David Suzuki Foundation now recruiting Rangers and schools across Canada
TORONTO — For the first time, the David Suzuki Foundation is recruiting volunteers and schools from across Canada to take part in the Butterflyway Project. Over the past three years, the project has established hundreds of native wildflower plantings in nine cities, fuelled by local volunteer Butterflyway Rangers. This year, the project is being expanded nationally.
“We are looking for community-builders, storytellers, nature lovers, schemers and dreamers to become the next troop of Butterflyway Rangers,” said Butterflyway Project manager Jode Roberts. “This spring, they start recruiting their friends, colleagues and neighbours to help bring bees and butterflies back to their neighbourhoods, one fun wildflower planting at a time.”
The Butterflyway Project’s goal is to create neighbourhood-scale pathways of habitat for wild bees and butterflies. While the project has been based in the Metro Vancouver and Toronto areas for the past three years, this year’s 40 Butterflyway Rangers will be recruited from communities throughout the country. Until March 23, residents will be able to apply to become official Butterflyway Rangers. Participants will receive free online Ranger training, plus official T-shirts, wildflower seeds and garden signs.
Insect populations have declined by 45 per cent since 1974. Their disappearance affects nearly all flowering plants and the food webs they support. As renowned biologist E.O. Wilson said, insects are “the little things that run the world.”
“The good news is that cities can be a refuge for beneficial bugs like bees and butterflies,” Roberts said. “The Butterflyway Project aims to reimagine our gardens, lawns, roadsides, parks and schoolyards as part of neighbourhood-wide highways of habitat.”
For the first time, the Foundation is also recruiting schools to participate in the Butterflyway Project. Schools from the following cities are eligible to apply for free Butterflyway School kits: Calgary, Collingwood, Markham, Ottawa, Richmond, Richmond Hill, Scarborough, Toronto, Vancouver, District of North Vancouver, Victoria, Windsor and Winnipeg.
Applications for Butterflyway Rangers and Butterflyway Schools will be accepted on a rolling basis until March 23. For more details or to apply as an individual or school to this year’s Butterflyway Project, visit www.davidsuzuki.org/butterflyway.
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For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact:
Stefanie Carmichael, David Suzuki Foundation: scarmichael@davidsuzuki.org, 437-221-4692, @stefccarmichael
About:
The David Suzuki Foundation (davidsuzuki.org) is a leading Canadian environmental non-profit organization. The Foundation has offices in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal.
The Butterflyway Project is an award-winning national campaign to create pollinator habitat in communities across Canada.