The Nanaimo and Area Land Trust is celebrating its 30-year anniversary with a picnic at its plant nursery south of the city.
In addition to the bring-your-own picnic, the afternoon will include a guided plant walk and other presentations and music.
"It's an excellent event for folks that are interested in native plants or interested about conservation in our area," said Paul Chapman, NALT executive director, "and people who just want to spend a nice time meeting folks and listening to some good music, and gathering a bit of history."
Started in April 1995, NALT works to support, promote and protect the natural values of land and water in the region. In 2001 the native plant nursery was established on Frost Road, using land belonging to NALT founding members Anneke and Peter van Kerkoerle, who then donated it in 2016.
Looking back, while two of the land trust's most well-known projects may be the creation of Mt. Benson Regional Park in 2008 or Linley Valley Cottle Lake Park in 2003, Chapman said what impresses him the most is how the community came together to accomplish it.
"When I look at how many volunteer hours have been involved in this, it's well over 68,000 volunteer hours have gone into working on restoration projects, and fundraising to acquire land and information and education projects. It's a remarkable amount of effort the community has put in to spread the good word. Without that kind of support we wouldn't have achieved anything."
Among those volunteers is Deryck Cowling, who has been with NALT for the past 25 years in a variety of roles, from removing Scotch broom at the airport to fundraising to save Mt. Benson. Now he serves as a handyman and procurement manager at the native plant nursery, and is the longest active volunteer at the site.
The nursery serves to encourage the use of native plants in gardening, with about 90 species of local plants and trees being cultivated for purchase by anyone who wants them.
There, Cowling prepares the soil, cuts the grass, ensures the water system is working and whatever odd job needs to be addressed in the garden – something he affectionately refers to as the "grunt work."
"I've always enjoyed nature, the outdoors, gardening – not that I'm a great gardener, I just like digging in the dirt and am sort of fascinated how plants grow and in such variety and just sort of magically appears this time of year," Cowling said. "It's a good way for me to sort of keep active, I'll be 80 in a couple of years so it's harder to be active but you got to keep moving to keep moving."
The biggest reason that kept him involved, Cowling said, is the people.
"If you enjoy nature, enjoy gardening, you enjoy the camaraderie of people that share those interests, one day a week for a few hours, it could be a very pleasant thing, even in the snow and the cold."
The picnic takes place on Saturday, May 24 from 11-2 p.m. at Natural Abundance Native Plant Nursery at 3145 Frost Rd. Ethnobotanist Nancy Turner will guide a plant walk and music will be performed by Bill and Donna Konsorado. There will also be informal presentations about NALT, the nursery and native plants. This event is free to attend, although NALT notes that donations are welcome. Those who plan to attend are asked to e-mail paul@nalt.bc.ca.
