Safety guidelines for volunteers
Consignes de sécurité pour les bénévoles

Waiver to be signed by all volunteers (English | French)

Volunteer at the Fletcher Wildlife Garden

A great opportunity to learn more about local wildlife and gardening with native plants.

Our volunteer groups are very informal. New volunteers are asked to read our safety guidelines and sign a standard waiver (English | French). A brief orientation session is also provided. After that, volunteers join in working on whatever needs doing this week.

Some volunteers join one crew and come every week. Others work when they can. The only rules are: follow the safety guidelines and let the group leader know what you are doing. Some volunteers even come to the garden on their own in their spare time to work on ongoing projects.

The work can be gruelling and sometimes tedious, but the rewards are many. If you enjoy working outdoors and learning about nature, this is a great opportunity to do both.

Choose a group and join right in. All are active from April to October. Just come to our Interpretive Centre (see map) and introduce yourself. People participating in the Wednesday groups should arrive early, as we work out on the site and you won't know where we are unless you arrive on time.

We'd be glad to have your help. Bring garden gloves if you have them. We can supply all other tools.

Work groups

  • Backyard Garden volunteers work on Friday mornings (9 a.m. to noon), starting 13 March and going until the snow flies. A detailed schedule, posted in the interpretive centre, outlines what should be done in each garden bed — weeding, mulching, filling in spaces, observing wildlife and taking notes, identifying and labeling plants, dividing plants for our native plant sale in June. Some regular Friday volunteers have special responsibility for pruning, repairs, making sure the interpretive centre is tidy and stocked with necessities (like cookies).
  • Wednesday evening volunteers, 6 p.m. to dark, May to September. This volunteer group started in 2006 to "renovate" our Butterfly Meadow. They've planted more butterfly plants, built a split-rail fence and rock piles as basking sites, and removed bags of invasives species from the site. In 2009, they will be tackling a new part of the meadow.

Jobs for 2009

This list is not exhaustive. There's always something more to be done. If you don't see something you want to do, let us know. Or if you have an idea about something that needs to be done or could be done, we want to hear that too. Speak up! We love working at the FWG and we want you to love it too.

    BACKYARD GARDEN AND NURSERY

  1. Continue work to make a damp bed next to the backyard pond for wetland species such as boneset, swamp milkweed, etc. (see list). Decide what is appropriate in upper pond and plant that area. (Claudia and others) DONE
  2. Install interpretive signs in the Backyard Garden. (Charlie and others)
  3. Post plant lists, aims for each area of the garden, and wildlife uses of BYG plants on new bulletin boards. (Sandy and others)
  4. Look at "orphan" beds - middle, south side, east bed - to see what goals should be and what plants are most appropriate to meet them. (BYG crew)
  5. Experiment with various types of "bee houses" and a butterfly hibernaculum on the south side of the building to see whether these structures provide any benefit to bees, wasps, and butterflies. Check to see if full sun all afternoon is okay. (Christine, Peter, and others) DONE
  6. Get nursery plants ready for the plant sale by making sure all are clearly labeled and in the right-sized pots. (Nicole and others) DONE
  7. Take care of seedlings growing for the plant sale - water, put outside on nice days, label, etc. (BYG crew) DONE
  8. In late April, pot up shrubs from Ferguson Forest. (BYG crew)
    Done on 1 May (Connie, Tremayne, Carla) DONE
  9. Continue work on the slope below the BYG. Add more leaves and start planting woodland wildflowers. (BYG crew)

    10. BUTTERFLY MEADOW

  10. Reclaim another section of the Butterfly Meadow. Agriculture and Agri-food Canada has agreed to rototill a triangular area south and east of the current meadow. Remove dog-strangling vine roots from this area and plant native species that provide nectar or are larval food for local butterflies. (Diane and Wednesday evening group) DONE
  11. Build larger sifter, to remove DSV roots from freshly turned soil. (Al) DONE
  12. Move rocks at southeast corner of the FWG into a rock pile closer to the boundary. Plant vines and wildflowers next to the rock pile. Move rocks from Heron Lane to the Butterfly Meadow. (Diane and Wednesday evening group)
  13. Create path around last year's new section to keep raspberries confined to band around the inside edge of the field. (Diane and Wednesday evening group)
  14. Remove roots of DSV around the split rail fence. (Diane and Wednesday evening group) DONE

    15. RAVINE

  15. Plant trees and shrubs in the part of the ravine where large buckthorn trees were removed last summer (see Green Partnership Program grant). (PwC Green Team) DONE
  16. Water all newly planted trees and shrubs often to make sure we get good survival rate. (BYG crew) DONE

    17. NEW WOODLOT

  17. Tackle the swallowwort growing in the New Woodlot. The trees are creating enough shade to limit its growth. A concerted effort to dig out some area or cut it back repeatedly could have a significant impact. (need volunteer)

    18. OLD FIELD

  18. DSV removal around the Old Field - July or August. (Christine and others)
  19. Plant shrubs in thickets around the Old Field in fall. (Christine and others)

    20. AMPHIBIAN POND

  20. Continue to monitor the Amphibian Pond - dissolved oxygen, nitrate and phosphate levels, temperature, pH, turbidity, and water flow (David, Nicole and Carolyn).
  21. Continue removing flowering rush and frog-bit from the pond starting in late June or beginning of July (after red-winged blackbirds have fledged). Remove some cattails as well, as pond is quickly filling up with decayed organic matter. (Diane and Sandy, with help) DONE
  22. This year, try to remove more or all of the water-willow (Decadon verticillatus) from the south side of the pond. (need volunteer) DONE
  23. Remove Canada thistle (which is not native) and burdock from the slope on the south side of the Amphibian Pond. Plant lower slope with wetland species. (need volunteer)
  24. Continue rehabilitation on north side of pond. Weed around shrubs we planted in 2007 and plant more. Remove all burdock. Remove tarpaulin from west part of slope and plant shrubs. Part way through summer, cut back the herbaceous plants to give the shrubs more light. (need volunteer)

    25. ASH WOODLOT

  25. In May, remove all garlic mustard. (volunteers at International Biodiversity Day event; 23 May) DONE
  26. Plant balsam fir to replace dying white spruce on east side of woods. (Sandy and Parkwood Hills cubs) DONE

    27. INTERPRETIVE CENTRE

  27. Install cork board panels around the east end of the big room in the interpretive centre to post information about what we are doing in various parts of the garden, especially the backyard. (Malcolm and others)
    Panels installed by 1 May (Malcolm). Need to add headings and display material (Sandy and others). DONE
  28. Stain the pergola and rearrange the grape vine on it. (Diane) DONE
  29. Build and install trellises for virginia creeper and clematis in front of Interpretive Centre (Malcolm).
    Completed in April (Malcolm). DONE
  30. Plant cedar and virginia creeper in front of Interpretive Centre. (Claudia)
    Cedar planted on 1 May (Al). DONE

    31. OTHER AREAS

  31. Buy mower and mow trail regularly. (David)
  32. Buckthorn blitz at end of April, then continue after bird nesting season. (Tony and others) See Tony's notes on what's required ONGOING

Volunteers at work


Charlie (left) cuts the lawn in our Backyard Garden every week, then goes on to mow the Bill Holland Trail. Tony D (right) is our "Mr Buckthorn." He is always looking for help using our weed wrenches, clippers, and saws to get rid of the very invasive buckthorn shrubs at the FWG.
Colin helps out by repairing bird boxes, rescuing small trees from Dog-strangling vine, wrapping trees for winter, contributing photos to our blog, and many other tasks that take him all over the FWG site.

Tony G, Connie, and Peggy are members of the Friday morning Backyard Garden crew.
Our nursery needs lots of attention. Lately, Nicole and Connie have been taking the lead in ensuring that the native plants we grow remain healthy and strong until they're ready to plant.

In 2006, Charlie, who is also a member of the FWG management committee, and colleagues made great improvements to our main bulletin board.
Colin, Malcolm, and Al built light tables so that we can get an early start growing native plants for our annual sale.

David not only joins the Friday group, but also chairs the FWG management committee and does independent research and photography. Observing and recording the wildlife using the FWG is an important part of our project.
Chest waders may not be the most elegant outfit, but Sandy and Diane cheerfully wear them to wade into our Amphibian Pond to pull out invasive plants. Isabelle and Carla provide "ground support" by removing the weeds from the edges of the pond.

This page was revised on 17 October 2009
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