Skip to main content

Scheduled Maintenance: Scouts.ca will be unavailable temporarily due to planned maintenance. The maintenance will begin at 6:00 pm ET on April 1st, 2024, and it should last no longer than three hours. Thank you for your patience and we apologize for any inconvenience.

In My Backyard

Help protect plants in your neighbourhood by looking for pests and reporting any that you find. By reporting pests when you see them, you’ll help to keep the plants in your community safe from harm!

Back to Activity Finder

Plan

  • Where will you learn more about invasive species in your area?
  • Where will you look for invasive species? Will everyone look in their own backyard, or will you work in teams to look around a local park or hiking trail?
  • How will you report any pests you find?

Do

  • Use CFIA’s Plant Pest Cards to learn about different pests that might be common in your area.
  • During a meeting, look around your meeting area or another local area and see if you can spot any evidence of pests, or any affected trees.
  • Alternatively, you can learn about pests during a meeting and then look around trees in your backyard or on your street.
  • If you spot any pests, have your Scouter or parent contact CFIA (the Canadian Food Inspection Agency) and tell them what you have spotted.

Review

  • Why is it important to know about pests in your area?
  • What kind of damage can pests do?
  • How can you teach others to be on the lookout for pests?
  • Remember to submit your activities on our Scouts for Sustainability Take Action Map

Keep it Simple

  • Start by learning about the pests in your area and the plants that they could harm. Print or draw a picture of the pests and plants so that you know exactly what you are looking for.

Take it Further

  • Take your pest-hunt on the road. Next time you’re at a camp, plan some of your day around pest-hunting. Check any trees at camp for evidence of pest activity. If you see any, let the camp ranger or warden know and encourage them to report it to CFIA.