Thank you so much Ms. Sims, Ms. Robertson and Ms. Jones and thank you to the grade 8 classes and the students from Dunsmuir Middle School for all the hard work and enthusiasm!
Thank you so much Ms. Schnarr and all of your grade 11 environmental science students from Belmont Secondary School for your hard work and enthusiasm!
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
- 81 students, 4 teachers, and 2 community member volunteers engaged
- 202 hours contributed to habitat restoration
- 16 cubic metres (approximately enough to fill 1.5 cement trucks!) of invasive Himalayan blackberry removed
- 166 square metres of habitat revitalized
- Countless smiles, cheers, and feelings of accomplishment were shared between the students as they worked together to improve the health of the park and preserve the beautiful old orchard.
Highlights
- We collaborated with two Grade 11 Environmental Science classes from Belmont Secondary School and two Grade 8 classes from Dunsmuir Middle School to bring the students out to the park for some hands-on restoration education!
- We were excited to return to this park as we had a great activity here earlier in October! Check out the summary here.
- The students were extremely motivated and competed in groups to find and remove big Himalayan Blackberry root crowns from under the ground.
- The students and teachers engaged in healthy discussions about habitat restoration, our role in preserving the land and the harm caused by invasive plant species!
- We’re grateful to the teachers and their support! They had a great time being outdoors with the students and talked about the importance of hands-on experiential education.
- The students found some worms while removing invasive plants, cleared some litter from the site and even picked some apples from the orchard!
- Students enjoyed the additional education provided by our plant signs, learning about identification in a fun, creative way!
- The students were amazed by the accomplishment they made together as a team and shared very positive feelings throughout the activity.
Community Investment Partner
A huge THANK YOU to the City of Colwood for partnering with our charity, Green Teams of Canada, and making this activity possible with their financial support and direction!
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 Partnerships Manager, Viloka Luna and Program Manager, Kaitlin Warren both 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!