Restore habitat while connecting with each other!
Are you ready to spend fun, quality time with your colleagues, learn about local environmental issues and take action on them in a beautiful local Burnaby park?
Green Teams of Canada’s Lower Mainland Green Team is thrilled to be partnering with the Green+Leaders Program, managed by the Energy and Environmental Sustainability Team to organize an invasive plant species removal at Ron McLean Park in Burnaby. Join us for a day of community building and environmental action!
This activity will take place in Fall 2024. The exact date and time of this activity is to be determined.
Thanks to collaboration with the City of Burnaby Planning Department and Byrne Creek Streamkeepers, we will be building on past habitat restoration work done by our team in 2021 and 2022.
Details
Date: Fall 2024 (exact date TBD)
Time: TBD
What: Invasive ivy and blackberry removal
Where: Ron McLean Park, by the Byrne Creek Tennis Courts. Meet HERE!
Who: Green+Leaders. All ages, abilities & experience levels are welcome. NO EXPERIENCE NEEDED.
This activity will run RAIN OR SHINE!
Why Sign Up
- Bond as a team! Working together fosters a sense of camaraderie and strengthens relationships
- Build leadership skills in a supportive environment
- Improve your communication skills. Practice clear communication to work together & remove invasive plants
- Improve health and reduce stress. Spending time outdoors engaged in physical activity reduces stress and improves physical and mental health
- Learn about local environmental issues. With this new knowledge, you can make a difference!
- Feel empowered. Accomplishing goals as a team boosts morale and instills a sense of achievement
- Make a positive impact on the local environment. You will help increase biodiversity and ecosystem resilience!
- Have Fun!
How to Sign Up
1. Fill out our waiver and photo consent form (select from the “Age of Volunteer” drop down and the waiver will appear). You only have to fill this out ONCE – if you’ve joined us before and already filled it out, go straight to step 2 below.
2. Send an email to Ashton@GreenTeamsCanada.ca saying “I am with Green+Leaders and would like to participate in the invasive plant removal at Ron McLean Park”. By RSVP’ing you will help us know how many tools, gloves and refreshments to bring and buy for this activity.
Changing your RSVP
Only sign up if you are committed to participating! We base how many gloves, tools, refreshments to bring based on how many people sign up.
By RSVPing & not showing up or changing your RSVP at the last minute, you may be taking a spot away from someone who wants to participate. Let’s honour each other’s time & be considerate of one another.
We understand that unforeseen circumstances come up. If you can no longer attend, please email Ashton@GreenTeamsCanada.ca and change your RSVP right away.
Meeting Spot
We will meet by the Byrne Creek Tennis Courts at Ron McLean Park off of Hedley Ave HERE. Look for our signs and arrows!
Getting There
Ride your bicycle – Plan your bicycle route on the Cycling in Metro Vancouver page
Take transit – Walking distance from the Edmonds Skytrain station. Plan your route with the TransLink Trip Planner, Google Maps or download the Transit app (green icon) on your phone
Drive – There is free street parking in the area. Please avoid parking at the tennis courts to save the limited spaces for tennis players.
Carpool – Help make this activity more accessible by driving with others to/from this activity!
Washrooms
There is a public washroom at this park located HERE.
What to Bring
• Long sleeves & long, thick pants (like jeans) you don’t mind getting dirty to protect you from thorny plants & ticks
• Refillable water bottle
• Sturdy, comfortable closed toe shoes/boots or rain boots
• Rain jacket in case it rains, sunscreen if it’s sunny
• Hat to keep sun/rain out of your face
What We Provide
• Gloves, tools (pruners, loppers, shovels) & safety glasses
• Educational instruction & safety talk on what to do (no experience necessary!)
• Delicious snacks
• Photos of you in action
• A fun, empowering opportunity to make a difference!
Flow of Activity
• Meet at TBD (please be on time)
• Check-in
• Receive educational instruction & demonstration
• Remove invasive Himalayan Blackberry & English Ivy
• Take a break at around TBD for about 20 mins
• Take a group photo
• Continue removing invasive plants until TBD
• Help pack up tools & supplies
• Check-out
What Happens Afterwards
• You will receive an email with a short survey. Please share your thoughts and feedback so we can include it in our summary for this activity & help us improve our program!
• View photos HERE (we will upload high resolution photos in an online album of this activity)
• Read our activity summary HERE (we will write a blog about the activity and post it within a few days)
How this activity was made possible
Green+Leaders became a Community Investment Partner (CIP) and provided financial support to offer this opportunity to its members.
Thank you to our other CIP, the City of Burnaby Planning Department (Mark and Hafsa), for providing direction and helping coordinate logistics.
A big thank you to Byrne Creek Streamkeepers for sharing their expertise and local knowledge, and who care tirelessly for the Byrne Creek area and all its inhabitants, including salmon! These folks are an inspiration to all.
Land Acknowledgement
This activity takes place on the traditional, ancestral & unceded territory of the Cayse, Umatilla and Walla Walla, kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem), S’ólh Téméxw (Stó:lō), Semiahmoo, Qayqayt, Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group, Kwantlen, səl̓ilwətaɁɬ təməxʷ (Tsleil-Waututh), šxʷməθkʷəy̓əmaɁɬ təməxʷ (Musqueam) and Stz’uminus Nations who have lived on & stewarded these lands since time immemorial, & continue to do so today. We are humbled to run our programs and grateful for the opportunity to learn as guests on this land.
Questions?
Email Ashton Kerr, Lower Mainland Green Team Program Manager, at Ashton@greenteamscanada.ca