Habitat Acquisition Trust

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Habitat Acquisition Trust Helping people understand & care for nature in the Capital region of B.C.

Join the lək̓ʷəŋən Community Toolshed for a morning of ecological restoration!Contribute to invasive plant species remov...
10/13/2026

Join the lək̓ʷəŋən Community Toolshed for a morning of ecological restoration!

Contribute to invasive plant species removal and Indigenous plant restoration in the Songhees community. Volunteers are invited by the lək̓ʷəŋən Community Toolshed to participate in the restoration of Maplebank on Songhees Land, led by Cheryl Bryce. The restoration work includes the removal of Himalayan blackberry, broom, and daphne in an important coastal oak meadow restoration site in Lekwungen territory.

To register go to hat.bc.ca/volunteer.

10/09/2026

Each and every day of the field season, HAT's restoration team is on the land, caring for some of the region's most imperilled habitats. 🌱

Today, that means removing Scotch broom from a site that supports purple sanicle, an endangered species that depends on open Garry oak meadows. Less than 5% of these intact meadows remain, yet their provide habitat for purple sanicle and more than 100 other species at risk.

Protecting and restoring these landscapes helps strengthen climate resilience, support wildlife, and sustain healthy communities.

Now, we need your help to keep this momentum going. Through our Grow Hope, Restore Nature campaign, we're working to raise $20,000 for habitat restoration and stewardship. With just weeks left, we still need to raise $12,000 by the end of October.

💚 Please consider donating today at www.hat.bc.ca/growhope (link in bio). Every gift, share, comment, and like helps us reach more people and get a little bit closer to our goal, providing the resources we need to keep boots on the ground.

Thank you for being a part of this work.

With love, 

The HAT Team

🦇 ADOPT A BAT IS BACK! 🦇The breeze is brisk, the sky is misty, and there’s a certain spookiness lurking around the corne...
10/01/2026

🦇 ADOPT A BAT IS BACK! 🦇

The breeze is brisk, the sky is misty, and there’s a certain spookiness lurking around the corner…

It must mean that Adopt a Bat time is here! 🎃

This spooky season, you can symbolically adopt one of our region’s fascinating little brown bats and help support local bat populations.

Your adoption helps HAT do year-round bat education, monitoring, habitat enhancement, and safe bat evictions across our region. And yes, you get some goodies, too. 🦇

Every Adopt a Bat package includes:
✨ An official adoption certificate
✨ A fun introduction to your new bat buddy
✨ A locally designed bat sticker by W̱SÁNEĆ artist Sarah Jim
✨ The warm, fuzzy feeling of helping local bats.

Adopt yours at hat.bc.ca/adoptabat 🦇

Last month, we gathered for our annual HAT Members’ Social, bringing together members, friends, and supporters of the HA...
09/30/2026

Last month, we gathered for our annual HAT Members’ Social, bringing together members, friends, and supporters of the HAT community to eat, catch up, and be merry. 💚

Thank you to everyone who joined us. We always love an excuse to get together!

We indulged in delicious sandwiches from Little Piggy Catering and an absolutely absurd selection of desserts from Weak in the Knees Baking. Thank you, Kathleen! You’re a dentist’s dream. 🍰

A special thank you to Florence Dick, who did us the honour of opening our gathering in a good way.

And a very special shoutout to long-time HAT supporter Joyce, who is 97 years young and still finds a way to make it to our events. What a star! ⭐

Want to be part of the HAT community? Learn more about becoming a HAT member at hat.bc.ca/member.

📸 Karissa Chandrakate

Salvage native plants with us! 🌲There are only a few spots left for our fall training session on October 4th. RSVP by Oc...
09/25/2026

Salvage native plants with us! 🌲

There are only a few spots left for our fall training session on October 4th. RSVP by October 1st to secure your spot: https://hat.bc.ca/volunteer/plant-salvage-training-2

Whether you're working on your own restoration project or just trying to incorporate more native plants into your yard, getting involved in salvage is a great way to source plants for free! We salvage from a site in Langford slated for development, replanting native plants where they can continue to live and thrive. To become a HAT salvager, you need to attend a training session with us, where we'll cover site safety, the ethics of plant salvage, and how to effectively salvage native plants. You can learn more about our salvage program at hat.bc.ca/salvage.

Date: Sunday, October 4th, 2026
Time: Two Sessions: 10:00am - 12:00pm, 1:00pm - 3:00pm
Location: Langford, exact location provided upon registration

Join HAT and PEPÁḴEṈ HÁUTW̱ for a day of ecological restoration supporting the SṈIDȻEȽ Resiliency Project!SṈIDȻEȽ is an ...
09/24/2026

Join HAT and PEPÁḴEṈ HÁUTW̱ for a day of ecological restoration supporting the SṈIDȻEȽ Resiliency Project!

SṈIDȻEȽ is an important place to the W̱SÁNEĆ peoples. SṈIDȻEȽ means “Place of the Blue Grouse” in SENĆOŦEN and is the first W̱SÁNEĆ village site. The PEPÁḴEṈ HÁUTW̱ team will guide volunteers through the restoration process, while following W̱SÁNEĆ protocol.

Training, tools, and snacks provided. Please bring plenty of water, and dress for the weather!

Date: Monday, October 5th 2026
Time: 10:00am – 1:00pm
Location: SṈIDȻEȽ (Tod Inlet Trailhead on Google Maps), Gowlland Tod Provincial Park. Follow the trail down to the water, where we will be gathering near the beach. The walk from Wallace drive may take 10 - 15 minutes.

Please RSVP at https://hat.bc.ca/volunteer

For more information on the SṈIDȻEȽ Resiliency Project, more detailed directions, and an overview of protocol, please go to https://www.pepakenhautw.com/

Please contact [email protected] if you have any questions or concerns.

Calling all habitat stewards and gardeners! We have plenty of native seeds available to fulfill your fall planting dream...
09/21/2026

Calling all habitat stewards and gardeners! We have plenty of native seeds available to fulfill your fall planting dreams and spring bloom realities. 🌷

Seed packs are available by donation, with a suggested donation of $2-4 per pack. Come by our office between Monday and Thursday, 10 am to 4 pm, to get your seeds. Send us an email at [email protected] or give us a call at 250-995-2428 if you'd like us to put some aside for you or arrange another time to come by!

Available species:

Full sun, part shade | Dry-mesic
- Camas (Blooms April to June but usually takes many years before blooming when grown from seed)
- Yarrow (Good lawn replacement; blooms May to September)
- Nodding onion (Edible! Blooms May to July)
- Blue wildrye (Stunning grass that can get up to 120 cm tall!)
- Oceanspray (Only one pack left. Great for wildlife! Blooms June to July)
- Coastal mugwort (Salt-tolerant and deer-resistant. Blooms June to July)

Full sun | Dry-mesic
- Gumweed (Low stock; blooms June to November)
- ḴEXMIN (Blooms April to June)
- Woolly sunflower (Pollinators LOVE this one! Blooms April to July)

Full sun | Dry
- Roemer's fescue (A beautiful medium-height bunchgrass)
- Prairie junegrass (Low stock; another beautiful bunchgrass)

Full sun, part shade | Mesic-moist
- Cow parsnip (Blooms May to July)
- Douglas aster (Only two packs left! Blooms June to October)

Full sun | Mesic-moist
- California aster (Blooms July to September)
- Graceful cinquefoil (Only one pack left; tolerant of seasonally wet meadows and dry summers; blooms May to July)

Full sun | Moist-wet
- Goldenrod (Grows tall! Blooms July to September)
- Sneezeweed (Blooms June to September)

This past month, the HAT field crew spent some time at Rithet’s Bog and Playfair Park removing invasive species and help...
09/18/2026

This past month, the HAT field crew spent some time at Rithet’s Bog and Playfair Park removing invasive species and helping protect native plant communities with the District of Saanich’s Park Stewardship and Natural Areas team.

At Rithet’s Bog, the crew removed an invasive hybrid cattail (Typha × glauca) and installed benthic barriers along the edges of a wetland meadow area. These areas provide habitat for native wetland plants including water smartweed (Persicaria amphibia), common mare’s tail (Hippuris vulgaris), and soft-stemmed bulrush (Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani). It was a muddy couple of days out there, and the crew started to feel like little bog creatures themselves. Check out the photo of our Field Crew Lead Chelsea holding up two cattail rhizomes to her HAT hat!

Over at Playfair Park, the crew removed cleavers (Galium aparine) from a ḰȽO¸ELENEȻ (camas meadow) and tackled Himalayan blackberry (Rubus armeniacus) growing on a rocky outcrop. Removing these invasive species helps create space for native plants to grow and supports the continued restoration of these important habitats.

If you would like to get involved with Saanich Parks to volunteer at either of these locations removing invasive species, contact the Park Stewardship Coordinator at [email protected] or visit the Rithet’s Bog Conservation Society website at https://rithetsbog.org for more information.

Photos 1-4 by Jules
Photo 5 by Chelsea

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661 Burnside Road E
Victoria, BC
V8W1J4

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