Earth Works

Yardi Vancouver at Maplewood Flats

By Leah Etling on May 6, 2019 in Giving, People

Each year, Yardi Vancouver participates in a spring Earth Day event at Maplewood Flats, a popular bird watching park along Burrard Inlet. Located in North Vancouver, there are more than 200 hundred unique bird species have been spotted in the park.

Yardi Vancouver is a founding member of EarthWork Day (EWD), an annual collaboration with three other environmentally-minded companies. Each group takes on unique projects each year.

This year’s efforts included a stream restoration project, free bike tuning for bike commuters, refilling and repairing social housing planters, and helping out at a non-profit grocery store reducing food waste. The EWD participants gather at the end of the day to share the results of their efforts and network.

“Being part of a bigger group really helps with expanding the impact we can have as a small office,” said Edward Glen, general manager of the Yardi Vancouver office.

Every year as part of their EWD efforts, the Yardi team participates in a different project that assists with habitat restoration and conservation at Maplewood Flats.

“We work on removing invasive species, replacing them with native plants that support the local wildlife, and spreading mulch to help keep the invaders at bay,” Glen said.  “The primary removal target is the Himalayan Blackberry, delicious berries but with tenacious root bulbs and vigorously spreading roots that must be completely removed to eradicate. We started counting how many we were removing, but gave up after getting to 50 root bulbs in the first 15 minutes.”

Because the team has been going to Maplewood Flats consistently for so long (read a previous blog post about their 2017 efforts here, it’s possible to see the progress that has been made over time.

“I was excited to review some of the areas we’ve worked on over the last four years I’ve participating in these efforts. Most of the plants from last year are thriving though some didn’t make it through the dry summer,” Glen said. “One of the patches of cow parsnip we worked on three years ago, which supports the Anise Swallowtail butterfly, is doing spectacularly well and spreading on its own now. We weren’t able to access our work site from two years ago due to not wishing to disturb the off trail areas, but from a distance it looked to be doing okay.”

The benefits of the work extend beyond habitat restoration.

“It’s great to connect with each other outside of the office but even more it’s great to talk with the community. From the volunteers that run the society to the visitors of the conservation area, most will stop to thank us for the work we’re doing and have a little chat,” Glen said.

“It’s fantastic to see all the visitors (human and otherwise) to the area while we work and know that we’re having a direct impact. Another nice connection for the Vancouver office is that a number of the staff in Vancouver work on Yardi’s energy offering, Yardi Pulse, whose goal of energy use reduction pairs well with the associated environmental benefits.”

Yardi employees are Energized for Good! Learn more on the Giving Page.