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Wildflower festival set for Saturday in the Cowichan Valley

Bugs, bees, blooms and — maybe — bluebirds, will be the stars at the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s In Bloom Wildflower Festival on Saturday. The family-friendly event, running from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Bugs, bees, blooms and — maybe — bluebirds, will be the stars at the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s In Bloom Wildflower Festival on Saturday.

The family-friendly event, running from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., will be at the Cowichan Garry Oak Preserve, 1241 Maple Bay Rd., Duncan. It’s an area usually closed to the public.

The preserve is also the main site for the Garry Oak Ecosystems Recovery Team Western bluebird reintroduction program. Three of the birds brought last year to Vancouver Island from Washington state have returned to the Garry Oak Preserve. Other pairs have been brought to the area and released over the last month.

“With the great interest being generated about the bluebird reintroduction project, I suspect there are many who would be interested in making a trip to Duncan to see the work first-hand,” said Nature Conservancy spokeswoman Lesley Neilson.

Other activities include hayrides, a workshop on nature photography, wetland exploration and a talk by author Maleea Acker, who met local opposition when she decided to convert her suburban yard into a Garry oak habitat.

Meanwhile, the bluebird project is receiving a grant of $14,500 from the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation.

The grant is one part of more than $6 million in grants handed out by the foundation this year to help protect B.C.’s fish, wildlife and habitats.

“Without these grants, much of the critical conservation work happening around the province simply couldn’t get done,” foundation chairman Harvey Andrusak said.

For more information on the Wildflower Festival, call 250-748-7124.