Greenways Land Trust

09/02/2026

We're very happy to have added this project to our food security programming in Area D in south Campbell River as a partner with Strathcona Regional District. Let us know if you'd like to get involved as a volunteer in the food forest!

Wandering Wednesdays

📍 This week's feature: Maple Park Community Garden and Food Forest

This year, volunteers and crews with Greenways Land Trust enhanced the community garden at Maple Park with a new food forest. Crews have planted the food forest with apples, pears, hazels, sweet chestnuts, cherries, plums, walnuts, figs, and many other fruit and nut trees. While they are still small, a whole bunch of sunflowers, sweet peas, calendula, and other flowers, herbs, and annual vegetables have been planted to help build the soil and give some colour while everything gets established. The site will continue to grow and evolve over the coming years. All are welcome to visit, volunteer, and help tend the garden and food forest. Anyone interested is invited to get in touch with Greenways.

As you explore, please remember to:
✔️ Stay on designated trails
✔️ Obey posted signage
✔️ Respect private property and neighbouring landowners

Together, we can help keep our parks, trails, and outdoor spaces safe, welcoming, and enjoyable for everyone.

08/27/2026

🐟 The forests, streams, wetlands, estuaries, and wildlife of the Campbell River region enrich our lives today and deserve protection for generations to come. Restoration work takes patience and commitment, as well as an abundance of community support and goodwill.

🐸 For more than three decades, Greenways Land Trust has worked with communities, First Nations, governments, landowners, and volunteers to conserve and restore the natural places that make our region unique.

🦉 A legacy gift is one of the most meaningful ways you can support this work. By including Greenways Land Trust in your estate plans, you can help ensure that future generations inherit healthy ecosystems, thriving salmon streams, protected habitats, and opportunities to connect with nature.

🌱 Every gift helps, whatever the size.

💚 If you've already included Greenways in your estate plans, or you're thinking about it, we'd like to hear from you. Reach us at [email protected] or 250-287-3785.

🐻 For a detailed look at leaving a gift through your estate, read more on our website: www.greenwaystrust.ca/legacy-giving/

08/25/2026

🐸 POV: you're monitoring for American bullfrogs in your local wetland.

👽 Did you know that invasive American bullfrogs have invaded waterways as near as Salmon Point? We're keeping a close eye on our local waterbodies to make sure this species does not have the chance to become established.

🥚 Bullfrogs are well known for very quickly replacing native species of frogs due to their reproductive success paired with their insatiable appetites. Female bullfrogs lay 20,000 eggs per clutch and can breed up to two times a season. In addition to invertebrates, they have been known to eat rodents, birds, reptiles and other amphibians.

🍽️ American bullfrogs were introduced as a possible food item farmed for their meaty back legs. Most of their spread on Vancouver Island is attributed to human influence as they are collected as tadpoles as potential pets and then released when people change their mind.

🔎 What can you do to help? Become familiar with American bullfrogs by sight and sound and let us know if you observe any in Campbell River. The easiest way to identify bullfrogs is by looking for a tympanum just behind the eye. This is a large circular patch of skin that acts as the frogs eardrum. This feature is very prominent in American bullfrogs and reduced, absent or indistinct in all of our native amphibian species.

Bullfrog tadpoles are also quite distinct as they are significantly larger, and remain as tadpoles for more than one season so any tadpole found after late summer is sure to be from an invasive frog.

👂 American bullfrog calls are also very easy to identify. From early spring into early fall, they produce a very deep sound described as sounding like "jug-o-rum." Listen to the audio link here and then keep an eye out for this call: bcreptilesandamphibians.ca/american-bullfrog/
and more info here: www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/environment/plants-animals-ecosystems/wildlife/wildlife-conservation/amphibians-reptiles/frogwatching

👉 If you do hear a bullfrog calling, try to take a video (even if you can't see it) to record the audio and share it with us. We would also appreciate any pictures and locations sent our way, to [email protected]

08/24/2026

Deadline for Nominations is this Saturday, August 29th!

🏆 The Haig-Brown Environmental Stewardship Awards are back for a third year, and nominations are officially open!

🌲 A coalition of local organizations and First Nations have come together once again to celebrate individuals, youth, and organizations making meaningful contributions to environmental preservation, restoration, and innovation in our region. The awards are a community-driven effort, spearheaded by a committee representing the , Greenways Land Trust, We Wai Kai First Nation’s Guardian Program, and Wei Wai K*m First Nation’s Guardian Program.

🗳 From August 1st to August 29th, 2026, the public is invited to submit nominations across seven categories that highlight key areas of environmental stewardship:

• Alternative Transportation & Air Quality
• Urban Agriculture
• Water & Energy Conservation
• Habitat Protection & Creation
• Waste Reduction & Recycling
• Youth Special Recognition
• Environmental Excellence

🐟 Individuals, youth, groups, businesses, industry, and other projects are eligible in all categories. This year, nominations are welcomed from a broad geographic area, from Oyster River to Chatham Point, including Campbell River and the Discovery Islands.

⏱ Nomination Deadline is Saturday, August 29th, 2026.

💻 A digital nomination form is available here: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/r/p9CxrTbNpz

📝A fillable PDF form is available to download here:https://www.greenwaystrust.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Haig-Brown-Stewardship-Awards-Nomination-Form-2026.pdf
🐸 Submit completed nomination forms via the online form linked above, to Greenways Land Trust in person, or by email to [email protected].

🐻 Winners will be recognized on Saturday, September 12, 2026, at the historic Haig-Brown House on the banks of the Campbell River. The awards ceremony is part of the Haig-Brown Festival celebration, featuring live music, nature and history programs, local food vendors, and community spirit.

08/23/2026

🐸 Did you know that over the past few years, Greenways has brought in more than $5 million in non-municipal funding from grants, donors, and partners? A significant portion of that flows right back into Campbell River businesses, tradespeople and contractors who help us do this work. More often than not, we see the support reciprocated from the amazing business community in Campell River.

💚 There are amazing businesses and experts in town who support our work in so many ways — starting with Ben Boykiw at , who donated his own time to help mill lumber for a community garden project and who supports our Campbell River Fruit Tree Project by extending a 15% discount to registered tree owners for pruning, to Beach Fire Brewing Company who donates proceeds from their Baikie Island Spruce Tip Ale each year and who generously donated proceeds and space for a fundraiser event this Spring.

🛻 Let's not forget Mainstream Biological Consulting for their generous donation to our new truck fund, the folks at Home Depot Campbell River who pass along their expired garden seeds for us to distribute and put to use, and for Healthyway Natural Foods for their donation of proceeds from their customer appreciation day each year.

🫶 Our circles of support are really part of a much bigger economic sector with big impacts locally, and across the country. According to a 2024 report, BC's community non-profit sector employs 92,000 workers and contributes approximately $4.87 billion to the province's GDP.
Full report here:https://victoriafoundation.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/2024-State-of-the-Non-Profit-Sector-Report.pdf

🌎 Conservation isn't a cost to the economy, nor is it red tape and bureaucracy — it is a significant sector of the local, provincial, and national economy. In fact, a thriving society and a prosperous economy are only possible over the long term when they are situated within a healthy environment that sustains biodiversity and recognizes the interdependence of all living things. Our economic and social infrastructure is built within and depends upon the natural environment.

08/19/2026

🫜 Are you trying out seed saving this year? Donate extra seeds to the Vancouver Island Regional Library seed library!

🫘 Saving seeds is a great way to adapt garden plants to local growing conditions over time. With summer heat and droughts, anything we can do to make our gardens more resilient and hardy, the easier our growing efforts will be. Plus, nature makes free seeds!

🍅 Any donations should include the name of the seed type and when they were harvested. Seed donations can be dropped off at the library 7 days a week.

08/18/2026

🍻 Major shoutout to our neighbour and lovely community partner Beach Fire Brewing Company for their $1,200 donation!

🌲 Each year, Greenways volunteers help out foraging for spruce tips from Baikie Island for brewing in the Baikie Island Spruce Tip Ale. The area was overplanted with spruce during the initial restoration stages and many trees there are infected with bud weevil, which keeps the trees short and bushy, which is perfect for harvesting!

🌱 As these trees slowly die off, Greenways crews will replant with a wider diversity of other native plant species.

💚 Thanks to Darrin, Scotia, and the Beach Fire crew for their amazing support each year! And thanks to all the thirsty locals for enjoying the brews!

08/17/2026

🐷 Do you raise farm animals in or near Campbell River, or know someone who does? We're looking to add a few more names to our animal-grade fruit distribution list.

🐴 Each year, our backyard fruit gleaning program harvests thousands of pounds of A-grade apples, pears, plums, and grapes to distribute to our food security partners in Strathcona Regional District.

🐔 But not all we harvest is fit for human consumption. We also take away broken and spoiled fruit to reduce animal attractants that can lead to dangerous encounters with bears or other unwanted animals.

🚜 We have a handful of farmers who pick up this fruit to supplement as animal feed, which has also risen sharply in price over the past few years.

🍎 If you're interested in receiving animal grade fruit, please send us an email at [email protected]

08/10/2026

🫐 We've had a couple spots open up for our workshop this week:

🫐 Blackberry season is here — and Greenways has a full circle of events planned to teach important food skills, give back to nature, and build healthy communities. Come eat the weeds with us!

🫙 Join us for a canning workshop on August 12th to learn how to prepare and safely can blackberry jam. We will also harvest berries before the event, and come back later to remove this invasive species and replant with other native plant species to restore natural biodiversity.

👩‍🌾 Blackberry Harvest — Tues, Aug 11, 10:00 AM
Join Greenways volunteer and experienced forager Doug Kernovich for a foraging outing to a pollution-free, accessible harvest site in Campbell River (location details coming soon, and will be shared with those on the sign-up form). Doug will cover safe foraging practices before we pick.

👩‍🍳 Jam-Making Workshop — Wed, Aug 12, 1:00–3:30 PM (this is a free workshop)
Campbell River Community Centre Kitchen
Turn the harvest into jam at this workshop, led by Jessie Newman and Brenna Jefferson from Island Health. Learn preserving basics and take home a couple of jars).

👷‍♀️ Invasive Removal — Late summer/early fall
We'll return to the same site once the weather cools to remove the blackberry root balls and canes from this area, reducing this invasive species' hold on the landscape.

🌲 Native Planting — Fall
We'll finish the cycle by planting native species that blackberry tends to crowd out, restoring biodiversity to the site.

🐸 Folks are not required to attend multiple events, and are welcome to sign up for as many or as few as they like.

📅 Head here for more details and registration: https://volunteersignup.org/TD3R7

08/09/2026

📖 If you're looking for some lazy Sunday reading, check out the August edition of the Confluence e-news from Greenways Land Trust!

📰 In this month's edition, we had longer-form pieces on everything from bat monitoring and our upcoming Blackberry Jam Workshop, to the upcoming Haig-Brown Stewardship Awards and our ongoing monitoring of introduced Canada goose populations.

🗞 We also have news on our Simms Creek fish fence, which monitors salmon populations in this urban stream, details on upcoming volunteer opportunities with our Conservation Team, and educational outings with the Greenways Nature Club.

📜 The Confluence e-news is the best way to stay up to date on all-things Greenways. We usually include more detailed information than we can include on our social media posts.

✅ *Our monitoring work is completed with all required licenses and permits.

🍓 Go here to read the August edition of the Confluence: https://mailchi.mp/2b191166fa37/test-17450593

🍎 And go here to sign-up to receive it directly to your inbox each month and to catch up on old issues: www.greenwaystrust.ca/they-talk-about-us/