RESTORE COOTES

I've sometimes wondered how certain plants started growing in our yard. I'm guessing seed dispersal: the wind floats some through the air, sticky burrs caught on a racoon's fur drop as they pass through at night, a nuthatch drops some seeds from its tail-end while searching for bugs on the side of a tree. The methods of delivery are varied, but the process of growth continues with time and the right conditions - rain, sun, soil -  and the wind, the racoon, the nuthatch are forgotten like the seed itself. We see goldenrod, sumach, dogwood, and it appears as though nothing preceded this moment, this forest stands inexplicably before our eyes. This is the way too with social or environmental change. Generations of germination and growth. The fruits may come after the planter has long disappeared. Like a monarch butterfly migrating - it's the generation that begins the journey that makes it possible for the next generation to arrive. I feel a little of this with the...

Some interesting approaches to looking at rehabilitating a McMaster parking lot to become a coldwater wetland. I'll be on the panel discussing the historical aspects of the site, with other smarter people, 10am Thursday, October 25, 2018. Two days prior, Patricia Johanson  will be speaking about the way she uses art, site-specific art, to help heal the earth. Should be inspiring. Hope you can make it.

We're going on a hike to introduce McMaster students (and any other interested participants) to this former RBG Coldspring Valley Nature Sanctuary and coldwater creek floodplain  - currently a parking lot - to examine the past, present and future of this place that is undergoing an important ecological transformation. Tour Leaders  Dan Coleman (English Professor and author of Yardwork: A Biography of an Urban Place ) Randy Kay (Restore Cootes) Judy Major-Girardin (School of the Arts)

Well well, those amazing McMaster Arts and Science students are certainly giving Cootes Paradise a look in a way that Restore Cootes appreciates. From Lot M' s 30m buffer, transportation demand management for McMaster, McMarsh, McMaster Forest and yes, even Cootes Drive, they're all here (and more) in this online presentation: http://prezi.com/h0uam4f60rjb/artsci-4cg3-2013-research-posters/ It is great to have the support of McMaster students and professors as these real-life local issues take on a new life. Thanks to OPIRG McMaster as well for supporting the project.

Here is a poster display created to showcase the work being done on gathering baseline data for McMarsh, a Living Lab being pushed by professors at McMaster (Waddington, Quinn, Dudley, Harvey, Doubleday, Coleman, Cruikshank, Baetz, Faculties of Science, Humanities and Engineering). The outdoor facility would create hands-on research and teaching opportunities converting an unused and superfluous section of parking lot in west campus into a wetland rehabilitation project. Restore Cootes provided details on the timeline of the area for use in creating the poster. It was opportune to run into non other than University President Patrick Deane standing at the poster board today. When I asked him how this fit with his vision for the area he said he would like to see less parking and a more functioning ecosystem in its place! McMarsh received funding through Dr. Deane's Forward with Integrity mission for campus, and the project has all the hallmarks of a successful blending of dis...