Despite budget constraints, the Office of Sustainability at Dawson College advanced the vision of the Dawson community's campus landscaping plan last fall by launching a micro forest initiative.
After Jennifer de Vera identified a funding opportunity from Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan), she brought it to the team. Along with Eva Helms, Sophie La Font and Diana Rice, they applied for a grant to create a micro forest with guidance from the First Peoples' Centre and Kanien'kehá ka staff.
Diana, who wrote the successful grant application, said: "I suggested we apply for a modified version of a micro forest, focusing less on softwood fast-growth trees and more on Indigenous Haudenosaunee hardwoods that eventually become old growth trees. Thus, in the long term, greenhouse gas reduction and carbon sequestration are more effective."
The team aimed to "align our department's mission with the 2024-'29 Strategic Plan of Dawson College in terms of Indigenization; awareness building activities on environmental sustainability; supporting innovative evidence-based pedagogies like experiential and active learning through the inclusion of classes in the planting, data collection, and maintenance of the site," Diana said.
The micro forest also provides faculty with an opportunity to use it within the Living Campus model as a competency and learning outcome-based educational tool.
