The trails of Mystic Vale wind through an even healthier environment after volunteers swarmed the site to remove invasive species and add native plants.
The Saanich woods at the University of Victoria was the site of a TD Tree Days event by the Greater Victoria Green Team on Sept. 10.
By the end of the day, the woods held 227 more native shrubs and trees – a mix of snowberry, June plum, Oregon grape, big leaf maple and more – planted by 37 volunteers. The crew moved two cubic metres of mulch to help with moisture retention for the new plants.
“We received all the native shrubs and trees for the day from Satinflower Nurseries, a local business built on the core principle of valuing nature, with an aim of inspiring and empowering people to restore and conserve nature by providing native plants, seeds and expertise,” said program manager Kaitlin Warren.
READ ALSO: Oak Bay couple finds cigarette butts amid high fire risk
The TD events offer employees, their families, friends and the community an opportunity to learn and have a positive impact. They foster 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 each other and the places they live.
The green team has two more TD Tree Day events planned this fall Oct. 15 in Esquimalt Gorge Park and Oct. 21 in View Royal Park.
The group also hosts its first Langford activity later this month, pulling ivy in Porcher Park on Sunday, Sept. 24. Register at bit.ly/GVGTsep24.
No experience is needed to join and all ages, backgrounds, abilities and experience levels are welcome. Educational instruction, gloves, tools and snacks provided.
