Today, on Saturday, April 2, 2022, Free the Fern member, Martin, organized a successful invasive pull. The event took place at an area we call the “triangle”: where the Red Alder trail forks, between Cartier Place complex and Matheson Height’s Co-op. ***Please scroll to the bottom to see before and after photos from our event.
For the past month volunteers have been working in the triangle, clearing invasive English ivy & Himalayan blackberry. Today we were out in full force, with 12 volunteers lending a hand. Five volunteers worked at the south west corner of the triangle, while 7 others worked at the north side. Together we managed to clear 8 city green bins (2,640 L) of invasives, one whole city bin (240 L) of garbage, and two plastic garbage bags of recyclable cans and bottles.
Following the pull, Martin led the volunteers down the trail, to his stewardship area on the southern portion of the Red Alder Trail at the corner of S E. Marine Drive, west of Alexander Laidlaw Co-op. Martin has been stewarding this area for over 5 years – removing large amounts of invasive English ivy, Himalayan blackberry, clematis, and lamium. He has also planted many native plants, including: salal, Oregon grape, vine maple, Douglas fir, sword fern, red flowering currant, and others. He also showed us the 2 Garry Oak trees (approximately 7-10 years old) just north of his co-op unit, surrounded by a beautiful array of native perennial flowers.
Returning to his unit in Alexander Laidlaw Co-op, we were welcomed by Martin’s wife, Joyce, for an outdoor burger BBQ. Everyone enjoyed the wonderful lunch and company of each other.
Thanks Martin & Joyce for helping organize such a successful volunteer event!
