Wildscaping Our Neighbourhood Society is a group of individuals who care about the impacts on our environment and are dedicated to protecting and promoting biodiversity.
Wildscaping Our Neighbourhood Society was formed in 2023 when a few neighbours living in Burnaby Heights saw an opportunity to create a biodiversity park on vacant City of Burnaby property. The mandate of our group is to protect and promote biodiversity.
After observing the tendency to take out natural areas and replace it with large expanses of grass, we developed the goal of incorporating biodiversity as a core objective in park planning.
In September 2023, Wildscaping Our Neighbourhood Society, gave a presentation to the Burnaby Parks Commission. This resulted in a meeting with the Director of Parks, Recreation and Culture Planning, to discuss our ideas. Following which, we began stewarding a natural area adjacent to the park in Burnaby Heights, flanking the Trans Canada Trail, between North Gilmore and North Carleton Avenues. Upon inspecting the natural area, the extent of the invasion of non-native plants was shocking. We had our work cut out for us!
In the Fall of 2023, after receiving training from ISCMV (Invasive Species Council of Metro Vancouver), we organized our first pull on April 21, 2024. Fifteen people turned out and we had a great start.
Our primary goals are as follows:
- To lobby the Parks Boards to include biodiversity as a foundational principle
- To create a biodiversity park on city owned land that is currently vacant and very well situated in the Burnaby Heights’ neighbourhood
- To remove invasive species from the forest adjacent to the Trans Canada Trail between Gilmore Ave. and North Carleton Ave.
We are looking for new members who care about the environment and there are many areas in which your help would be appreciated. We schedule forest stewardship work parties every few months to remove invasive species. Once a year, usually in the fall, we re-plant native species in the areas we have been clearing of invasives.
We have recently formed a Steering Committee to advance our goal of creating a biodiversity park. Most of the onus of getting this done will fall on the shoulders of community volunteers. We require volunteers with an array of talents and strengths in order to move this initiative forward.
Join us if you would like to have a chance to create a lasting legacy for your community, a legacy that will be enjoyed by your grandchildren and their children.
- The (Un) Natural History of Burnaby Heights
- September, 2025
- Butterflies – conspicuous by their absence!
- June, 2025
- March, 2025
Our team removing invasive species
Wildscaping Our Neighbourhood Society acknowledges and appreciates that our organization’s work is carried out on the traditional and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), and kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem) Nations. We see our restoration efforts as an act of reconciliation as we remove invasive species introduced with colonization and restore native species to the forest. We hope to learn from and engage with the Nations upon whose lands we work.
WILDSCAPING OUR NEIGHBOURHOOD SOCIETY 