Vanier College
OP-10: Biodiversity

Vanier College owns a field station in Gore, Quebec, which contains 5 acres of land and is adjacent to a combination of private property and crown land. The land contains two buildings, one which functions as a field station and includes a laboratory, classroom, dorm rooms, kitchen, rec room, offices and storage space. The second building is the garage and is used for storing materials. There is also a small boathouse where we keep aquatic materials including life jackets and paddles.

The land is adjacent to property owned by the city of Lachute as well as private landowners who manage their land for a variety of purposes. The city of Lachute land includes an aquatic reservoir, which is protected. In addition, the newest acquisition of the Vanier land is a one- acre parcel that we are protecting for conservation purposes and on which we collect annual data. Our land also contains a sensitive marsh ecosystem.

All of the following species can be found at the Vanier College Field Station, with the exception of Dekay’s Brownsnake, which can be found at the main campus of the College.

Birds: Canada Warbler (Quebec- vulnerable, IUCN- least concern), Eastern Whip-Poor Will (IUCN-near threatened), Wood Thrush (IUCN- near threatened), Eastern Wood-Pewee (IUCN- least concern)
Mammals: Southern Flying Squirrel (Quebec- vulnerable, IUCN- least concern)
Herps: Pickerel Frog (Quebec-vulnerable, IUCN- least concern), Dekay's Brownskake (IUCN- least concern)
Insects: Monarch butterfly (IUCN- least concern)

Vanier college owns nearly 2.5 hectares of land in the township of Gore which is within the Laurentian foothills of Quebec. This land is comprised of a diversity of habitat types but is composed primarily of mixed forest and marshland. A variety of adjacent properties not owned by the college are utilized throughout the Summer and Fall semesters for several course-related activities with students, whereby increasing the amount of habitat types our students can gain exposure to. On the main campus in Ville St. Laurent, although there are no ""wild"" spaces per se, the large expanses of green space as well as abundant trees do create a relatively natural feel. The recent additions of expansive
gardens and bird feeding areas add another dimension to the biodiversity by creating new opportunity for different species. Running along side most of the main campus is a cemetery which boasts a thick tree line and serves as a corridor for many species at different times of year. Proximity of the main campus to biodiversity hotspots like the Technoparc wetlands lends itself to many wildlife observations nearby as many animals, primarily birds, can be seen flying over campus.

We use our land, and the surrounding area for teaching purposes and since we are training students to perform wildlife and vegetation surveys, identification of endangered and vulnerable species comes with the territory. The land is surveyed annually via exercises included bird banding, small mammal trapping and herpetology surveys.

These assessments are not done for the sake of the assessment but rather are performed in the context of teaching students. As such, protocols are put in place annually and the area of each assessment can change annually.

Since the land is owned by an educational institution, we can control the number of people and all the activities that are engaged in on the property. As such we protect the land ourselves and it is generally closed to the public. We work closely with animal care committees, as well as municipal, provincial and federal governments to acquire permits for the capture and release of species. All data is reported to the aforementioned bodies and as such we ensure that the presence of vulnerable and endangered species is known.