Who would have thought Syringa Provincial Park’s Butterfly Habitat Learning Garden could get even more breathtaking. Well, this week’s new interpretive sign unveiling has done just that.
Brenda Beckwith, senior scientist for the Kootenay Native Plant Society, says it’s been a long time coming- preparing, planting, replanting and watching life grow- to finally be ready to welcome the community.
“We have a fully universally accessible pathway here because we want to welcome everybody, not just butterflies and other pollinators, but everybody should be able to come and enjoy this garden.” said Beckwith.
“We have a bench, we have a pathway, and today finally interpretive signs.”
The project aims to counter unprecedented habitat loss and provide a safe and protected place for our wildlife to thrive.
“If we want healthy wildlife populations, if we want our food production systems as human beings to thrive and to be functional in the future, if we want our ecosystems to function well, we need to safeguard and protect and enhance fundamental relationships and that is between the native plants and their native pollinators.”
“If we can safeguard those then birds can eat the insects, and then other species can eat the birds and then we can provide habitat and we can create a place that can adapt as climate change occurs.”
The interpretive signs
The main sign provides a diagram of the garden, along with artworks by Erin Donahue, and talk about the garden space.
The sign is supported by three smaller signs, educating readers on the importance of food for adult butterflies, climate action affects on butterflies, and the relationship between monarchs and the showy milkweed- our only native milkweed that occurs in the West Kootenay.
Want more information? Check out Kootenaynativeplants.ca or head out and enjoy the butterfly garden in Syringa.
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