The edges of Cougar Creek will be getting a spring clean this weekend as two volunteer groups set about removing invasive plants in the greenway.
The Cougar Creek Streamkeepers are hosting two separate clean up projects on Saturday, April 28 “within shouting distance of each other” along the North Delta Greenway, streamkeeper Deborah Jones said.
The first is a volunteer effort from Canadian Autoparts Toyota to remove English ivy from along the trail. The volunteers will start at Bates Road and move northward for the next two and a half hours.
According to Jones, these trails were cleared of ivy in 2011, but “regrowth is often a problem — from bits we’ve missed, from illegal dumping of garden wastes or from seeds spread by birds that have eaten ivy berries.”
The second is joint project between the streamkeepers, the City of Delta and the Lower Mainland Green Team. Volunteers are wanted to remove English ivy and Himalayan blackberry from the Barrymore Drive Park Reserve site, which is about the size of a residential lot and quite steep.
The Green Team has partnered with the Streamkeepers on many other projects over the last seven years. For Lyda Salatian, founder of the Lower Mainland Green Team, it’s an important way to keep people engaged in environmental stewardship.
“Invasive plant removals, to us, our charity, it’s just a tool,” she said. “It’s important to get awesome work done and invasive species removed from the park … but really, it’s about the people. Because if you impact and change people, to us it’s going to be a much larger impact on the environment.
“We’re trying to have a large-scale cultural shift.”
The Green Team cleanup is open to all — Salatian is planning on going door to door before the event to get the community involved — and interested participants can sign up online at http://goo.gl/WRx6jr.
Volunteers will meet between 7501 and 7511 Barrymore Dr., just north of Bates Road, at 9:45 a.m. The clean up will go until about 1 p.m., rain or shine, and refreshments will be provided.
For more information on the Green Team’s clean up session, including a link to register as a volunteer, visit http://goo.gl/QR9M3S.
grace.kennedy@northdeltareporter.com
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