Thank you to Ms. Arsenault and Ms. King and their grade 6 students for participating in this activity!
Thank you to Ms. Knoke & her grade 8 students for participating in this activity!
What a fun day we had connecting youth to one another and nature, all while restoring habitat! Keep on reading to find impacts, highlights and more from the day…
Impacts
- 103 students & 4 teachers joined us to remove invasive plants and help improve the health of this beautiful park
- 109 hours contributed to habitat restoration
- 5 cubic metres (approximately 31 bathtubs!) of invasive Himalayan blackberry was removed
- 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!
- Despite the light drizzle of rain, it was a fun day filled with great teamwork and lots of excitement while exploring nature!
- Students enjoyed working together in teams to dig out stubborn blackberry roots and discovering all the funky shapes that the roots form.
- It was a very rewarding day to save at least 6 trees in the historic orchard by removing the invasive plants encroaching on them.
- Native shrubs such as snowberry and Nootka rose were revealed by the removal of the invasive Himalayan blackberry plants.
- Students enjoyed a little friendly competition with each other as classes were pitted against each other to see who could remove more invasive plants!
- 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!
- Check out the report from the last time we were here on May 27 2025
- Previous years’ activities here include: Oct 16 2024, Oct 3 2024, Jun 12 2024, and more!
- It has been invaluable 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!
What Students Said
Video of Eva talking about the joys of helping the environment with friends
Video of Eli, Riley and Sully talking about their experience and why removing invasive plants is important and fun
Video of Dante and Dylan talking about how they are saving the trees by digging out invasive blackberry roots
Video of students sharing how much they enjoy learning outside and helping the environment
Video of Kieran and Yvonne talking about making a difference and being in nature
Video of Lily talking about having fun and helping nature.
Video of Michael and Linden talking about saving trees from invasive blackberries
Video of Julianna, Ty, and Dorian talking about how they are helping the environment
Video of students talking about learning about how much fun they are having together helping the environment
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.
This was the last of several youth engagement activities that have run in partnership between Greater Victoria Green Team and City of Colwood in 2025. We are grateful for the opportunities that these activities provide youth throughout the city.
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
Our dedicated team is passionate about creating engaging, high-quality activities that foster a sense of belonging, connection to nature while raising environmental awareness. We strive to make a positive impact on our environment and to build a thriving community that cares for it.
This activity was run by Green Teams of Canada’s Founder and Executive Director, Lyda.
Partnerships Manager, Kaitlin Warren, supported this activity behind the scenes.