Uniting in Creative Collaboration |
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Trees Matter Premiere Wednesday, September 22nd, 11-11:30 am PST Join us this Wednesday, Sept. 22 from 11 to 11:30 am PST for the launch of Trees Matter, our latest creative collaboration. Through music, dance, song and stunning visuals, the importance of protecting, preserving and planting trees is artfully expressed in this unique collaboration involving members of the Victoria Symphony, the Victoria Philharmonic Choir, the Emily Carr String Quartet and Ballet Victoria. This seven-minute short film, produced by Creatively United for the Planet, a non-profit society dedicated to showcasing creative solutions for a new world, is presented in celebration of National Tree Day. In addition to the film premiere, this event includes Leq’á:mel First Nation (Stó:lō Nation) Indigenous Leader, Patrick Kelly, plus a Fairy Creek old growth forest update with popular singer/songwriter Luke Wallace, and ecoforestry advocate, Kathleen Code. Thanks to our sponsors the City of Victoria, the Gail O'Riordan Climate and the Arts Legacy Fund, and the Victoria Foundation. |
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City of Victoria Tree Resources |
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Join the Trees in Cities Challenge The City of Victoria is working with the community to plant 5,000 trees on public and private land in the United Nations Trees in Cities Challenge. In 2020, the City increased tree planting by 40 per cent and planted 500 new trees in parks and on boulevards. Take the pledge and plant trees on private property, learn about tree health, become a tree champion, then plant and record your trees. Learn more here. |
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$1,000 Grant for Residential Trees The City’s My Great Neighbourhood Grant program includes an opportunity for planting residential trees. The $1,000 grant helps groups of residents support the cost of trees, staking materials, deer fencing, mulching supplies, and hiring a landscape or arborist professional to lead a workshop on tree education. Applications are open until October 31, 2021. Learn more about the My Great Neighbourhood Grant Trees in Cities Challenge: $1,000 Grant for Residential Trees and apply here. |
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Start a Community Orchard or Garden Apply for the City of Victoria 2021 Community Garden Start-Up Grant by October 22. This grant is available to eligible organizations for the design, planning, engagement and build of new community gardens in Victoria, including fruit tree orchards. Learn more here. |
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Tree Planting Resources Residents can access free tree planting guides on the City’s website to help with long-term tree health, including: |
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Tree Cities of the World Award The City of Victoria was recently recognized with a Tree Cities of the World award by the Arbor Day Foundation and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The Tree Cities of the World program is an international effort to recognize cities and towns committed to ensuring that their urban forests and trees are properly maintained and sustainably managed. Learn more here. |
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Dr. Suzanne Simard:
The Disappearing Mother Trees Wednesday, September 22nd, 3-4:30 pm PST Internationally recognized expert in plant communication and intelligence, Dr. Suzanne Simard will share her Mother Tree Project findings as they relate to old growth forest in Fairy Creek. Trees interact with the species that surround them. They are connected by underground networks through which they not only communicate but share resources. Simard's research has proven interspecies cooperation, demonstrating that old growth forest is a vast, complex network built over an extremely long time. The disappearing Mother Trees heralds a tremendous collective loss - and time is running out to preserve these invaluable ancients - both locally and globally. What they have built can never be replicated. |
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About Dr. Suzanne Simard Dr. Suzanne Simard is a three-time TED Speaker, UBC Professor and pioneer researcher. Her recently-released book, Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest, is earning international acclaim. Dr. Suzanne Simard will share her quest to find and protect our 'Mother Trees'—tree elders that nurture forests in ways that remind us of human families—by caring for each other, sharing food, and sheltering their young. |
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From Elders for Ancient Trees
Action to Protect Vulnerable Species As you read this, Teal Jones chainsaws are razing Vancouver Island's Fairy Creek ancient forest that provides habitat to a score of rare and vulnerable species. It’s clear that no biological survey was done before cutting started. Groups of scientists that have managed to get into the area have documented sightings of marbled murrelets, western screech owls, pygmy owls, and more (read more here). Recently, a rare, blue-listed lichen (old growth specklebelly lichen) was found. Express your views on this habitat destruction to your MLA, and to one or more of these contacts: |
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- Office of the Premier:
250-387-1715 - Katrine Conroy, Minister of FLNR:
250-387-6240 - Richard Manwaring, Deputy Minister, FLNR: 250-952-6500
- Allison Tripp, Manager, Executive Issues, FLNR: 778-974-5876
- David Muter, Assistant Deputy Minister, FLNR resource stewardship division:
250-217-5385
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- Andrea Wood, Director, Executive Operations, FLNR: 250-213-5598
- Darcy Peel, Director, strategic initiatives, Species at Risk Recovery Branch: 778-220-3449
- Kendra Bennett, Manager, species and ecosystems: 778-698-7030
- Christine Petrovcic, Species at Risk coordinator: 778-647-2000
- Jeffrey Shatford, Terrestrial Habitat specialist: 778-974-2402
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Being a Voice for the Forest
A Guide for Taking Action As human beings we are an inseparable part of the natural world. Our existence depends on a good relationship with our non-human relatives. Unfortunately, the current model of forestry practiced in this province breaks the relationships between ourselves and nature. In British Columbia, forests are being logged at an unsustainable rate, leading to loss of biodiversity, increased carbon emissions, and human rights conflicts. Many of us are asking ourselves, “how can I make a difference?” This guide from Sierra Club BC will help you answer that question. |
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Conservation Forest Communities Conservation Forest Communities are a socially, economically and ecologically responsible model, developed by the Trust for Sustainable Forestry, for the stewardship of forests on privately owned lands, while providing for small, clustered human communities that steward the forest using ecological forestry principles and practices.
Where: On any parcel of privately owned forested lands anywhere in the world, introduced in coastal British Columbia.
Why: For forest ecosystems which are critically endangered (such as those on southeastern Vancouver Island and the adjacent Gulf Islands), the Conservation Forests Community model provides a critically important option to prevent the extinction of these rare forest types. For less rare ecosystems, this model provides a means to maintain naturally biodiverse forests in areas where forested lands are privately owned.
How: Faced with a pattern of privately owned forest lands being clear cut logged and later subdivided into residential lots, this model provides the landowner with an option in which at least 85% of the forested land base is (a) saved from clear cutting and (b) maintained as a forest in a regime that restores old growth characteristics over time and is subject to one or more conservation covenants to ensure this happens. This is made economically possible by development of a small, clustered residential community having a minimal ecological footprint which collectively stewards, improves and ecologically manages any economic proceeds from the forest in perpetuity.
For further information on conservation forest communities, please contact: Michael Coon, Secretary, Trust for Sustainable Forestry, phone 250-598-0640 or email michaelandjenica@gmail.com Learn more about ecoforestry on Vancouver Island at the Ecoforestry Institute Society. |
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Upcoming Climate Action Events |
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Wednesday Rally for Ancient Forests+Forest Protectors Sept 22 + every Wed., 4-6 pm PST Meet at BC Leg Government+Belleville (Signs and sign making materials available). ~5 pm we walk to CFAX/ BellMedia at 1420 Broad St, ~5:45 back to BC Leg. Cenotaph area for a bit of sharing/debriefing. Student Climate Strike
Friday, September 24, Noon PST Students will walk out of class late morning and arrive at the Legislature at about noon. Speakers, music and more. Let’s get out and support the students as they struggle for a sustainable future. Organized by Our Earth Our Future. |
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Forest Friday: WE Serve+Protect
Friday Sept 24, 4-6 pm PST
RCMP Admin Bldg, Topaz+Blanshard (2881 Nanaimo St.) We continue to show up and demand: - BC and Canadian governments honour old growth protection and climate promises
- BC and Canadian governments consult honourably with First Nations
- RCMP stand down
- End colonial violence
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Creatively United Solutions Hub |
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Healthy, happy communities begin from the ground up. Help us inspire generations to protect and preserve the natural world and confront climate change, so families, communities and nature can prosper together. |
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About Creatively United & Our Community Partners |
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The Creatively United for the Planet Society is a registered non-profit society. Since 2012, we have brought together more than 10,000 people from throughout the region who care about happy, healthy, and resilient communities. We have done so through eight zero-waste sustainability showcases, numerous community events and educational talks, collaborative partnerships, a video series, and the CreativelyUnited.org free community information network, resource and solutions sharing hub. The Gail O'Riordan Climate and the Arts Legacy Fund, supported by The Victoria Foundation, is dedicated to changing human consciousness towards global environmental change by combining science with the creativity of the performing arts. |
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