Just another day at the office (Photo: Laura Smit)
Evergreen BC’s corporate volunteers work hard, in and out of the office. The following groups dedicated time, money and effort toward restoring nature in Vancouver this year, giving our urban forest (and our stewardship groups) a huge boost!
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Events, In the Field, Native Species, Stewardship and Planting, Vancouver, Volunteer | 
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Posted by Laura from Common Grounds Vancouver
Super Elite Task Force: Operation Port Coquitlam (Photo: Evergreen)
Last Thursday, a super elite team of Evergreen’s stewardship volunteers put in some of their evening time to help a federally red-listed species in Port Coquitlam – streambank lupine (Lupinis rivularis).
“This is the most work anyone has done for the plant,” said a thankful Species at Risk Recovery Team member, Dawn Hanna. Volunteers worked slowly and deliberately on the urban site, careful not to step on or disturb the lupines, of which there are only 300 known individuals in Canada. Hopefully, by protecting this and other populations, that number will increase in years to come.
This is the first of three work parties to protect rare populations of streambank lupine this summer (there are only 8 known locations in Canada – all of which are found in the Lower Mainland)
For more information or to get involved in the project, contact Laura Smit, Stewardship Co-ordinator at lsmit@evergreen.ca or 604-689-0776
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Posted by Laura from Common Grounds Vancouver
Volunteers from Starbucks Canada enthusiastically pulling invasive tansy and blackberry. (Photo: Evergreen)
Serenaded by the likes of Les Boukakes and Shayne Koyczan at the Vancouver Folk Festival, a group of volunteers recently made a big impact on the ecological health of Jericho Beach Park. All employees of Starbucks Canada, these volunteers donated their sunny Saturday to steward this important green space. With guidance from me and other Evergreen staff they constructed a shed, removed six cubic meters of invasive plant material and rescued 50 tree saplings from being smothered by morning glory.
The group also contributed to a new, important project: an Early Detection and Rapid Response study site for invasive plants. One of our regular stewards spotted a recently introduced invasive plant in the park. By creating this study site we will be able to perform a series of tests and hope to eradicate the plant before it gets a chance to establish.
A big thank you goes out to Starbucks employees for their dedication and hard work. Want to help protect green space near you? Visit our event calendar and join in!
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Posted by Laura from Common Grounds Vancouver
From dumping ground to urban habitat in 6 hours: Still Creek at 14th and Nootka Streets in Vancouver (Photos: Evergreen)
Think it takes a long time to make a difference? This summer a corporate volunteer group completely transformed a section of the Still Creek Corridor in less than 6 hours!
The Still Creek Watershed is one of the only creeks in Vancouver that isn’t completely diverted and covered by development, and many stakeholders, including the City of Vancouver, Metro Vancouver, stewardship groups and concerned neighbours are pitching in to protect it. In this case, Evergreen worked with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) who supported the project through volunteer work and by offsetting the costs of plants and materials.
Here is a breakdown of the day. (Follow the pictures clockwise from the top left!)
10AM Removal begins! PWC volunteers tackle invasive Himalayan Blackberry and remove carelessly dumped garbage that has crowded this urban riparian zone and made it inaccessible to the community.
12PM We would have been happy to get through 6 cubic yards, but in less than two hours, 25 volunteers cleared more than 10 cubic yards of invasive plant material and garbage – all of which was generously taken away free of charge by NSD Disposal.
2PM Planting! In went more than 400 native plants, including Indian Plum, Red-Osier Dogwood, Sword Fern and Nootka Rose, all of which add much-needed biodiversity to the Still Creek corridor.
4PM The end of a transformative day: 25 volunteers, 6 hours of work, 10 cubic yards of material removed, 400 native species planted and a section of restored creekside – right in the middle of the city.
Join in the transformation! Find more information on the Still Creek Enhancement Plan and other restoration projects Evergreen is involved with in the Lower Mainland.
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Posted by Laura from Common Grounds Vancouver
What's a green and leak-free way to 500 gardening gloves on a budget? (Photos: Laura Smit)
Everyone is welcome to take part in Evergreen’s stewardship and planting events. You bring the cheery attitude and we’ll bring everything you need, from the trees and tools to the gloves. And here in Evergreen BC, sometimes this means bringing up to 500 gloves, so all of our volunteers can get their hands in the dirt and keep their fingernails clean. It makes it easy for everyone to take part, but it also means we have a lot of laundry.
We knew there had to be a greener way than sending the soiled gloves out for dry-cleaning. It seemed to fit into Evergreen BC’s green office policy (and budget) to just wash them ourselves in the office.
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Posted by Laura from Common Grounds Vancouver
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Michelle from Evergreen Brick Works
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Laura from Common Grounds Vancouver
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