Thank you so much to the students & teachers of Mount Douglas Secondary, Campus View Elementary, and Pacific School of Innovation & Inquiry for your hard work and enthusiasm!
What a fun day we had connecting students to one another and nature, all while restoring habitat! Keep on reading to find impacts, highlights and more from the day…
Impacts
- 54 students, 5 teachers, and 2 parents engaged
- 51 hours contributed to habitat restoration
- 14 students removed invasive plants for the first time, while many were excited to put their skills to good use, having participated in activities like this in the past.
- 17 people visited the Bowker Creek Headwater part of campus for the first time
- 3 cubic metres (almost 19 bathtubs full) of ivy removed
- 80 square metres of habitat revitalized
Highlights
- We spent the day removing invasive English ivy from the forest along the edge of Alumni Chip Trail near the Bowker Creek Headwater at the University of Victoria.
- We had an absolutely beautiful winter day, enjoying some nourishing sunlight while we worked together to improve the health of the forest.
- Habitat restoration is a very satisfying and empowering aspect of environmental stewardship in which to involve young learners and is a great way to connect and build teamwork.
- We had a lot of fun working together as a team pulling many ivy strands and felt such a rewarding sense of accomplishment saving lots of native shrubs by removing the ivy from them!
- We had a fun spirited competition to see who could pull out the longest strand of ivy.
- Students enjoyed snacking on oranges and granola bars at the end to help fuel their walk back to school!
- Students and passersby enjoyed the additional education provided by our plant signs, learning about identification in a fun, creative way!
- It was great to have a mix of elementary and secondary school students together!
What Students Said
Community Investment Partner
A huge THANK YOU to UVic 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
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!