the-ground, reporting on impacts and more – they can do it all!