Group photo of Ms. Knoke’s grade 8 students from Dunsmuir Middle School
Group photo of Ms. Arsenault‘s grade 6 students from Dunsmuir Middle School
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
- 90 students, 4 teachers, and 2 aides joined us to remove invasive plants and help improve the health of this park
- Community Member Ahmad joined us for the second session to help supervise and educate the students and help them achieve their goals of removing the biggest invasive plants they could find! Thank you for your help and positive energy Ahmed!
- 146 hours contributed to habitat restoration
- 25 cubic metres (approximately enough to fill 2 cement trucks!) of invasive Himalayan blackberry and Scotch broom removed
- 300 square metres of habitat revitalized
- Countless smiles, laughter, and cheers of accomplishment were shared
Highlights
- Students from Dunsmuir Middle School walked down from their school to take part in this ecological restoration activity and used their knowledge, skills, and determination to remove invasive species!
- It was a day filled with great teamwork and lots of fun exploring nature! Students found lots of worms and grasshoppers while removing invasive plants throughout the park.
- It was a very rewarding day to save trees in the historic orchard by removing the invasive plants encroaching on them.
- Students enjoyed participating in a hands-on outdoor activity, applying their practical knowledge in a hands-on setting!
- We have been to this site for many years and it’s great to see our hard work paying off with many areas cleared of invasive species! It is a great opportunity for the students to be able to see this long-term restoration and be a part of helping their community!
- It has been great to be able to engage students at this school on an annual basis, so they can see the progress as they return to the area year after year! We are so grateful for our long term partnership with the City of Colwood for making these activities possible!
Community Investment Partner
THANK YOU to the City of Colwood for providing funding, direction, and ecological expertise to guide this activity!
Together we are achieving our common goals and creating connected, healthy and resilient communities engaged in environmental stewardship.
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!