native plant rescue
services
WE CAN…
Protect local genetics
&
Restore ecological heritage
Every property has an ecological history. Let's work together to protect, restore, and enjoy it.
I am a…
Landowner
Developer
Concerned Citizen
I am a
Landowner
& I want to work on my landscaping
sustainable garden design
“Orchid you not, biodiversity matters.”
& I want to help rescue plants
Native Plant Rescue & rehome Workshops
“We save plants. The dogs just watch and judge. Join the rescue!”
I am a
Developer
& I am looking for HELP WITH regulatory approvals
Pre-development Bio Audit
“A blooming good start for restoration.”
Pre-development botanical audit
“Our plants have more history than your favourite antique shop!”
& I Am looking for return on investment
Root rescue nursery
“A frond in need is a frond indeed.”
Concerned citizen
I am a
& I want to Help Rescue plants
Join a Native Plant Rescue
“The construction site called—it wants its biodiversity back!”
& I want to be more involved in what GREEN FEET doES
contact us & share your story
“Good restoration starts with good roots!”
Our services
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Many developers face pressure (or regulatory requirements) to minimize environmental impact. By hiring Green Feet to perform a Pre-development Botanical Audit, developers can claim ‘Green’ credentials, build brand integrity, or fulfill municipal Natural Heritage requirements.
This audit is in addition to a commitment to take part in a Native Plant Rescue on a property and is completed, in part, with a rescue itself.
On a base rate, a flat fee is negotiated for a Site Rescue Report based on size of property and percentage of vegetation to be rescued. This report includes:
Ecological Asset Inventory
Physical Site Tagging Log
Rescue Timeline & Directives
Verification & Compliance Sign-Off
This report can be used by the developer in their permit applications and marketing to prove they are minimizing their ecological footprint, or can be used for ecological offsetting credits.
This report does not replace EIS or EIA vegetative assessment process, but can be used in conjunction with existing reports.
Many developers and private builders now face pressure (including from regulatory requirements) to minimize their environmental impact. We recognize from our conversations with others that we all want green spaces for our children and grandchildren to enjoy. By hiring Green Feet to perform a Pre-Development Botanical Audit, developers can claim 'green' credentials, build brand integrity or fulfill municipal Natural Heritage requirements. We offer a number of packages and options, customizable to exactly what your needs are.
Cost: $500 base rate, reporting, and scoping for the size of the site.
This service is intended to be used in conjunction with the commitment to a Native Plant Rescue.
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When you clear a site blindly, you aren't just removing brush—as a developer, you are destroying valuable, mature natural assets that could otherwise de-risk your environmental permitting process, slash your landscaping overhead, and potentially command a premium value in your final site and design.
Our Pre-Development Bio-Audit focuses on making Native Plant Rescue make a little more sense to the developer. It combines our classic botanical audit, as well as our advanced aerial drone analytics ('Eyes in the Sky) with thorough field ground-truthing (Boots on the Ground) to map, value, and bring to your attention your site’s unique existing ecological assets and features before construction begins. We identify exactly what value natural features provide, as well what in the ecosystem on your site can deliver the highest return on investment when strategically rescued, preserved, or incorporated directly into your project's architectural and planning design.
We then help you to navigate precisely where this fits into federal, provincial, county, municipal, Indigenous, and neighbourhood regulations, positions, and needs.
This deep-dive service integrates three distinct layers* of data to build a smooth pre-construction roadmap, including:
Base Botanical Audit & Rescue Plan
UAS Aerial Mapping, Analytics and visualization (add-on)
‘High-Return’ Feature Identification
Regulatory Navigation and offsetting/conservation credit identification
*Can be combined with a public Native Plant Rescue event.
Many developers and private builders now face pressure (including from regulatory requirements) to minimize their environmental impact. We recognize from our conversations with others that we all want green spaces for our children and grandchildren to enjoy. By hiring Green Feet to perform a Pre-Development Bio Audit, developers can claim 'green' credentials, build brand integrity or fulfill municipal Natural Heritage requirements. We offer a number of packages and options, customizable to exactly what your needs are and which can be combined with regulatory processes (see Project Support for additional service types).
Cost: $2,000 base rate, add-ons, and scoping for the size of the site.
This service is intended to be used in conjunction with the commitment to a Native Plant Rescue.
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Rescued plants are integrated into all of Green Feet’s existing Sustainable Garden Design services. Green Feet rescues plants that would otherwise be destroyed and places them in a forever home (like a tapestry lawn or pollinator garden) where they will continue to provide ecosystem services.
Instead of planting tiny 1-gallon pots from a nursery, we use the large, hardy ‘rescued’ specimens from development sites
Rescued plants are often more mature. While Green Feet does not sell the plant, we charge a premium for the specialized labor and expertise required to successfully transplant and stabilize mature native species, which equates to approximately 40-50% the cost of store bought plants.
As a thank you to landowners, gardens that use Rescue-to-Restoration plants are offered a ecological certification credit and certificate for the measurable carbon storage transfer when installations hit 1kg of carbon.
Rescued plants are integrated into all of Green Feet’s existing Sustainable Garden Design services. Green Feet rescues plants that would otherwise be destroyed and places them in a forever home (like a tapestry lawn or pollinator garden) where they will continue to provide ecosystem services. As a thank you to landowners, gardens that use Rescue-to-Restoration plants are offered an ecological certification credit and certificate for the measurable carbon storage transfer when installations hit 1 kg of carbon.
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Green Feet focuses on education and the sharing and weaving of different knowledge systems together.
We host free, hand-on, community driven Rescue & Rehome Workshops where participants learn the technical skills of identifying and transplanting native flora. We work as a group to rescue mature woodland perennials, native groundcovers, and traditional medicinal plants, giving them a second life in our community gardens, restoration sites, and your backyard.
Save Local Biodiversity
Learn how to identify, divide, and successfully transplant wild flora from professional ecological consultants.
As a thank you, one-third of everything you dug for these workshops goes home with you to help build your own sustainable, low-maintenance backyard sanctuary.
This fulfills the ‘People’ part of our Triple Bottom Line by spreading traditional and modern botanical knowledge and empowering our community to protect local biodiversity.
Due to open-site liability regulations, space is limited and pre-registration is mandatory. No walk-ins will are permitted access past the safety gates, but simply check in with the event lead so we can get your name on the list. :)
All personal tools must be clearly labeled but are welcome.
In collaboration with developers, we host free, hands-on, community driven Rescue & Rehome Events and Workshops. Participants learn the technical skills of identifying and transplanting native flora. We work as a group to rescue mature woodland perennials, native groundcovers, and traditional medicinal plants. Plants are brought to local arboretums or our Root Rescue Nursery. They are then given a second life in our community gardens, restoration sites, and your backyard.
1/3 of plants go to landowners.
1/3 of plants go straight to conservation projects or arboretums.
1/3 of plants go to our nursery for future planting.
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Native plant rescue focuses on the incredible diversity of plants and their unique genetics, adapted to this area specifically. Rescued plants are often more resilient to local pests and weather than nursery-cloned versions.
We aim to use rescued plants instead of nursery stock, and really fantastic plants we use as ‘Mother Stock’ rather than direct inventory in order to grow more. Plants (trees) are brought to Inglis Falls Arboretum, and to our farm site to rest and grow, and most other vegetation we use for gardens or projects you will find on this site.
This maintains genetic diversity local to Bruce County and ensures that the ‘rescue’ acts as conservation by creating a safe space for trees and plants to continue to grow between sites. Green Feet sells the work of propagation and the value of local ecotypes, which are often unavailable in commercial nurseries, and which helps to keep this unique service going for all involved.
Within this nursery, we also offer The Seed Bank Subscription.
For clients where a full physical rescue isn't possible, we offer a Genetic Salvage service where we collect seeds or cuttings before demolition. We then propagate these in our nursery for use by a client in a final landscaping phase. Please contact us for more details.
Stay tuned for our opening in Port Elgin!
~ Coming Soon! ~
Native Plant Rescue focuses on the incredible diversity of plants and their unique genetics, adapted to this area specifically. Rescued plants are often more resilient to local pests and weather than nursery-cloned versions. We keep the really fantastic ones to use as mother plants or stock. Plants are brought to Inglis Falls Arboretum, and to our farm site to rest and grow. For clients where a full physical rescue isn't possible, we offer a Genetic Rescue service where we collect seeds or cuttings before demolition. We then propagate these in our nursery for use by a client in a final landscaping phase.