Vision and Mission

The Garry Oak Meadow Preservation Society (GOMPS) was formed in 1992 because members of the community were concerned about rapid loss of Garry oak trees (scientific name: Quercus garryana) and the associated ecosystem. 

GOMPS established a nursery with the goal of growing the next generation of Garry oaks with acorns obtained from the locally adapted Garry oak population.

GOMPS engages in educational activities, works with all levels of government through letter writing and attendance at council meetings and public hearings, raises awareness of the importance of Garry oaks and their ecosystems, and works on habitat restoration. The society is authorized by the Ministry of Environment to hold conservation covenants. 

Territorial Acknowledgement

The Garry Oak Meadow Preservation Society’s nursery is located on the traditional territory of the W̱ SÁNEĆ people encompassing the five local communities: BO,ḰE,ĆEN (Pauquachin), MÁLEXEȽ (Malahat), W̱ JOȽEȽP (Tsartlip), W̱ ,SIKEM (Tseycum), and S,ȾAUTW̱ (Tsawout). We acknowledge and thank the W̱ SÁNEĆ people on whose traditional territory we live, learn, work, and teach. Our advocacy efforts extend over the lək̓ʷəŋən territory, known today as the Songhees and Xwsepsum (Kosapsum) Nations. The W̱ SÁNEĆ and lək̓ʷəŋən people have lived and worked on this land since time immemorial and whose historical relationship to the land and territories continues to this day.

Nursery Operations

After years of planning, GOMPS’ dedicated Nursery was opened in 2017. Drawing on the support of volunteers and local expertise, our goal is to produce hundreds of young trees per year over the lifetime of the Nursery project from locally collected acorns. We aim to get young Garry oaks out into the community to be planted and cared for until they become part of our mature urban forest canopy. We provide guidance for planting and care to help landowners ensure the survival of the trees.

Our seedlings have been planted as part of many stewardship and restoration projects across the region on public and private lands.

We continue to assess and improve our nursery practices to produce seedlings that will survive and thrive after transplantation. After several years of supplying seedlings to various restoration projects, we are measuring the survival and growth of these trees to assess their contribution to restoring the urban canopy over time.

For further information on collecting acorns and growing Garry oak trees. If you are interested in joining our Nursery work parties, click here.

Advocacy and Education

GOMPS advocates for individual Garry oak trees and Garry oak ecosystem protection and stewardship in numerous ways and has done so for over thirty years. 

GOMPS co-sponsored, with the University of Victoria, the first Garry Oak Symposium in 1999. This gathering galvanized the eventual development of the Garry Oak Ecosystem Recovery Team (GOERT), which is a partnership comprised of experts from all levels of government, non-governmental organizations, academic institutions, First Nations, volunteers and consultants dedicated to conserving and restoring Garry oak ecosystems and the species that comprise them. GOMPS was also involved in the Garry Oak Restoration Project (GORP), which was a program initiated by the Municipality of Saanich in 1999 to educate and engage residents on the value of Garry oak ecosystems through restoration demonstration projects. GOMPS was among the coalition of organizations and individuals involved in another Municipality of Saanich initiative, the Garry Oak Ecosystem Education Kit (GEEK), which was intended to provide a resource for educators of young people about the value of the Garry oak ecosystem.

GOMPS continues to support public engagement at community events (e.g., Kwetlal (Camas) Day, Municipal National Tree Day events, Seedy Saturday, Community and Neighbourhood Association speaker events) and is a member of the Greater Victoria NatureHood. Removal of invasive species is a critical component of ecosystem preservation and GOMPS members were very involved in advocating for, organizing, and participating in public broom pulls and English ivy removal activities, particularly on Mt. Tolmie.

Throughout its history, GOMPS has supported efforts to preserve and protect our remaining Garry oak trees and remnant meadows and woodlands threatened by development, careless recreational use of existing parkland, and infrastructure construction implemented without due consideration of tree loss. Some of the notable larger scale preservation efforts include Christmas Hill, Knockan Hill, Summit Hill, Matson lands, Dawson Reservoir, Braefoot development, Mount Maxwell Ecological Reserve extension, Wilmer Green Park, and Thousand Oaks on Hornby Island. As well, GOMPS is a co-covenant holder for two conserved properties. Supporting homeowners facing local tree loss through developments in their own neighbourhood has also been an important aspect of GOMPS advocacy through the provision of advice and letters of support at planning meetings. 

Importantly, GOMPS has tried to educate municipal decision-makers on the value of Garry oak ecosystems and on the benefits of preserving the canopy associated with mature Garry oak trees. GOMPS has been an advocate for enacting and enhancing tree protection bylaws and for municipalities to develop urban forest strategies. The tools that government grants its citizens are the best protections against loss of Garry oaks and their ecosystems in the face of development pressures.

Over its history, GOMPS has undertaken or lent its support to mapping projects to better understand the location and number of Garry oak trees remaining in the Greater Victoria area. An early project, completed in 2001 and offered to the involved municipalities, saw over 100 citizen scientists recruited to inventory Garry oak trees in Victoria, Oak Bay, Esquimalt and Saanich. 

And there have been some exciting recent projects:

Remote Sensing: Garry Oak Species Detection Project
Mapping and analysis of the overall Garry oak ecosystem and individual trees in the Capital Regional District is out of date. LiDAR is a cost-effective, high accuracy method of forest analysis that enables measurements such as change to tree populations through intensifying land development. Our interest is in developing a new approach to map Garry oak species presence using LiDAR and machine learning. By conducting species specific detection analysis to form a species composition baseline, we can enable future analysis opportunities that are Garry oak and Garry oak ecosystem specific. This is an important contribution to a growing body of regional urban forest mapping that could influence changes in tree protection policies (e.g., enhanced existing tree protections and requirements for Garry oak replacement trees through private development), and management and planning for Garry oaks on public property.

VCAN Community Mapping Project
To complement the City’s excellent inventory of all trees on public land, the Victoria Community Association Network (VCAN) has involved each neighbourhood in an inventory of Garry oaks and other elements of biodiversity on private property. Each neighbourhood developed their own approach and will be reporting back to residents on what they learned and what we have learned about the larger patterns within our urban forest. GOMPS provided a letter of support and urban forest expertise via a walking tour for participants.

To explore options for your own advocacy activities.

Co-covenants

GOMPS is a member of the Land Trust Alliance of BC and in cooperation with others we can protect natural areas through conservation covenants. We are currently co-covenant holders with two local agencies:

• Islands Trust Conservancy
• Habitat Acquisition Trust (HAT)

GOMPS is entirely volunteer run. We have a seven member Board of Directors comprising a President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer and three Directors at Large. We are very much a working Board and are supported by a Volunteer Coordinator and Secretarial Assistant.

Policies

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