Urban Bounty is restoring the forest across from the Hamilton Community Garden to enhance native food corridors and give back to the ecosystem that supports us.
Urban Bounty received an Environmental Enhancement Grant from the City of Richmond in 2025. After 3 work parties with 30 volunteers, we’ve cleared the invasive blackberries and grasses and planted 136 native plants!
In November, biologist Greg Ferguson showed the group how to plant cuttings from shrubs, and many took root over the winter.
In April, we put in more plants (purchased from Nat’s Nursery) to furnish all levels of the ecosystem, from shrubs (like flowering red currant and nootka rose) to native trees (like western hemlock and red cedar). We also put in native grasses and thrushes that thrive in the boggy area.
Much of Richmond, including the Hamilton area, has historically been a wetland. Wetlands are immensely productive and biodiverse ecosystems with extensive climate benefits.
About 70% of wetlands in the Fraser River have been lost to urban and agricultural development. As the Hamilton neighbourhood develops, wetlands continue to shrink. Losing wetlands means losing native plant species not found anywhere else, and the insects, aquatic species, birds and other diverse wildlife that depend on them to thrive.
While Urban Bounty’s Hamilton Park restoration site isn’t directly connected to our community garden, the garden and the park wetland are part of the same connected ecosystem. Native pollinators attracted to one can visit the other, ultimately sustaining more life and natural beauty in the park.
Ecological restoration is also an important element of our local food system. The Coast Salish First Nations which have stewarded this land since time immemorial deliberately cultivated berry bushes and salmon streams for food gathering. Settler-colonial development uprooted many of these plant relatives and landscapes. Restoring native plants and animals is an important part of being a good guest on the land, to nourish future generations.
We’ll be back to learn in, and from, the ecosystem every second Saturday of the month April-October for our free Transforming Landscapes: Native Plant Walk from 11:30-12:30! Sign up for a session here.
Anyone who has ever removed blackberries knows that ecological restoration is not a one-time project. It requires ongoing maintenance and care to keep invasives back and to help native plants get established. Funding from the City of Richmond made the original planting possible, but we need more support to keep this project alive!
If you are interested in volunteering to help us maintain and improve the restoration project, please reach out to volunteers@urbanbounty.ca!
If you are interested in supporting or sponsoring this project or others like it, please donate here, or contact info@urbanbounty.ca.
