University of Alberta
OP-T2-20: Wildlife Habitat

The University of Alberta's North Campus is situated along the south shore of the North Saskatchewan River. Between our north boundary and the river is a Forest Reserve which is used by students as an outdoor classroom. This reserve is left untouched as a natural environment providing food, shelter and a variety of nesting and burrowing opportunities for all types of wildlife. Over the past decade, the University of Alberta has incorporated waterfalls and streams on a number of its campuses with the intent of providing gathering places for people and wildlife, and these water features are an annual nesting place for certain pairs of ducks. Buildings and Grounds Services (BGS) has dramatically limited its use of herbicides to less than 10 hard landscaped sites where there are no other weed control alternatives, and the BGS division does not disturb (prune or remove) trees with active nests in them. THE ALBERTA CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION'S PEREGRINE CAMERAS Wildlife habitat is also supported on North Campus through hosting a nest box designed for the native peregrine falcon species, located on our Clinical Sciences Building. The Peregrine Webcam Project, was initiated by Sustain SU (formerly known as ECOS), UAlberta Engineering and Infrastructure, the Alberta Public Interest Research Group (APIRG), Mountain Equipment Co-Op, GE Security Canada and Infosat Communication. Today, the project is run by the Alberta Conservation Association, and is supported by the University of Alberta along with a variety of other organizations. The nest box at UAlberta along with the boxes at the Weber Centre and Bell Tower safely house breeding pairs of the formerly threatened peregrine falcon since its installation in the 1990’s. Multiple conservation associations, student groups and university departments worked to develop this project and three cameras have been funded and installed so the public can watch the young birds feed and grow. The university has supported this initiative since its inception in various ways through various levels of involvement. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THE PEREGRINE WEBCAM PROJECT http://www.ab-conservation.com/go/default/index.cfm/media/peregrine-cam/watch-the-peregrine-live/