Press Release: Local nonprofit aims to restore disappearing meadows with new employment model for conservation delivery, looking for support 

March 31, 2024 | W̱SÁNEĆ and lək̓ʷəŋən territories (Victoria, BC)  

By Habitat Acquisition Trust staff 

 As many residents begin planning gardens and vacations for the warmer months ahead, Habitat Acquisition Trust staff are preparing to launch an expanded model for hiring skilled workers to conduct ecological restoration on 30 local sites with endangered meadows, offering the Victoria-area community the chance to support this work directly. HAT aims to raise $60,000 this field season to fund the incoming dedicated field crew members who will continue this important stewardship throughout the region. 

“This collaborative pilot project aims to provide skills-based employment with a Living Wage and much-needed stewardship of the disappearing meadows across this island and the gulf islands. It is in partnership with nonprofits and community groups that do not have the capacity to hire, train, and coordinate their own field crews,” said Max Mitchell, Habitat Restoration Coordinator for HAT. 

The unique aspect of this model is collaboration - this crew is hosted and trained by HAT but is shared with over 15 partners, each who host the field crew members at their own high priority prairie-oak meadow restoration sites. These 30+ sites are located from Nanaimo to Metchosin and out to several gulf islands.

This project is centered around three primary focal points: habitat restoration, community stewardship, and wildlife conservation. Half of the funding is being provided by Environment and Climate Change Canada, but there are still opportunities to support this work. Part of ECCC’s mission to increase community participation in conservation, programs like this rely on “match funding,” giving HAT the chance to invite individual and group partners into the project to help cover the cost of expenses including training, transportation, and restoration specialist expertise to guide the work.  

Last year, the project allowed HAT to hire 12 field crew members, co-host 35 community-based volunteer restoration events, and collaborate with 5 Indigenous-led stewardship initiatives. One field crew member from 2023 provided an in-depth reflection on the HAT blog here. Community participation and support is especially exciting given these ecosystems' importance to the region. 

These prairie-oak meadows are also known as Garry Oak (Quercus garryana) ecosystems. In Coast Salish territories, native oaks are the primary tree these ecosystems host, along with over 100 species of birds, pollinators, mammals, and plants that depend on these habitats and are at risk of extinction. The Garry Oak Ecosystem Recovery Team (GOERT) reports that only 1 to 5% of these ecosystems remain in the region compared to 200 years ago before colonization. 

“Over 95% of these meadows have been wiped out from land conversion to agriculture, industry or housing, as well as the suppression of Indigenous land management practices like cultivation or controlled burning, and dispossession of land from the W̱SÁNEĆ and lək̓ʷəŋən peoples.” said Paige Erickson-McGee, Program Manager at HAT. “These meadows are livelihood, culture, tradition, family, language, responsibility, so much more. The plants carefully tended and cultivated in these meadows were the staple food and trade source for many Coast Salish families. Just isolated pockets of these culturally important meadow-gardens are left, and every community member can be part of the solution.”  

Integral to HAT’s work in prairie-oak ecosystems are the ongoing relationships with Indigenous communities working in this space. HAT is grateful for its ongoing capacity-adding partnerships with Indigenous-led initiatives, including the lək̓ʷəŋən Community Toolshed, Stewards of Sc’ianew Society, ̱WS͸ḴEM Ivy Project, and PEPÁḴEṈ HÁUTW̱. These initiatives focus on stewarding culturally important natural spaces such as camas meadows – camas is known as kwetlal - qʷɬáʔəl in lək̓ʷəŋən language, and ḰȽO,EL in the W̱SÁNEĆ language of SENĆOŦEN.  

Listen to pronunciation of the word in lək̓ʷəŋən here 

Listen to pronunciation of the word in SENĆOŦEN here 

HAT plans to expand support of these community-based initiatives this coming year with the field crew’s labour. Part of these initiatives include hosting volunteer restoration events, and more events are coming in 2024. These events provide opportunity for community members to get involved in reciprocal, on-the-land stewardship work, contextualized by Indigenous ways of knowing and relating to the land and an awareness of the impacts of settler colonialism on these ecosystems. The W̱S͸ḴEM Ivy Project led by Sarah Jim runs monthly community restoration events hosting up to 80 attendees at a time.  

“The WS͸ḴEM Ivy Project is an Indigenous-led initiative that strives to heal traditional territory to restore the ecosystem and community relationships,” says W̱SÁNEĆ artist Sarah Jim who leads the W̱S͸ḴEM Ivy Project. “The partnership between the WS͸ḴEM Ivy Project and Habitat Acquisition Trust has been invaluable as these projects lift each other up and work towards the common goal of healing the land in a good way.” 

Other partnerships include three long-running volunteer stewardship groups: the Matson Mattocks in Esquimalt, the Friends of Havenwood Park in Colwood, the newly formed the Friends of Oak Haven Park in Central Saanich.  All three groups run regular work parties that are looking for volunteers.

HAT also connects landowners with prairie-oak habitat to stewardship guidance, expert advice, and other stewards in their communities. Visiting 29 unique properties last year, HAT conducted site reports, biological assessments, invasive species removal, and planting in these rare and endangered ecosystems. HAT also ran invasive species training opportunities for landowners and native plant salvage training sessions for the general public, resulting in over 3,500 salvaged native plants from sites actively being developed. By engaging with landowners where these ecosystems still exist, HAT aims to empower the community to be active stewards.

Last year HAT's Wildlife Program continued its work enhancing prairie-oak wildlife habitat and monitoring for species at risk including Little Brown Myotis bats, Western Painted Turtles, Blue-grey Taildropper slugs, Sharp-tailed Snakes, Western Screech Owls, and other species at risk in the region. HAT co-hosted 11 workshops and events for wildlife stewardship, visited 71 sites, and received 302 hours of volunteer support for this program.  

“We are so grateful for the dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers and field crew who make this work possible,” says Julianna Laposa-Wilde, Wildlife Stewardship Coordinator at HAT. “It helps us continue to support wildlife across the region.”

THE STATS:

• Accumulated 4090 hours toward stewardship and restoration work from volunteers and crew; 

• Worked with 5 Indigenous-led stewardship initiatives; 

• Planted over 1600 native plants; 

• Restored 110,000 square meters of prairie-oak habitat via invasive plant removal; 

• Visited 115 sites across program areas; 

• Gained 803 volunteers supporting HAT’s programs; 

This work would not have been possible without countless volunteer hours, partnerships, community involvement, and donations. If you missed the chance to support this project last year, you don’t want to miss another chance! HAT aims to raise $60,000 this field season to fund the incoming dedicated field crew members who will continue this important stewardship throughout the region.  

If you have the capacity to donate to this project, your funds will go a long way to supporting the restoration and stewardship of this vital ecosystem that exists nowhere else in Canada. Your donation will also directly contribute to HAT’s work towards supporting reconciliation through stewardship of these Coast Salish ecosystems. 

Ways to support this initiative:  

• visit our new Field Fundraiser Page !

• donate via hat.bc.ca/donate (select the Habitat Management & Restoration Fund) 

• send an e-transfer accepted to hatmail@hat.bc.ca  (include a message “direct to Habitat Restoration”) 

• call our office at 250 995 2428 to give a donation over the phone 

• come into the office at #202-661 Burnside Road East to drop off a donation in person 

• volunteer at an upcoming community restoration event: hat.bc.ca/volunteer  

For more information, resources, and other organizations working on conserving and restoring prairie-oak habitats, visit hat.bc.ca/oaks  

To get involved in HAT’s stewardship work, visit the HAT events page at hat.bc.ca/volunteer 

This project is made possible by the Coastal Douglas-Fir Conservation Partnership (CDFCP) and the following funders: Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation, Victoria Foundation, Vancouver Foundation, Metchosin Foundation, Heritage BC, the Government of Canada – Environmental and Climate Change Canada Priority Places Fund, the Province of British Columbia, BC Conservation & Biodiversity Award, Clean Foundation, and many others, as well as private donations from individuals like you. 

For any questions relating to local habitat conservation, email hatmail@hat.bc.ca or call 250-995-2428.