On February 2, two of Niagara College’s own sustainability experts will speak on a panel for World Wetlands Day.
Katie Bristow, Sustainability Program and Outreach Coordinator, and Jocelyn Baker, Professor of Environmental Sciences, will be at Office Tap and Grill in St. Catharines in recognition of the important role of wetlands for people and the planet.
NC’s Katie Bristow signing the SDG Accord as part of the College’s broader sustainability commitments.
The event is hosted in partnership with Niagara College, Brock University, UNESCO, and Niagara Peninsula Conservation.
Bristow – an NC alum from the School of Environment and Horticulture – will speak about the many restoration projects on NC’s own wetland system at the Daniel J. Patterson Campus in Niagara-on-the-Lake which has been dutifully restored by Niagara College students, faculty, and staff.
“I look forward to highlighting the numerous student projects that have turned what were once sewage lagoons into the beautiful, naturalized space we see and experience on campus today,” said Bristow.
Before the College was established, the Niagara Region originally built the lagoons to treat wastewater, at a time when a municipal sewer system was not yet available.
When the College was built in the late 1990s, the municipal sewer line was extended to handle wastewater, making the lagoons obsolete and in need of restoration. Since then, the diverse wetland ecosystem has become a living lab for NC’s environmental programs where students have employed a variety of restoration methods.
NC’s wetland system has come a long way and is now open a place where community members enjoy hiking along the Wetland Ridge Trail to the Niagara Escarpment into Woodend Conservation area.
Professor Baker will bring a global perspective on wetlands to the panel, which she says are more than commonly thought of in a Canadian context as a marsh, swamp or bog.
“Globally, a wetland can simply be defined as a ‘wet’ place – somewhere that holds water for an extended or short period of time,” said Baker. “In many areas, a wetland can be considered a lake or even the ocean.”
Baker – who is the Canadian Co-Chair of a binational committee with the United States – will highlight a local initiative underway to designate the Niagara River – flowing from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario – as a Wetland of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention, recognizing its vital contributions to global biodiversity.
