Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 51.63
Liaison Dwayne Doornbosch
Submission Date June 24, 2021

STARS v2.2

Langara College
OP-9: Landscape Management

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 2.00 Dwayne Doornbosch
Director Facilities
Facilities
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Total campus area:
8 Hectares

Figures required to calculate the total area of managed grounds:
Area (double-counting is not allowed)
Area managed organically, without the use of inorganic fertilizers and chemical pesticides, fungicides and herbicides 0 Hectares
Area managed in accordance with an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program that uses selected chemicals only when needed 8 Hectares
Area managed using conventional, chemical-based landscape management practices 0 Hectares
Total area of managed grounds 8 Hectares

If the total area of managed grounds is less than the total campus area, provide:

A brief description of any land excluded from the area of managed grounds:
Land was not excluded because the IPM covers both external grounds and the inside of campus buildings.

Organic program

Percentage of grounds managed organically:
0

If reporting an organic program, provide:

A brief description of the organic landscape management program:
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Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program 

Percentage of grounds managed in accordance with an IPM program:
100

If reporting an IPM program, provide:

A copy of the IPM plan or program:
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A brief description of the IPM program:
Langara College contracts Humane Solutions for its wildlife and pest control. Humane Solutions offers a 'beyond IPM' approach, including various sustainable pest management services covering the entire campus area, both indoors and outdoors. They use poison-free trapping stations and work towards creating permanent non-lethal results when handling wildlife and pests.

Humane Solutions approach of handling wildlife and pests revolve around creating permanent, non-lethal results and offer more wholistic wildlife management and co-existence strategy. All services offered are customized to the unique situations on hand. Their focus is on correcting human behavior, resources, and infrastructure first and these often lead to permanent, non-lethal results. When lethal management is required, they do so in the most humane, targeted, and ethical manner possible.

What makes Humane Solutions different from other Integrated Pest Management companies is that they are transparent in the work they do and do not use permanent rodenticide stations; a practice other integrated pest management companies perform.

Using their CatchData Rodent Management Program, custom reports are created which provides Langara with information that include the total catch, species, cost-per-rodent, and activity heat maps for every trapping station on campus grounds. Because all of this data is available, if rodent populations decrease or disappear it will be known, and the contract will either end or be altered. This is different from the delayed onset rodenticides that other pest management companies use, which take multiple doses to take effect, causing the rodents to suffer for days and also making actively keeping track and creating reports difficult.

Optional Fields 

A brief description of the institution's approach to plant stewardship:
Wherever possible, Langara plants native and ecologically appropriate plant species.

A brief description of the institution's approach to hydrology and water use:
Langara does not use any permanent irrigation systems on campus, including for grassed areas, significantly reducing water use related to irrigation.

A brief description of the institution's approach to landscape materials management and waste minimization:
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A brief description of the institution's approach to energy-efficient landscape design:
Landscapes around the four LEED Gold buildings on campus are designed to promote energy efficiency of the buildings by providing shade in the summer.

A brief description of other sustainable landscape management practices employed by the institution:
Langara's recently posted tender for landscape management includes requirements for meeting landscape-related credits from LEED O+M, and the provision of all-electric equipment for use on campus.

Website URL where information about the institution’s sustainable landscape management program is available:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.