Youth Invasive Blackberry Removal at Routley Park, Township of Langley

June 10, 2024

THANK YOU to the 73 students who joined us and contributed from:

Dakota Warren’s Grade 4/5 class from Donna Gabriel Robins Elementary: Maanvi, Rowan, Reid, Tony, Hanna, Blake, John, Sahib, Anna, Damon, Imaani, Joseph, Celia, Hayley, Liam, Ezra, Kaius, My, Erin, Nile, Dominic, Abbie, Jessie, Elif, Victoria, & Mahinder!

Hannah Stickney’s Grade 3/4 class from Fort Langley Elementary: Chayn, Ellie, Claire, Elle, Dean, Katya, Logan, Poppy, André, Haven, Hadley, Eisley, Giovanni, Luna, Maclyn, Neve, Ella, Dasha, Macklin, & Paul!

Rachelle Stephenson’s grade 4 class from RC Garnett Demonstration School: Nathan, Gabriel, Elsie, Chase, Issac, Grayson, Harper, Jerome, Yumin, Claire, Molly, Diego, Jakob, Kai, Atifa, Aditri, Isabella, Jiyu, Logan, Kristina, Ray, Deshon, Jacob, Rebecca, Lucas, Sora, & Wynsen!

We had a fantastic time learning to take care of the environment and giving native plants a better chance by removing invasive plants from this park! It was a beautiful day to spend quality time together with fellow classmates in nature. There were lots of smiling faces! Keep reading for our impacts, highlights and more from the day…

Impacts

73 students engaged
28 students visited Routley Park for the first time
59 students removed invasive plants for the first time
132 hours contributed to habitat restoration
3.5 cubic metres of invasive Himalayan blackberry were removed (equivalent to the volume of 22 bathtubs!)
52 square metres of habitat revitalized

Highlights

Our efforts built on previous restoration work completed by students in this very park!
- Read about our last activity engaging students at Routley Park on November 3, 2022 HERE.
Everyone had a great time learning how to identify invasive blackberry and working together to dig up stubborn roots
- Roots don’t take up as much space as canes (blackberry stems) but removing them makes a huge impact in preventing this plant from regrowing!
Lots of worms, beetles, and other bugs were unearthed during our digging. We learned that seeing plenty of worms is a sign of healthy soil
- Worms help bring in oxygen and create space for plant roots and water by creating tunnels in the soil!
We enjoyed some yummy snacks before everyone headed back to school
- The students in our first session even got to spend their lunch break relaxing in this lovely park after our activity!
Special thank you to:
- Township of Langley staff Olivia and Alex who helped carry tarps and empty our green waste into the truck
- Dakota, Hannah, and Rachelle for their work to bring their classes out to this activity
- Each and every teacher, parent, and student who joined us and shared their smiling faces and enthusiasm throughout the day!

"We had so much fun! The kids were very keen to help the Earth and loved the opportunity to really get in there and make a difference. They had a blast digging up the blackberries and felt a real sense of pride at their accomplishments. They were excited to show their families what they had accomplished and share what they had learned about protecting the natural plant habitat. It was awesome to see the smiles and the teamwork as they worked together for a common goal. We would absolutely love the opportunity to do this again next year 🙂 Thank you so much!"

Community Investment Partner

THANK YOU to the Township of Langley for providing the financial support and direction to make this activity possible!

Together we are achieving our common goals and creating connected, healthy and resilient communities engaged in environmental stewardship.

We can’t wait to return later this summer to continue building on the restoration work accomplished by these students!

Why We Do This Work

The Lower Mainland 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

Lower Mainland Green Team Program Manager, Ashton Kerr, and Program Coordinator, Andrea Robles, work hard behind the scenes to bring these high-quality activities to you.

Partnership building, fundraising, outreach, social media, activity logistics, leading on-the-ground, reporting on impacts and more – they can do it all!