In a grassy area near the BC Wildlife Park’s grizzly bear enclosure, carrots, strawberries, raspberries and other seedlings are growing.

According to Glenn Grant, executive director and general manager for BC Wildlife Park, produce grown in the park’s new garden boxes will help to feed their animals, while promoting sustainable food production.

“The goal of the sustainability garden is to feed our wildlife, and not be so reliant on community donations and purchasing a lot of the vegetables that we have to get seasonally,” Grant said.

“I think it's a lot healthier for our animals. And if we can grow it here on site, it's much better for everyone.”

Earlier this year, the park’s facilities team began the process of turning an unused area of the park into the garden space.

According to Jorrit Koedooder, facilities supervisor, the wildlife park’s horticulture department helped to plan out the space, and a team of Telus Community Ambassadors came alongside park staff to help construct the garden boxes.

Boxes were made from donated materials, and they were built high off the ground to keep out marmots.

Koedooder said they used what’s known as the hugelkultur method to build the garden beds.

“You use a lot of old rotting type wood and sticks and shavings, anything like that in the bottom. It helps maintain moisture, and also helps reduce the amount of soil you actually need. And as that gets wet and breaks down, it will provide nutrients to the soil.”

He said if the project proves to be successful, they plan to keep expanding the garden.

“We've got a lot of space back here that we're not really using for anything. So we'd be good to expand into that,” Koedooder said.

He said, at this time, the garden isn’t big enough to fully replace the animals’ current produce diet, but even a small amount helps towards sustainability.

“It's trying to lead by example, and showing that this is a bit of work, but you can grow quite a bit of food like this.”

He said a lot of their rehab animals will eat shaved carrots, lettuce and kale. Bears will enjoy the strawberries and raspberries, and carrots are given to horses and the camel as an extra enrichment treat.

Grant said they also hope to put together a small demonstration garden in a more visible area of the park, so guests can see a sample of the project and learn about community gardening and growing your own vegetables.

“We'd like to show people what we're doing and show our guests so why we have a sustainability garden and what it means to to our wildlife,” Grant said.

“This is great for our wildlife, but it also gives all of our guests and our visitors an opportunity to learn a little bit about that aspect of food production, and maybe grow their own garden to use at home.”