This might sound like the sequel to a science fiction movie, rather it’s the sequel to an epic battle between local youth and “alien” plant species.
Last Saturday 123 youth, armed with shovels and cutters, braved torrential rain and descended upon Garden City Park, to duel invasive bushes.
“Despite the heavy downpour of rain, the youth persevered through the mud, the cold, the thorns, and the wind to remove garbage and invasive plants from Richmond Garden City Park,” said Henry Jiun-Hsien Yao, youth development coordinator for City Centre Community Association, which organized the hostile strike against the invasive specie.
“Their dedication and commitment to our future is an important reminder for all of us that together, with a little hard work, we can better our future.”
What started out as a once a month garbage removal at Garden City Park has turned into tour de force. During that initial garbage cleaning, the youth noticed blackberry bushes negatively impacting the park’s trees and plants.
Yao said this invasive species was introduced by people “after the park was designed and implemented.”
As a result, the species has grown rapidly and aggressively. To their credit, not only did Richmond youth want something to be done about it, they wanted to be the ones to initiate it.
“Even after 10 years of working with youth, the youth in Richmond still manage to surprise me with their excellence in making a difference,” added Yao.
This was the second time the youth of Richmond have volunteered to battle the blackberry.
Round 1 occurred Dec. 8 2013, which was the coldest day of last winter.
Braving the frigid temperatures, 75 youth volunteered, trimming back a large blackberry bush. The job was so successful that six trees were rescued.
Those trees had been planted during last year’s Earth Day on April 22, but were already overrun by the blackberry bushes. They had covered the new trees like a canopy, hindering them from sunlight.
To Yao, this was an important event for Richmond’s youth for three reasons.
“One, it provides an opportunity for youth to become leaders in the community. Two, it installs more of a passion and knowledge of current problems and conflicts we have in our neighbourhood and three, it promotes awareness and gives youth an opportunity to really shine in different aspects of their passion.”
For Yao, the struggle was not getting the youth to help. Many “people want to do something about it but due to lack of equipment and supplies, we had to limit the number of people for this.”
Yao hopes to see more events like this inspired by youth. The initiative is “part of a long-term strategy to remove invasive species in Garden City Park.”
Yao is hoping that in the future, “we will get funding to get more equipment, more supplies and to purchase plants to replace the empty space created by removing the invasive species.”
A third round of Richmond vs. Aliens will take place during the spring.
