Students of a fourth-year jointly offered program Indigenous studiesThird-yearGeography and environmentA new land-use agreement with Facilities Management (FM), which will provide students with learning opportunities in environmental stewardship, is helping class leave their legacy on campus.
Clint Jacobs (left) and Desmond Moser (right) are the first academic leaders who have entered into a land use agreement with Facilities Management in order to conduct fieldwork with students and learn environmental responsibility. (credit to Facilities Management)
The course, which is led by Clint Jacobs, an Indigenous studies instructor, and Desmond Moser from Earth sciences, teaches students Indigenous perspectives on the land and water.
This was the first land-use agreement of this kind at Western. The initiative identified several tracts where Jacobs class and Mosers class could monitor and conduct small-scale activities to re-establish native vegetation and enhance habitats.
The course was hosted initially by Jacobs Community on Walpole Island First Nation (Bkejwanong)The town is located southwest Wallaceburg. Jacobs and Moser sought alternatives after student trips to Walpole Island First Nation were canceled during the pandemic.
Moser stated that to keep the course momentum going, we decided on a different lens and started to do some land responsibility and healing here on Westerns campus. Students will carry with them a sense for stewardship and care for the land wherever they go in their lives.
Ron Sands (from Bkejwanong), guides Antonina Struminski-Bodden and Veronica Reitmeier through a clearing at Westerns campus. (credit: Facilities Management
Students will be able to appreciate the campus in a new context thanks to Westerns 500 acres of land, the Thames River, and Medway Creek. Moser said that the legacy of current students will last a lifetime through their work to restore native flora.
Jacobs and Moser will have five-years of land-use agreements that will allow them to share their observations with future and current classes. A number of tracts, including a stretch near Spencer Ivey Leadership Centre appeal to the pair due to their proximity to the floodplain, which is undeveloped and provides an unique ecosystem for diverse species and remains relatively naturalized.
Jacobs said, “I am glad and grateful that there are places like this at Western. It allows us to interact, learn, watch and grow.” It is going to change us as things change here.
Jacobs believes that reciprocity and relationships are key pillars of their field work as well as a common thread in the land-use agreement.
FM leaders are required to support the composting and removal of vegetation as well as the guidance of land-modifying activities. FM will receive any findings from course fieldwork in return for improving campus stewardship.
This is a formal agreement which strengthens the connection between FM, the academic units, said Elizabeth Krische (associate vice-president Facilities Management). This agreement will be used as a platform for developing partnerships with other members on campus.
Many land-use agreements have been developed between FM and other academic units at campus. Current partnerships are being developed with researchers from the Faculty of Engineering as well as the department of biology.
Krische said that it was so exciting to see the facilities teams, campus infrastructure, and campus have such a direct connection to student experience.
The Facilities Management team continues to pursue additional land-use possibilities through the new Campus as a Living Laboratorysite that celebrates current partnerships, and encourages future collaborations.