To celebrate Tree Appreciation Day, Central Saanich in inviting residents to get their hands dirty. The all-ages event includes a tree planting demonstration by Central Saanich Parks staff and an opportunity to help plant native plants and Garry Oak trees.
“This is a joyous event every year, and it really provides an opportunity for the community to be a part of caring for our natural world,” said Central Saanich Mayor Ryan Windsor. “This year’s event will celebrate the importance of Garry Oak meadows and their ability to adapt to climate change.”
Join us on Sunday, September 24, at 11:00 a.m., at Adam Kerr Park, located at the corner of Keating Cross Road and Central Saanich Road (Parking is very limited - please consider parking at Keating Elementary School). Please wear clothes suitable for the weather and planting.
Did you know?
- A single tree can absorb 10 pounds of air pollutants per year
- Healthy trees and ecosystems increase resilience to climate impacts such as increased rainfall and warmer summer temperatures.
- Trees capture carbon and become carbon ‘sinks’ which reduce the Greenhouse Effect. (You need about 500 full-sized trees to absorb the carbon dioxide produced by a typical car driven 20,000 km/year.)
- Trees and natural spaces have been shown to improve our health and have a psychological impact on our moods and emotions a Biodiversity on our planet is declining at an alarming rate. This planting event provides a way we can work together to do our part to improve biodiversity.
- Garry oak was named by botanist and explorer David Douglas for Nicholas Garry of the Hudson's Bay Company, who helped him during his travels. In Oregon, where it is quite common, this species is called Oregon white oak. Quercus is the Latin name for "oak."
- Aboriginal people tended the Garry oak ecosystems, using fire and cultivation as management tools. The edible bulbs of camas and other species were the focus of the plant harvest. So important were these plants that the Victoria area was originally known as Camosun, or “place to gather camas.”
- Garry oak ecosystems in the Victoria area have been identified as a "hot spot" of biological diversity. They are the most diverse terrestrial ecosystems in British Columbia, containing species ranked "at risk" to loss or serious depletion.