Green Links

Contributor: Hillary Rudd
Location: Lower Mainland, British Columbia
Land Use: Habitat Restoration
Habitat Type:
Project Timeline: 1996-2006

Highlights

Green Links is a unique initiative of the Douglas College Centre for Environmental Studies and Urban Ecology (CESUE) that began in 1996 to connect isolated patches of habitat in order to preserve and increase biodiversity throughout the Lower Mainland. The mandate of the Green Links project is to increase biodiversity in strategic areas between parks and other green spaces, improving their values as wildlife corridors. This connectivity encourages larger breeding populations, provides alternative food sources, and improves gene flow. The project also aims to take a holistic approach to habitat restoration by educating and involving communities through art, science, and hands-on experience.

• Introduction
• Challenges
• Process
• Actions
• Results
• Next Steps

• Population growth in the Lower Mainland contributes to wildlife habitat fragmentation and the isolation of green spaces thereby threatening wildlife habitat and undermining wildlife’s ability to interact within a larger ecosystem. The Lower Mainland, like many other urban centers, is located in an area of high biological value. The Fraser River estuary is on the Pacific Flyway for migratory birds and the Fraser River supports the largest salmon run. Conserving biodiversity in this region is very important. The Centre has been identifying, studying, and addressing environmental issues in the Lower Mainland since 1984. It recognizes that as the Lower Mainland continues to grow it becomes ever more imperative to improve public stewardship of local wildlife habitats. The Centre’s Green Links project proposes to address the process of urban habitat fragmentation through the practice of connectivity: connected fragments behave as a single, larger, more viable habitat and reduce the rate of local extinctions of flora and fauna.

  Green Links began in 1996 and has a ten-year mandate after which the program will be evaluated. The primary activity of Green Links is to strengthen connectivity by planting native vegetation in utility corridors, parks, and backyards. We also do some plantings in the green spaces themselves. Plantings using Naturescape principles have occurred all over the Lower Mainland. Most of our efforts have been concentrated in two demonstration corridors in Coquitlam and Surrey/Delta. The Coquitlam corridor is an 8 km long and 100 m wide right-of-way joining Scott Creek, Pinnacle Creek ravine, Mundy Park, Riverview Forest, and Colony Farm Regional Park. The Surrey/Delta corridor is a 15 km long and 100 m wide right-of-way joining Surrey Bend, Tynehead Regional Park, Green Timbers, Mahood Creek, and Burns Bog. Other major restoration projects have been undertaken in parks and other locations throughout the Lower Mainland including in the Coquitlam gravel pits and at two greenhouses in Delta.

  Each Green Link helps to preserve our increasingly threatened urban environment by providing needed habitat and travel corridors for local birds, insects, and other wildlife, as well as enhancing the enjoyment of nature right in our own communities.

  Environmental education is a major part of the Green Links project in that it serves to highlight the value of urban wildlife and conservation efforts and it inspires environmental stewardship of backyard habitat. The Centre offers workshops on natural history, building habitat for animals of the Lower Mainland, and sustainable lifestyles. Work has also been done with schools to create nature murals in order to involve the artistic side of environmental awareness and promote environmental values.

  Because of our urban context, Green Links aims to involve community members and schools in planning and conducting habitat enhancements. There are three formal mechanisms in the project’s design to involve the community: advisory committees, providing work experience for students and recent graduates, and conducting workshops.

  The Centre’s ambitious program of environmental education and habitat restoration is made possible with the support of our sponsors. Since Green Links began in 1996 the Centre has raised over $1 million to employ staff and run environmental education and habitat restoration programs. Supervision for Green Links is supported through the Centre’s endowment fund.

  Project Objectives
  The primary objective of the Green Links project is to increase the ecological value and biodiversity of urban wildlife habitats and green spaces in the Lower Mainland. This objective is achieved by planting native vegetation in strategic locations in corridors between parks and other green spaces, and by encouraging community members to enhance their yards with native plants.

  Secondary objectives include

  1. increasing public enjoyment and understanding of urban wildlife habitats by
  • fostering greater public understanding of the Lower Mainland’s natural environment and promoting stewardship
  • improving public accessibility to green spaces, where appropriate
  • increasing public safety and enjoyment of green spaces
  • acting as a model and adding to the base of knowledge for future use in land use planning.

  2. decreasing the costs of maintaining public green spaces by
  • reducing the degree of human intervention required to control vegetation in green spaces
  • improving accessibility for those charged with managing green spaces.

  Community involvement and consultation as well as private and public sector partnerships are key factors to the success of Green Links during all phases of the project.

• Green Links began in 1996 with a ten-year time frame. At the beginning of, and throughout the project, bird biodiversity has been measured within the links to determine if there is an increase or decrease in local biodiversity. While measuring bird biodiversity is useful for indicating an increase or decrease in biodiversity, many other factors also affect local bird populations including climatic conditions in South America, the winter home of many of British Columbia’s birds. One of the Green Links project’s main educational focus is backyard habitat. We provide workshops to community groups on its importance and how to create a backyard wildlife habitat. While our workshops reach many people, we are unsure how many people create wildlife habitat in their own yards.

  Due to the nature of the funding at the Centre, many of the staff contracts are short term and there is a high degree of staff turnover. To overcome this lack of staff continuity, the Centre keeps well-documented records of all current and past activities to allow for continuity with the Green Links project and ensure opportunities for plantings and workshops are not missed.

• Phase 1: Planning and Assessment
  The initial planning and assessment phase of Green Links was undertaken from April to November 1996. Green Links demonstration projects were initiated as the result of this comprehensive planning phase. The primary purpose of this phase was to assess the sites where demonstration projects might be implemented and to detail the resources that would be required to successfully carry out enhancement activities. The baseline data collected in the planning phase was instrumental in measuring the success of the demonstration projects over the long term. The planning phase consisted of the following activities

  • developing site maps
  • conducting biophysical inventories
  • conducting community surveys
  • developing conservation and enhancement plans
  • developing community action plans.

  Phase 2: Public Awareness and Education
  A crucial element of the Green Links project is public awareness and education. This phase began in November 1996 and some aspects are ongoing. Its primary aim is to raise public awareness and understanding of wildlife habitats and urban ecosystems. The activities of this phase play a key role in generating community support for the subsequent implementation of demonstration projects. Four complementary approaches were used to achieve the aims of Green Link’s public awareness and education phase

  • marketing
  • distributing Urban Ecology information materials
  • holding an urban ecology symposium
  • providing workshops on caring for wildlife at home.

  Phase 3: Conservation and Enhancement Activities – Implementation
  The Green Links project’s ongoing implementation phase began in May 1996 and entails a number of interrelated conservation and enhancement activities, subject to the appropriateness of each site under consideration. It brings together a wide variety of community stakeholders to implement a coherent and logical plan designed to meet the project’s primary objective of increasing the value, viability, and biodiversity of urban wildlife habitats. This is achieved by creating environments that attract selected wildlife species and encourage resident breeding populations. The implementation phase includes a variety of activities

  • planting of native species
  • removing of invasive species
  • conduction stream embankment stabilization
  • enhancing stream and riparian areas
  • clearing refuse
  • creating interpretive sites.

  Phase 4: Evaluation and Stewardship
  The fourth phase of Green Links began after the first year of the project and will continue until after the ten-year mandate is reached. After completion of enhancement activities, the Centre for Environmental Studies and Urban Ecology oversees long-term stewardship for each demonstration project site. This involves monitoring, evaluating, and implementing corrective action on demonstration project sites for ten years after the conclusion of implementation phase activities. The Centre for Environmental Studies and Urban Ecology also plans to produce follow-up publications to disseminate findings and results of the Green Links project.

• Since 1996, Green Links has undertaken many projects to help maintain and improve biodiversity in the city. Native plants have been planted on 13 sites in our demonstration corridors in Coquitlam and Surrey/Delta. Other plantings have happened in several backyards and parks in Burnaby, two Greenhouses and a backyard in Delta, and at many parks and creeks in Coquitlam, Surrey, and Vancouver. Workshops on nature in the city, sustainable living, bird and bat boxes, and backyard wildlife habitat are among the many workshops CESUE offers to local schools and community groups. Other projects Green Links has undertaken over the past four years include painting nature murals at local schools, plant salvages from sites that are to undergo development, refuse cleanups from Green Links sites and other areas, biophysical surveys of Green Links sites, community surveys, and three symposia.

• Green Links celebrated planting its 25,000th plant on November 8, 2000. Since 1996, Green Links has

  • planted over 25,000 native shrubs, trees, and perennials at 20 sites
  • presented workshops to over 9,000 students and community groups
  • displayed our information at 36 display events
  • involved 6 schools in our Native Plant Propagation Program
  • delivered lectures and symposia to over 1,800 people
  • built over 700 bird and bat boxes and involved over 900 people in these workshops
  • painted 13 nature murals with elementary schools.

• The Green Links project began in 1996 as a ten-year project. At the end of the ten years, the project will be evaluated and results will be determined. Prior to Green Links beginning and throughout the project, biodiversity has been measured in our links using bird biodiversity. Once Green Links reaches its tenth year, bird and vegetative biodiversity will be measured and the results of the project will be determined. Until Green Links reaches the end of its ten-year time frame, we will continue to plant native vegetation at our Green Links sites. We will also monitor and maintain existing and new plantings.

Acknowledgements

Green Links would like to thank the following groups for their support throughout the project, their contributions to the Green Links project has helped make it a success

• BC ETeam
• BC Gas
• BC Hydro
• City of Coquitlam
• City of Surrey
• EJLB Foundation
• Environment Canada
• T.Buck Suzuki Foundation
• TD Friends of the Environment Foundation
• The Real Estate Foundation of BC
• VanCity EnviroFund
• Vancouver Foundation.

Contacts

Douglas College
Centre for Environmental Studies and Urban Ecology
www.douglas.bc.ca
Val Schaefer
Executive Director
Box 2503
New Westminster, BC Canada
V3L 5B2
Phone: (604) 527-5224
Fax: (604) 527-5095
Email: v_schaefer@douglas.bc.ca

Partners

The Centre for Environmental Studies and Urban Ecology would like to recognize partners and community groups who helped fund and guide the Green Links Project

• BC ETeam (BC Environment)
• BC Gas
• BC Hydro
• Burke Mountain Naturalists
• City of Coquitlam
• City of Surrey
• Corporation of Delta
• Delta Nature Reserve Society
• Douglas College
• ecoAction2000 (Environment Canada)
• EJLB Foundation
• Friend of Mundy Park Heritage Society
• Greater Coquitlam Volunteer Centre
• Greater Vancouver Regional District – Parks
• Greater Vancouver Regional District
• Green Timbers Heritage Society
• Habitat Conservation Trust Fund
• Home Depot
• Native Plant Society of BC
• Port Moody Ecological Society
• Public Conservation Assistance Fund
• Real Estate Foundation of BC
• Riverview Horticultural Centre Society
• T Buck Suzuki Foundation
• TD Friends of the Environment Foundation – Burnaby, Surrey, Vancouver, and Coquitlam Chapters
• Trans Mountain Pipeline
• VanCity EnviroFund
• Vancouver Foundation.