Earth Day volunteers, we love you! Last Saturday, a dream team of 17 volunteers met at Rose Park, Squamish, to tackle English Ivy and Yellow Lamium in honor of Earth Day 2024.
For Earth Day 2024, SSISC and the Squamish River Watershed Society (SRWS) hosted an invasive plant removal and weaving workshop. Shoutout to Silvi and Zoe for being wonderful to work with throughout the event process!
The event brought together members of the Squamish community with the shared goal of protecting native habitats. It was also an opportunity to flex our weaving abilities (or lack thereof).
If you fancy getting involved with future events, check out our events page for upcoming weed pulls. Alternatively, give us a follow on social media (@ssinvasives), we post all upcoming events on Facebook and Instagram.
Amy and Silvi removing invasive English Ivy from Rose Park, Squamish.
A great day for it.
Squamish provided glorious sunny skies and warm weather for the occasion, which made it ridiculously easy to spend the afternoon outside. We were excited to greet so many keen volunteers at Rose Park, many of whom had previous experience removing invasive plants. It was clear that the dream team had officially assembled.
We donned colourful gardening gloves, grabbed some handy tools, and headed for the invasive plant spots. Those invasives didn’t stand a chance!
Choosing our enemies
The main invasive species in our section of Rose Park were Yellow Lamium and English Ivy. Last year, on Earth Day 2023, our volunteers removed lots of English Ivy from this area. It was great to see the progress that had been made!
Our group split into a Yellow Lamium team and an English Ivy team.
Eila, Melanie and Zoe removing invasive English Ivy from Rose Park, Squamish.
So long, Yellow Lamium
Yellow Lamium is an evergreen, perennial groundcover that pops up quickly after the snow has melted. It is distinguishable by its shiny leaves and small yellow flowers. Yellow Lamium outcompetes native habitats, reducing biodiversity. To learn more about Yellow Lamium, head to the button below.
Our team made quick work of the Yellow Lamium patch. They carefully removed all plant parts, including the root system. Yellow Lamium can spread via the smallest plant part, so this was very important.
The dream team was able to completely remove this patch. Hopefully, when we return next year this spot will be filled with native plants!
Thank you, Yellow Lamium team!
William, Alex and Evangeline removing invasive English Ivy from Rose Park, Squamish.
English Ivy, no more.
English Ivy is an evergreen, woody climbing vine that was introduced from Europe to North America as an ornamental plant. It threatens native plant communities and overwhelms shrubs, trees, and seedlings. To learn more about English Ivy, click the button below.
The dream team does not shy away from a challenge. They dove head first (literally, at some points) into the English Ivy patch. Our favourite game was, how far does this strand of Ivy go? The two hours flew by and the piles of removed Ivy grew tall.
By 3 pm, our team had removed 150kg (yes, you read that right) of invasive plants, or about the weight of a grand piano. That’s major! (get it?)
Basket weaving using the English Ivy we just removed. Kyla opted for a hat instead of a basket, nifty!
Basket weaving “professionals”
Somehow, the dream team’s talents didn’t end there. After the weed pull, we sat down for some basket weaving using the English Ivy just removed. Clo patiently talked us through the process. After some trial and error, we got the hang of it!
Wow, these baskets were quite something! Thanks to Free the Fern (@free_the_fern) for the wonderful instructions on weaving with Ivy. If you’d like to try your hand at weaving, head to our craft page.
Thank you, Earth Day volunteers, for all your hard work and for being so, so lovely. We hope to see you all soon!
The ultimate dream team to remove invasive weeds and weave baskets with!
Thank you to our sponsors
We also thank our funders, including the Whistler Community Foundation, the Squamish Community Foundation, and the BC Hydro Grassroots Grant. Our weed pulls and community events are made possible in part by their generous contributions.
Add Comment