Ready to get your hands dirty and start planting in your community? Below is a list of local initiatives in the Greater Mainland that you can get involved with!
Looking for help with your own initiatives/know an initiative that needs volunteer support? Put it on the community bulletin Miro board below! The password is communitybulletin.
If you feel an initiative deserves featuring on this page and/or would like to request an edit to this page, reach out to one of us through the “Contact” tab.
University of British Columbia Opportunities
Below are initiatives located on or surrounding the University of British Columbia campus, and/or are affiliated with the University of British Columbia.
UBC Botanical Garden
From the UBC Botanical Garden Website:
“As Canada’s oldest university botanical garden, we steward a living and growing repository of plants representing the biodiversity of selected native and exotic temperate ecosystems…A key part of the University’s biodiversity collections, the Botanical Garden provides resources to researchers, students and the public that reach far beyond its collections to provide a window onto the species, ecosystems and genetic diversity of the natural world.”
UBC Botanical Garden seeks a wide range of volunteers, from harvesters and community event volunteers, to data project helpers, photographers, and videographers and more. They also run the “Friends of the Garden” program, an “advanced program with special training and unique opportunities to support and plan events, attend lectures and work on horticultural projects in the garden.”
More on Volunteering for the UBC Botanical Garden
UBC Farm
From the UBC Farm website:
“Situated within a 90-year-old coastal hemlock forest, the 24-hectare UBC Farm was started by students in 2001 and since then our integrated organic farm and forest ecosystem has become a key part of UBC’s agroecology research and education as well as an important Vancouver food hub. The UBC Farm features cultivated annual crop fields, perennial hedgerows and orchards, pasture, Indigenous-led gardens, and forest stands.”
Volunteer opportunities include helping with harvesting through their “Humble Harvesters” program, as well as helping with tending to the xʷc̓ic̓əsəm Garden, Maya Garden and Musqueam Garden initiatives.
More on Volunteering for the UBC Farm
Lower Mainland Garden Opportunities
These opportunities are located in Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley. They are located on and operate out of one central garden/site.
Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden
From the Dr. Sun-Yat Sen Garden Website:
“…Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden is a unique venue for cultural programming and events, including guided tours, concerts, festivals, exhibitions, receptions, and educational programs. This Ming Dynasty-style garden-home is the first among its kind to have been built outside of China, and continues to be unique among the world as the result of the joint collaborative effort of community members, the Canadian Government, and the People’s Republic of China.”
Interested in learning more about traditional Chinese gardens and engaging further with the Chinatown community? Volunteering with the garden might be for you! They are seeking garden maintenance and conversation volunteers, cultural interpreters, and more.
More on Volunteering for. Sun Yat Sen Garden
VanDusen Botanical Garden
(find picture!)
Designed under the direction of legendary landscape architect Cornelia Oberlander, the VanDusen Botanical Garden is a 55 acre botanical garden with a collection of over 7500 plant species.
From the VanDusen website:
“The mission of VanDusen Botanical Garden and Bloedel Conservatory is to engage people of all ages and walks of life in the importance of biodiversity to our lives, and to foster a lifelong love of plants and gardens by virtue of their participation in our programs and services.”
With over 800 volunteers and opportunities in “education, visitor experience, governance, administration, fundraising and special events”, there is no shortage of ways to get involved with the garden.
More on Volunteering for VanDusen Botanical Garden
Lower Mainland Community Opportunities
These opportunities are located in Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley. They are (generally) decentralized, community-led initiatives, with projects spread out across several sites.
FreshRoots
From the FreshRoots website:
“We cultivate educational farms and programs where students dig into meaningful connections with the land, food, and each other, inspiring communities to build just food systems. We facilitate outdoor experiential learning with teachers and students; mentor youth leaders through garden clubs and summer programming; foster self-confidence, leadership, and employment skills; and provide space for folks in the Lower Mainland of Vancouver to grow food through our volunteer programs…We also work with other schools and organizations to develop their own market gardens and schoolyard farms and associated programming.”
They are seeking garden and market helpers, schoolyard farm supporters, field trip supporters for their Experiential Learning team, and more.
Green Streets Program
The Green Streets program is an initiative run by the the City of Vancouver and works on planting, weeding and pruning traffic circles and street corners across the city.
From the City of Vancouver website:
“Green Street gardens not only enhance public space, they help manage rainwater, provide habitat for wildlife, and add a touch more green space to the communities where we live, work, and play.”
The Green Streets program is seeking gardeners and caretakers to help weed, prune, and maintain these valuable greenspaces. Benefits of volunteering include free compost in the spring or fall, access to plant giveaways, “access to expertise of mentor gardeners with the Master Gardeners Association of BC”, and garden design support from the city.
Seeding Stewardship Program
From their program overview document:
“The Seeding Stewardship Program provides opportunities for you to engage with sites in parks and public spaces throughout Vancouver. You can receive support to create and build community opportunities for stewardship, enhance biodiversity, and educate your community! This is your chance to up your stewardship game and cultivate public spaces for you and your neighbours.”
Projects range from pollinator gardens, to rain gardens, to wetlands that need stewardship.
They are seeking seeding stewardship leaders, who will in turn be responsible for overseeing and project and recruiting a team of stewards. See a map and list of current projects in the Program Overview PDF.
Vancouver Urban Food Forest Foundation (VUFFF)
From their website:
“Vancouver Urban Food Forest Foundation is an intergenerational, cross-cultural knowledge sharing community in the form of urban food forests, medicinal gardens, Indigenous foodlands and collective gardens as well as land-based and online learning spaces.”
They have various projects in East Vancouver as well as a project in process at Burrard View Park.
See our interview with VUFFF co-founder Marie Pierre Bilodeau for more information and stories about this great initiative!
They are seeking volunteers to help plant and maintain their initiatives, as well as members to help financially support VUFFF and vote on leadership for the organization.