Thank you so much for your hard work and enthusiasm:
UVic Continuing Studies Department staff, Mount Douglas Secondary School Environmental Science 11 & Science 9 students and teacher Natalie Buchmann!
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
- 32 Mount Douglas Secondary students, 1 teacher and 2 teacher aides engaged
- 12 UVic Continuing Studies faculty members engaged
- 60 hours contributed to habitat restoration
- 12 people removed invasive plants for the first time
- 3.5 cubic metres (almost 22 bathtubs full) of invasive plants removed
- 60 square metres of forest revitalized
Highlights
- We celebrated Earth Day 2025 by bringing people together to remove invasive English ivy and Himalayan blackberry plants from the forest along Alumni Chip Trail at Bowker Creek Headwaters on the University of Victoria campus.
- It was great to return to this area after our previous highly successful youth ivy pull here on December 4 2024
- We had a lot of fun working together as a team to pull and haul out the invasive plants to create space for wildflowers that are starting to bloom. We saw native Salmonberry and Osoberry blooming in the areas where we previously removed invasive ivy: a testament to what can be achieved when we all come together to help our environment!
- We had an absolutely beautiful day enjoying the blue sky, sunshine, and birdsong as a clear indicator that spring is here!
- Habitat restoration is a very satisfying and empowering aspect of environmental stewardship in which to involve students as well as the UVic faculty who were happy to help revitalize the campus where they work!
- Environmental science students from Mount Douglas Secondary School learned about ecology and restoration in a very hands-on way through this activity and got some great exercise in a forest that is walking distance from their school!
- Everyone enjoyed snacking on fresh fruit & granola bars at the end of their sessions to re-energize!
- UVic Continuing Studies faculty had a very successful team-building experience digging out big blackberry root crowns and even finding the longest (17 metre) ivy strand of the day!
- Many members of the UVic Continuing Studies faculty stayed to help out at the end with packing up: thank you for your help!
- Students and passersby using the Alumni Chip Trail enjoyed the additional education provided by our plant signs, learning about identification in a fun, creative way!
- Everyone had fun celebrating Earth Day in a very hands-on way and demonstrated a high level of engagement, ambition, and enthusiasm regarding the impact of the invasive species removal efforts, and an excitement to return to this area of campus to view the wildlife and native plants!
Community Investment Partner
A huge THANK YOU to UVic’s Office of Campus Planning and Sustainability 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
Our staff work hard to bring high-quality community activities to you. Partnership building, fundraising, outreach, social media, activity logistics, leading on-the-ground, reporting on impacts and more – they do it all!
Leading activities on the ground is Kaitlin Warren, Program Manager for the Greater Victoria Green Team, whose positive energy and passion for creating change inspire participants to take further action. Kaitlin is supported behind the scenes by Lyda Salatian, GTC Executive Director and Founder.
Together the Green Teams of Canada staff are fostering communities of environmental stewards and contributing to a brighter, greener future for all.