On the evening of May 15th, 15 or so dedicated Lions arrived at Drumbeg Park to join up with our Island Trails stewards GaLTT in removing the evasive Scotch Broom plants that populate the Garry Oak meadows. This is an annual event that the Gabriola Lions and GaLTT participate in to keep this plant under control. It is worthy to note that the Scotch Broom is the number one nemesis of Lion Dixon. This is his “Mr. Big” and we like to make sure he gets his wish. Lions Shirley and Ken provided a hot dog BBQ that was greatly appreciated by all that showed up.
Fun fact: The little broom plants are known as whisks.
“A big thank you to the 15 Lions and friends who came out on Wednesday evening at Drumbeg Park and to Shirley and Ken who planned, prepared, cooked and served hotdogs to all those who helped. Not only did we take the broom back to the new property line, but we also got some broom that was beginning again on the south edge of the pasture. It was also really surprising to see that growing under all of that were 9 juvenile Gary Oak trees! It was extremely gratifying for us all to see the amount of progress that we were able to make – working together with GaLTT.” – Lion Dixon
From GaLTT to the Gabriola Lions:
“The GaLTT Invasive Species committee is extremely grateful for the contribution you and your fellow Lions made to our efforts to clear that large area of mature broom at Drumbeg.
We were thrilled to have been able to make so much progress there and it would not have been possible without all of you. So please would you pass on our thanks to all of your members who came out to help!
We are excited about the opportunities this now presents for us to reclaim and restore more of this area as a Garry Oak ecosystem.”
In summary, this was a very successful Environmental Project for our Club and so, thank you to everyone for your efforts.”
