These volunteers are building pollinator habitat – and community

Nearly 23 percent of Collingwood, Ontario, is covered by lawn. In Montreal, 96.5 square kilometres of turf add up to be 43 times bigger than the city’s sprawling Mount Royal Park. Nearby Laval, Quebec, has an additional 35.5 square kilometres. And Toronto has 79.6 square kilometres of lawns, equalling an area 50 times bigger than High Park, one of the city’s largest green spaces.

These grassy lawns are great for cartwheels and picnics, but manicured turf offers no place for butterflies, bees and other pollinators to eat, nest, reproduce and overwinter. 

For years now, the David Suzuki Foundation (DSF) has been working to claim back this vital green space with its Butterflyway Project, an initiative that empowers everyday citizens to expand habitat for butterflies and other pollinators in neighbourhoods across Canada.

Volunteer Butterflyway Rangers work within their community to create a Butterflyway. By planting gardens (sometimes even in canoes), sharing seeds and resources, educating residents and spreading the word, little actions by hundreds of volunteers have a big impact for our tiny friends. Between the program’s inception in 2017 and 2024, these rewilders planted more than 100,000 native wildflowers and grasses and more than 3,000 trees and shrubs for a total of 7,400 habitat gardens – and they’re just getting started.

How and why did they get involved? Here, we meet five Rangers making a difference in their communities.

The lifelong learner: Olga Hallborg, Castlegar, British Columbia

Concerned she didn’t know enough about native plants and pollinators to become a Butterflyway Ranger with DSF, Olga took a chance at applying as a volunteer in 2020. “I decided to embrace learning while trying to encourage everyone to learn with me,” says the healthcare worker.

Olga got permission from the Kootenay Gallery of Art to take over a plot of land behind its building, then pulled in plant ecologists, environmental activists, schoolchildren and volunteers to learn alongside her. They cleared the area of invasive species then put in a butterfly garden, pollinator meadow and flowering shrub hedgerow.

“It’s important to include various categories of our community — people who are retired, people who are working and the very young — not only to get the work done, but also to spread this information,” says Olga.

Future goal: 

Convert the gardens of the hospital she works at into native plant gardens, to help counteract the climate crisis as well as part of reconciliation efforts.

Tips for others: 

“Don’t be afraid of making mistakes,” says Olga. “There’s an opportunity to learn when you’re working outside with the like-minded individuals in a safe space and having fun.” She suggests that people interested in planting pollinator habitats get their families, neighbours and friends involved too.

The community builder: Daniel Dillon, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

It took only two days for Daniel and his community garden members to enlist 30 people to plant butterfly habitat on their properties. The community gardeners also maintain two wild meadows and grow vegetables and fruits on the grounds of the local school — all in the name of food security.

In Daniel’s quest to fight climate change, he’s built a large network of partners. In addition to involvement by the local school, a nearby citizens service league donated 16 fruit trees; a nearby farm donated beehives; and the local post office, legion and fire department all host pollinator habitats. The group has received a municipal volunteer award and several government grants for their work.

Future goal: 

Plant a 100-tree orchard. “A child and a senior would partner together to plant a fruit tree,” says Daniel. “It would be a legacy in the community.” Daniel has 15 more trees coming this season to add to ones he already has, bringing him closer to his goal. 

Tips for others:

“Do one thing,” says Daniel. Start with planting something native to your region like swamp milkweed, for example. “Give five seeds to your neighbour on the left and five to your neighbour on the right. Tell them what they are, then just go out and dig a hole and put them in the ground. Do something. Start.”

The office-lawn makeover artist: Karen Hunter, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

In addition to replacing her lawn at home with native prairie plants and growing butterfly-friendly flowering bushes at her Wakaw Lake cottage, Karen reintroduced native species to the grounds at her office building.

Using 18-inch metal craft hoops as templates, she removed the grass to dot the turf with “circle flowers” filled with giant hyssop, smooth aster, northern evening primrose and other native blooms. 

She has also distributed native seed packets to the tenants of the office building. “They’re different every year depending on which flowers produced seeds that year,” she says. “Diversity is the key to going wild.”

Future goal: 

Establish a free seed library to help neighbours start growing native species in their own yards. “I’m going to help save the planet one seed at a time,” says Karen.

Tips for others:

“I use a system of colour, blooming time and height so there is always nectar for the butterflies from spring to fall,” says Karen of her pollinator-friendly garden at home. Among the various species are spring-blooming columbine, summertime prairie coneflower and bergamot, and goldenrod into the fall.

The crafty instigator: Micole Rubbinoff, Whitchurch-Stouffville, Ontario

An avid gardener, Micole volunteered to be a Butterflyway Ranger after a friend and fellow Ranger suggested she join. “I have a stay-at-home son on the [autism] spectrum and I’m always looking to get him involved in the community,” says the retired recreation manager. “I thought this could be something we could both do.”

Micole’s team of five volunteers – who’ve received a community impact award – recruits people to the cause through their Facebook group and information booths at events and local markets. Booths often include craft projects using donated recycled materials: They’ve handed out champagne-cork plant markers and seed-starter kits made from takeout trays, as well as engaged children through DIY crafts and colouring pages. “We want to be the instigators to help others to be able to do their part,” she says.

Future goal:

Begin a seed-sitter program to involve more people in winter sowing. “It’s a very grassroots movement and people are embracing it.”

Tips for others:

“We’ve been blessed to be supported with local grants, but that shouldn’t discourage those starting out,” says Micole. Among many other no-cost initiatives, Micole’s group collects seeds from their pollinator gardens and grows plants over the winter, which they give away to the community in the spring.

The cottage country gardener: Wendy Buelow, Dunnottar, Manitoba

Wendy was inspired to become a Butterflyway Ranger after a presentation about the program at her local gardening club five years ago. Partnering with a local volunteer group, Wendy got permission to take over a public garden and transform it with native plants. She now manages five public gardens in her tiny Lake Winnipeg community and has convinced 15 local home- and cottage owners to grow native species and add their private gardens to the Butterflyway. “The goal is to get people to grow pollinator gardens and create habitat in their own yards,” says Wendy.

Future goal:

Wendy has her eye on a few large stretches of lawn in the village area that she’d like to see planted with native prairie grasses.

Tips for others:

Put up a sign in front of your pollinator garden to educate passersby. Rewilded yards can look “messy” to people who are used to more conventional gardens. “Instead of thinking you’re a terrible gardener, they’ll know you’re doing it for the butterflies,” says Wendy. “Everyone loves butterflies.”