UNews - Phil Dyck

Anniversary gift to help create a more ecologically friendly campus

caroline.zentner — Tue, 21 Mar 2017 20:50:27 +0000

For more than 30 years, Dr. Jennifer Mather has called the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge her workplace home. She’s rather fond of the place and wanted to mark the U of L’s 50th birthday with a special gift.

Mather says she’s been thinking about campus ecology for a while, since she, like many others, gets a great deal of pleasure from the flora and fauna around the U of L. Whether it’s a newborn fawn or eagles soaring over the river valley, Mather takes note. That spurred her to donate some funds to the U of L as an anniversary gift with the idea they be used to create a more ecologically friendly campus.

Valentina Ibarra Galvis, at right, Dr. Jennifer Mather and Dr. Randall Barley talk about a coniferous cone they found in a wooded area on campus.

And on one of the coldest days of the winter, Mather and a student went around campus to take part in the annual winter bird count. She’d also conducted a bird count on campus during the summer and the total didn’t match Mather’s expectations.

“I didn’t see a lot of the birds I thought I should have seen,” she says. “I noticed that most of the campus didn’t have many. The places where I found birds were on the fringes where nobody had done campus improvement.”

That got her thinking about how campus ecology could be improved. Being a psychology professor, Mather knows that seeing a natural landscape, whether through a window or outside, has a beneficial effect on humans.

“We have an artificial environment here, we can’t possibly not because there are buildings, parking lots and roads. But to some extent, we can do the best we can with what we’ve got,” she says. “I thought if birds are any indicator, then we’re not giving the birds, and the animals and the plants, a good environment.”

Two biology instructors, Jennifer Burke and Dr. Randall Barley, expressed interest in getting the project going and an independent study was established. Funds from Mather’s gift will go to offset any costs incurred by students working on the project.

“I want students to be involved in this as much as possible,” says Mather. “The beginning will be mapping, figuring out the habitats, figuring out the soils and getting a bit of history. It’s a big project.”

Barley knew one of his students, Valentina Ibarra Galvis, was eager to get involved in a hands-on project. Ibarra Galvis, a third-year U of L student who recently switched her major to environmental science from biology, didn’t hesitate to accept.

“I’ve always been very passionate about the environment,” she says. “To me, Jennifer’s project sounded like an amazing opportunity, especially because it’s here on campus. It’s a learning experience and I more than willingly took on the project.”

Dr. Randall Barley, centre, and Valentina Ibarra Galvis, right, talk about the reeds found on campus with Dr. Jennifer Mather.

Ibarra Galvis has been gathering historical information about the U of L, including the ecological assessment that was completed before the construction of ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Hall. She’s also toured the campus with Phil Dyck, U of L grounds manager.

“I couldn’t have hoped for a more enthusiastic student than Valentina,” says Barley. “She has been fierce in her pursuit of information.”

Ibarra Galvis says she learned that much of what grows on campus is artificial, and the construction of ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Hall likely destroyed some habitat. She has evaluated microhabitats on campus and she’ll be identifying the species found in each one. U of L geographers will also be called upon to provide information to make a map of campus. Ibarra Galvis intends to establish a database with all her findings as a reference for other students who work on the project in subsequent years.

“Instead of wiping out what we already have here and putting in all prairie species—because that could be very costly—what we want to do is look at disturbed areas and see how we can restore them and make it more natural,” she says. “The goal is also to be more sustainable. When you have more native species, an area can sustain itself. At the end of the day, this would also hopefully reduce the cost to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ for fertilizer and pesticide.”

Richardson's ground squirrels are among the animals that make their home on the U of L grounds.

“There are limitations and it will be about finding that balance between the biology and all of the other considerations,” says Barley. “If we can create additional habitat for species at risk or that are endangered, then we’d view those as high-value species in this type of project.”

Once Ibarra Galvis has completed the foundational work, students from other disciplines could carry the project forward. For example, a geography student could analyze soil samples or an education student could be involved in educating the campus community about the environs.

“My goal at the end of this semester is to have a map with each microhabitat labelled, with a description of the history of each one,” says Ibarra Galvis. “People don’t understand the value of such a unique ecosystem. It’s important to take care of our environment. We live in it and we need it to survive, too; we can’t forget that.”

A brown approach to campus safety

trevor.kenney — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 20:34:36 +0000

People walking around campus may have noticed a brown liquid in areas where slipping hazards are great, such as sloping sidewalks and stairs.

The U of L Department of Grounds traditionally uses a salt-based ice-melting agent, but is now testing out a more environmentally friendly product called "Fusion" from Eco Solutions.

Fusion is a 100 per cent organic and biodegradable anti-icing agent made from plant material. It will allow grounds to reduce its salt use, resulting in less corrosion and pollution of the river. It can also be applied on grass and shrubs without the damage associated with salt spreading. While Fusion may not always result in complete melting of icy surfaces, those surfaces should be less slippery after treatment.

"Our goal is to provide a campus that is safe and operable while doing less harm to the infrastructure, the environment and the equipment we use to care for the campus," says Phil Dyck, manager of grounds.

Grounds is carefully evaluating the performance of this product and welcomes any feedback. More information on this product and others like it can found at the following links.

http://eco-solutions.net/deicer.php

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/partners/pns/

Grounds crew sustains ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ's beauty

trevor.kenney — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 17:45:34 +0000

By JAMIE WOODFORD

In the dead of winter, they keep the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge's sidewalks safe by shovelling snow and spreading sand. In the spring, they sweep the gravel, mow the grass and replenish the planters. They are the Grounds crew and their role at the U of L is essential for creating both a vibrant and safe campus, all the while supporting the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ's recruitment, retention and sustainability efforts.

"First impressions are important," says manager Phil Dyck.

Grounds staffers come from a variety of backgrounds. Some have formal training in landscaping while others have experience in lawn maintenance and other aspects of the job. What they have in common is an enthusiasm and dedication to their trade, reflected by the group continually attending seminars and taking courses for licencing and certifications to the industry's latest standards.

Summer student employee Alanna Kolesar plants flowers at the entrance to the U of L campus.

The crew consists of just seven full-time employees with an additional seven students over the summer months, meaning a premium is placed on running an efficient and sustainable operation. One of the department's most significant ventures is maintaining its own greenhouse.

"We have a top-of-the-line greenhouse that we utilize throughout the entire year," says Dyck.

Flowers and plants are seeded at the beginning of the year and grown in the greenhouse until they are ready to be planted in the spring. In the fall, perennial plants such as geraniums are harvested and maintained in the greenhouse over the winter for planting again in the spring. In total, more than 8,000 plants were seeded this past year.

"Most of what we grow is pretty typical," says Dyck. "We pick those plants on purpose because we're looking for what is low in maintenance and what is going to survive."

Maintaining plants in a greenhouse presents its own challenges. Last year, the department had to deal with an aphid outbreak. The tiny, destructive insects rapidly multiply and go to work sucking the sap out of plants.

"You could leave on a Friday afternoon when everything looks fine and come back Monday morning and see that your plants are under extreme stress," says Dyck. "When we had the aphid outbreak, we were spraying every other day with a mostly soap-based insecticide. It's a lot of work and unfortunately it's not terribly effective, but we had to do it to keep those plants alive."

A little ingenuity from an unexpected source ended up saving the day. Hundreds of ladybugs, collected by a Grounds employee's young daughter, were released in the greenhouse and they went to work, eating the offending aphids.

"This spring, as soon as she found ladybugs she caught them again, and we never found a single aphid in the greenhouse this year," he says.

The department's other great challenge is Lethbridge's unpredictable weather. From sizzling summer heat to bone-chilling winter winds, sprinkled with random rain and hailstorms, the crew has seen it all. In the growing season, sudden changes from hot to cold or dry to wet can put great strain on plants.

"We can be proactive to some degree but more often than not, we need to be responsive," says Dyck. "With outdoor plants, trees and grass, any kind of sudden change in the weather will put a lot of stress on the plants. If it goes from really cool to 35 degrees the next day, it might not be apparent to most people, but a trained eye will see that stress."

Proper irrigation techniques play an important role in maintaining vegetation in southern Alberta's semi-arid climate. Dyck notes that, with the exception of the river valley areas of campus, there were no trees on the U of L property before planting began. Generally, the area does not get enough rain to sustain trees, grasses and plants that have been introduced. That's why you will sometimes see staff watering trees even during a rainfall event, to help the moisture penetrate into the root zone.

"If we get a really dry year, we're going to be hand watering out there to keep the trees alive," he says.

Sustainability is always at the forefront of the department's thinking. One initiative involved saving a cluster of elm trees from becoming firewood. Construction for the new residence building in Aperture Park required the removal of about 80 elm trees, but rather than chop them down, Grounds worked with the Project Management Office to remove and transplant the trees around campus. They'll then be relocated back to the site once the new residence is complete.

"Some of those elms were very mature, they were good trees and worth saving," says Dyck. "We saved as many as we could."

For more information on Grounds or its operations call 403-329-2602 or e-mail facility.servicedesk@uleth.ca

UNews - Phil Dyck

Anniversary gift to help create a more ecologically friendly campus

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