With warmer weather, the green returns, but not all of it is welcome. As a result, our Education & Outreach team has been busy lately!
We have been out in the community, collaborating with local businesses, recruiting volunteers, organizing weed pulls, planning contests… there’s never a dull day in Education & Outreach!
Let’s dive into it!
Collaborating with plant retailers
As part of Plantwise, we have been talking to plant retailers about Grow Me Instead. 
This part of the program supports gardeners and industry in reducing the distribution of invasive plants.
In total, we visited 23 different retailers between Squamish up the Pemberton Valley!
We enjoying getting out into the community and connecting with local business owners, not to mention enjoying the beautiful scenery of the Sea to Sky!
Howe Sound and the Squamish Chief are among the stunning views we get to enjoy when we travel through the region to meet with plant retailers. We feel so lucky!
Promoting responsible recreation
We have also been in contact with local outdoor companies about Play Clean Go and Clean Drain Dry, two campaigns which encourage recreationists to properly clean their equipment to reduce the spread of invasive plants across BC.
This is an exciting time for the Education & Outreach team, as we get to collaborate with local businesses on promotions for the campaign.
We are happy to report that many local businesses are passionate about working with us this summer!
Thank you to all supporters of Play Clean Go this season!
Diving into the Aquatic Invasives 101
We’ve also been busy launching our Aquatic Invasives 101 competition for the summer!
If you’re not familiar, Aquatic Invasives 101 is a short, free course to help you recognize and report invasive species you may encounter during your summer adventures.
We also had a really fun time filming some promo videos – you can check these out on our Instagram or TikTok.
We also made sure that you get a chance to win some sweet prizes along the way!
Thank you to Whistler Eco Tours for donating June’s monthly prize! Check out our Instagram or Facebook to learn more about the competition!
Community weed pulls
If all this wasn’t enough, we also got our boots (and hands) a little dirty (which we cleaned off, of course)!
This month, we did three community weed pulls.
First off, we joined forces with the Squamish River Watershed Society and the Átl’ḵa7tsem / Howe Sound Marine Stewardship Initiative to remove garbage and Scotch broom from the trails and parking lot bordering the Mamquam Blind Channel, in Squamish.
Thanks to everyone who came out on such a hot day, your help certainly didn’t go unnoticed!
The second pull tackled an intense growth of small flower touch-me-not growing in Squamish, along with some unexpected lamium.
Thank you to teachers and students from Coast Mountain Academy for their hard work!
Check out this incredible before-and-after:
Lastly, we headed down to Lions Bay to meet students from Mulgrave School. We spent two hours diligently removing English ivy. If you’ve ever tried this yourself, you’ll know its no walk in the park. Its more like a tug-of-War competition—humans vs. ivy.
This enthusiastic group didn’t get discouraged by the ivy though – in the end, they removed 26 bags of invasive plants!
Banish Burdock
Lastly, we started our Banish Burdock program for the summer! This is always a highlight of our spring, as we get to meet new volunteers out along the Valley Trail and show them the tips and tricks for best burdock removal.
If you are burdock-curious, its not too late to join! Sign up here.
That’s all for now from the Education and Outreach team!
We look forward to catching up again next month!
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