Greenways June E-News

Greenways Land Trust

Greenways' Nature & Nutrition
Seniors’ Program

* N E W * Greenways program for seniors (55+) who are interested in boosting their healthy lifestyle with these three amazing 'extras':

1 | The Good Food Box is full of all sorts of fruits and veggies to boost your nutrition. Participants will be eligible for a box at a subsidized rate upon request.

2 | Healthy Pantry Staples: In addition to the Good Food Box, participants can choose from a list of healthy pantry staples that will give those Good Food Box veggies some good company in a well balanced meal.

3 | Interpretive Nature Walks: Campbell River boasts some of the best outdoor experiences to be found. We will explore nature with knowledgeable guides and each other to discover the wonder that is right under our noses, while meeting some new people along the way.

L E A R N M O R E A B O U T T H E P R O G R A M

It's a win win! The 12-week program with limited spaces is designed to offer positive health changes from a boost in nutritious food and physical activity in a social, nature-based setting. Every two weeks the participants will be invited to join an interpretive nature walk and they will be able to pick up their Good Food Box with fresh produce. Boxes are available at a subsidized rate upon request. On top of this everyone who signs up will also receive approximately $100 worth of pantry staples. Beneficiaries aren't only those who participate but there's a benefit for health research too: Program participants will be part of a Vancouver Island-wide health research study. There will an informed consent document and both pre-program and post-program surveys for participants to complete either in writing or orally.

Sign up by emailing Kyle Fitzpatrick at kyle@greenwaystrust.ca. If we caught your interest but you are seeing barriers that keep you from joining the program, please contact us to discuss solutions.

_ N U R T U R E Y O U R S E L F _

Junior Streamkeepers
Project Update

So much fun in and around our local streams: More than a dozen school group outings have taken place, doing all sorts of work from invasive removal, planting native species, to interpretive nature walks!

The kids have planted 117 native plants in four locations (restoration sites, rain gardens, detention ponds, and native plant gardens), and have been learning a lot about the interactive relationships between the forest and freshwater salmon habitat. Our 2nd and McPhedran EcoAction site had almost 1,000lbs of invasive blackberry removed by Carihi students before they replanted the space with native species.

Sandowne Elementary students did a great job planting in the previously degraded habitat beside Simms Creek along the Sandowne Trail, and Penfield Elementary students have been hard at work at the Penfield Detention Pond, removing invasives and planting native trees and wildflowers donated by the city. We have been lucky enough this year to do a number of interpretive walks with school groups including those focused on the ecological history of areas in Campbell River, as well as bird and insect adaptations.

T H A N K Y O U

Huge thanks to our Funder, Environment and Climate Change Canada and supporting partners, including the City of Campbell River and all the glorious teachers, kids, and volunteers we are so lucky to work with.

Volunteer Opportunity

Seeking Volunteer Driver

Our Strathcona GOOD FOOD BOX needs you! Greenways is seeking someone with experience driving a trailer to drive to Courtenay biweekly to pick up food for our Good Food Box program in Campbell River. The driver can either drive their own truck (with a reimbursement for mileage) or the Greenways truck. A clean driving record from ICBC will be required prior to commencing volunteering.

Please contact Kyle@greenwaystrust.ca if you are available!

LOOP DAY

Sunday, June 26

Hop on the 28km Greenways Loop with us on Sunday, June 26. Let's celebrate FROG: our beautiful F'orests, R'iver, O'cean and G'reenspaces! Start is at 11am at Rotary Beach Park.

Follow the Greenways Loop Groups' Facebook page if you want to be kept 'in the loop'.

Be Part of the Change
Get Involved

If you are interested in volunteering with Greenways, please e-mail us at volunteer@greenwaystrust.ca or give us a call 250-287-3785. The Greenways office is now open from 10am-4pm Monday to Thursday. Please call ahead before dropping by the office – we are often on site or in meetings during this time.

Volunteers are needed for:

Greenways Board of Directors
Greenways Conservation Team
Streamkeeping [Nunns, Woods, Simms, Willow, Haig-Brown Kingfisher & Detweiler Creek]
Mountain View Community Food Forest
Campbell River Hospital Food Forest

Campbell River Estuary
Mill Pond Restoration

Learn more about Greenways' MILL POND RESTORATION work in the estuary on Saturday, June 18, between 10am and 12/noon. Meet with Greenways staff and other restoration experts at the Baikie Island parking lot at the head of Robinson Road - click here for directions.

T H E M I L L P O N D

Greenways has been working behind the scenes to bring an exciting new restoration project to the Baikie Island Nature Reserve – further ecological restoration of the “Mill Pond”. This area used to be a large salt marsh. The marsh was dug out to provide log storage and booming for the forest industry from the 1950s onwards.

S A L T M A R S H E S

Are incredibly valuable habitat for all sorts of wildlife.
Create areas where juvenile salmon can hide from predators like seals and fish-eating ducks;
Provide habitat for many rare plant species, including the Vancouver Island beggarticks – an endangered species that lives in the CR Estuary; and,
Capture and cycle nutrients into the estuary ecosystem – feeding invertebrates and other decomposers, which in turn become food for other species such as juvenile salmon.

T H E P R O J E C T

Aerial photo analysis has shown that the CR Estuary lost over 20% of its salt marsh habitat during the 20th century. Greenways is excited to be restoring more salt marsh and eelgrass habitat within the “Mill Pond” this summer. Eelgrass beds are also excellent juvenile salmon habitat with similar ecological function to salt marsh, just lower in the intertidal/subtidal zone.

Since December 2020, we have been working with partners including the Wei Wai Kum First Nation, the City of Campbell River, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the Nature Conservancy of Canada, several different specialist biologists, and hydraulic engineers to develop a restoration plan. We plan to move some of the material that was dug out to create the “Mill Pond” back into the pond – some of this material is still on-site on “Carolyn’s Spit,” and has grown back into a disturbed habitat type of small alders and the invasive Himalayan blackberry. Turning this area back into salt marsh and eelgrass beds will improve the ecological functioning of the estuary significantly.

Greenways has been working with both the Weiwaikum Guardian Watchmen and an arborist contractor to remove trees that needed to be removed for the restoration to take place. We did this earlier in the spring so that we had minimal impact on any bird species that might have wanted to use these trees for nesting (many of the trees were small, and poor nesting habitat, but we chose to be proactive!)

Please feel free to contact Greenways’ Executive Director, Cynthia Bendickson, at the Greenways office on 250-287-3785 or cynthia@greenwaystrust.ca if you have any questions.