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Earth Day: Pollination garden creates a buzz

The BC Forest Discovery Centre is celebrating Earth Day by announcing a wonderful new project, centre manager Chris Gale said this week.
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The BC Forest Discovery Centre is putting in a two-acre pollination garden.

The BC Forest Discovery Centre is celebrating Earth Day by announcing a wonderful new project, centre manager Chris Gale said this week.

“We’re putting in a two-acre pollination garden. It’s a huge, huge deal,” he said. “We’ve been working on it for almost a year now. It’s finally come together. We got a bit of money from the government and the support for the project has been overwhelming, too.”

Bees have been taking a beating due to environmental changes caused by pesticides and herbicides, radiation and global warming so the Centre is stepping up by saying, “Don’t worry, bee happy!” to the valuable insects.

“We are very excited at the prospect of our newest endeavour aimed at lending a hand to our great and supportive community,” Gale said.

“It’s going to be a pollination teaching garden and bee sanctuary. It’s going to take us a while to build it but we’re announcing it in this Earth Day supplement.

“A bee garden is a plot of land planted with specific types of plans that attract more than 300 species of bees, insects and birds that are responsible for the major portion of pollination.”

Gale echoed concerns that have been raised Valley, and indeed country wide.

“Unfortunately the numbers of both native pollinators and domesticated bee populations are declining and it is imperative that we take immediate steps to help our pollinator populations thrive, especially on Vancouver Island,” he said.

The Centre’s bee garden  will offer an effective outdoor classroom and a place for the whole community to study nature and learn the volunteer seniors and knowledgeable staff. We believe the educational value of this garden will be invaluable to many of the learning institutions on the Island, from kindergarten to university and beyond. This outdoor classroom will foster the interaction between our seniors, the community and those involved in the agricultural sector.

“We also believe that this project will inspire other groups in the Valley to use our prototype garden to begin construction of similar projects and, of course, we would be happy to assist in any way possible,” Gale said.

“We’re hoping to solicit the help of a number of care homes and senior facilities; we’ll supply the planting pots and seeds and they can have fun handling the planting. As well we hope to have a number of gardening clubs in the area offer their expertise in planning and upkeep of the garden.

“Wouldn’t it be fun if different groups proudly looked after their own specific areas?” he asked.

Many groups have already pledge their support, Gale said, adding, “and we know as we proceed more and more will jump on board. We also have the expertise of John Hood, the Gardening Guru, and Ted Leischner, an expert in the field of pollinator proliferation as well as the driving force behind the well-known group, Plan Bee Now.”

In addition, Rob Bowen, from Diversified Scientific Solutions, is busy producing a computer program that will be the basis for an interactive computer display terminal aimed at educating the general public on the plight of the pollinator and the importance of the bee garden.

Gale is excited about the improvements going on at the Centre.

“Other than the wheelchair awareness day, this is probably the biggest thing we’ve done here, I think. It’s such a big deal with the bees, as everybody knows. This is our attempt at turning part of that around. It’s going to be good. It’s all part of the plan. There’s going to be tons more.

It’s going to be two acres with really nice paths all the way through it so it’s all wheelchair accessible, of course.

Getting handicapped people into the outdoor glory of the forest is an important new initiative at the Centre. Last year, they installed a special wheelchair lift on the railway passenger cars to allow easier access for disabled people and that has proved really popular, Gale said.

“It’s been superb. And we just are finishing off our handicapped washroom, which we’ve never had before,” he said. “Now we’re trying to get some more money so we can do the same thing down on the lower field.”

But Gale is thrilled to finally see such upgrades at the Centre.

“I’m glad we don’t have to use those porta-potties [for the handicapped] anymore and to be able to offer more than that ramp onto the train,” he said. “Over the past two years, thanks to community support, our attendance has increased by more than 40 per cent while our memberships have tripled. We have made a concerted effort to become more affordable, more fun, more wheelchair accessible and at the same time offer families [and others] an enjoyable, fulfilling and educational experience.”

If you’d like more information or want to get involved, email Gale at cgale.bcfdc@shaw.ca