The Butterflyway Project

The Butterflyway Project is a volunteer-led movement that is growing habitat for bees and butterflies in neighbourhoods throughout Canada.

Wild pollinators such as butterflies and bees are crucial to human survival. Climate change, land development and pesticide use threaten their survival, and therefore ours as well. The Butterflyway Project helps people create viable pollinator habitat in neighbourhoods across Canada.

Apply to become a Butterflyway Ranger!

Since 2017, the David Suzuki Foundation has recruited and trained volunteer Butterflyway Rangers in hundreds of communities throughout Canada. Rangers are the public face of the Butterflyway Project. They connect with friends and neighbours to create habitat gardens in private and public spaces in their neighbourhoods. The mission of a Butterflyway Ranger is to establish a Butterflyway, which is a collection of 12 or more habitat gardens in a neighbourhood. To date, Rangers have planted more than 7,400 habitat gardens and 139 Butterflyways. Many of these gardens and Butterflyways can be seen on this map.

Rangers agree to attend training webinars and online networking sessions, and to act locally to protect and restore pollinator populations. Rangers and their projects vary greatly; however, all are focused on creating a Butterflyway. Other activities include hosting and participating in virtual and in-person events, including seed swaps, plant sales and seasonal and educational fairs.

To learn more about the Butterflyway Project and the role of Butterflyway Rangers, read this story about the history of the project and this summary of Ranger duties and responsibilities.

You must be a Canadian resident and 18 years of age or older to apply. This is a year-long volunteer commitment at minimum, although many Rangers remain with the project for multiple years. Rangers attend monthly webinars in the spring and fall and spend plenty of time throughout the year on community outreach and organizing.

The David Suzuki Foundation is accepting Butterflyway Ranger applications from February 5 to 19. Typically, we receive more applications than we can accept. We will prioritize applicants who commit to establishing a Butterflyway (12 or more habitat gardens of any size) in 2025.

The David Suzuki Foundation will inform all applicants of their application status by March 7, and a welcome webinar will take place on April 6.

About the Butterflyway Project

The Butterflyway Project is a citizen-led movement growing highways of habitat for bees and butterflies across Canada.

In 2017, the David Suzuki Foundation initiated the Butterflyway Project, and its sister L’effet Papillon in Quebec, in five Canadian cities. This volunteer-led movement brings nature home to neighbourhoods, one butterfly-friendly garden at a time.

From inception to 2024, the foundation trained 1,800 Butterflyway Rangers in hundreds of communities throughout Canada. Rangers then connected with neighbours to create habitat gardens in residential yards, school and corporate grounds, boulevards and parks. When 12 or more patches are established, a new Butterflyway is born.

Here is a summary of Ranger accomplishments up to 2024:

  • More than 116,500 native wildflowers and grasses planted
  • Approximately 3,150 trees and shrubs planted
  • 7,400 habitat gardens established
  • 139 Butterflyways established (a Butterflyway is 12 or more habitat gardens in close proximity)

The Butterflyway Project is based on our Homegrown National Park Project, an award-winning initiative that created butterfly-friendly corridors in three Toronto neighbourhoods from 2013 to 2015. In 2020, the Butterflyway Project received the Canadian Museum of Nature’s Nature Inspiration Award. Project popularity surged in 2021, with 1,000 Canadians applying to become Butterflyway Rangers, and it has remained at that level ever since. Learn more about Butterflyway Rangers here.

The David Suzuki Foundation is committed to helping Canadians rewild their neighbourhoods. Here is a list of additional pollinator and native plant gardening resources.

Thank you for your interest in the Butterflyway Project. Ranger recruitment for 2024 is complete.

This map includes some of the many habitat gardens and Butterflyways planted and tended to by Butterflyway Rangers and their teams.

Seeding seed sitters

Seed Sitters

You will be surprised how easy it is to grow native wildflowers and grasses from seed through winter sowing on a balcony or in a backyard. Let us show you how!

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