15- Life on Land
Here are the actions taken by the Université de Montréal to preserve life on land.
Biodiversity
The Université de Montréal’s policy on sustainable development provides guidelines on integrating conservation and sustainability into its activities to reduce its ecological footprint.
Link to the full policy: https://secretariatgeneral.umontreal.ca/public/secretariatgeneral/documents/doc_officiels/reglements/administration/adm10_50-Politique_developpement_durable.pdf
The University co-signed the United Nations’ Nature Positive pledge with 10 other universities in Quebec. By joining this initiative with 116 other universities around the world, the University recognizes the role that education and research play in the fight against the decline of biodiversity and for ecological restoration.
For more information: https://durable.umontreal.ca/amenagement-biodiversite/biodiversite/engagement-envers-la-biodiversite/
Legally protected areas, internationally recognized areas, priority sites for biodiversity and regions of conservation importance
Mount Royal was granted the provincial status of Historical and Natural Patrimonial Borough of Mount Royal in 2003. This status was recently revised to a Heritage Site. Since the University has been on this site well before it was recognized as a protected area, the entire campus is considered a protected area as well.
Endangered and vulnerable species on land owned or managed by the University by level of extinction risk
These flora species are currently threatened on campus : Carex dephalophora, Sanguinaria canadensis, Trillium garndiflorum, Juglans cinerea.
The Groupe de recherche et d’études en biostatistique et en environnement has recently conducted studies to inventory the status of species in the Mount Royal woodlands near campus.
Areas of important biodiversity on land owned or managed by the University
The oak grove on campus is considered a site of high ecological value because of the presence of carex cephalophora, which is listed as a vulnerable or threatened species by Quebec’s Ministère de l’Environnement, de la Lutte contre les changements climatiques, de la Faune et des Parcs.
Methodologies used to identify endangered and vulnerable species, and areas of important biodiversity
Three professors from the University did a study in 2005 in which they created an empirical tool to give an ecological value to different sections of the campus. Also, a variety of studies looked at the flora and fauna found on campus. Among other works, a meta-analysis was done by Alexandre Beaudoin, a biologist, for his master’s degree in sustainable development. The conclusions of those various studies were presented in 2012 and are still used as guidelines for on-campus actions. His study focused on the three areas: wildlife, flora and mushrooms.
Examples of these studies :
Plans and programs in place to protect species, habitats and ecosystems
In 2011, 13.42 hectares of land was donated to the City of Montreal for the creation of a public park. The objective is to protect the natural aspect of the land.
In 2009, a protection plan for Mount Royal was created by the City of Montreal, which the University has signed and still upholds its commitment.
Estimated percentage of areas of biodiversity importance on campus that are also protected areas : 100
For more information :
https://durable.umontreal.ca/amenagement-biodiversite/biodiversite/biodiversity-english/
https://durable.umontreal.ca/amenagement-biodiversite/biodiversite/projets-en-biodiversite/
Landscape Management
Total campus area : 180.09 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 | 180.09 Hectares |
| Area managed in accordance with an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program that uses selected chemicals only when needed | 0 Hectares |
| Area managed using conventional, chemical-based landscape management practices | 0 Hectares |
| Total area of managed grounds | 180.09 Hectares |
Any land excluded from the area of managed grounds :
Areas that are not Universite de Montreal's proprety were not considered.
Percentage of grounds managed organically : 100
Organic landscape management program :
The City of Montreal has its own regulation that prohibits the use of pesticides on the whole island of Montreal (of which the City itself is a part), except in some few cases where institutions or citizens have sustained important damages.
Otherwise, the city prohibits all kinds of chemical pesticides and the Université de Montréal upholds and complies with the regulation.
Additionally, no fertilizer are use on the university managed ground except for few on-campus permacole gardens (using only natural fertilizers).
www.durable.umontreal.ca/amenagement-biodiversite/agriculture-urbaine/pause/
Institution's approach to plant stewardship :
Our Sustainability unit launched in 2017 a program to remove buckthorn, an invasive specy, from our main campus located on the protected area of mount Royal.
Institution's approach to hydrology and water use :
Developing strategies for stormwater management:
- vernal pond development
-Promote vegetated drainage areas
-Retain, treat and control stormwater discharge into a retention pond
-Incorporation of phytotechnologies through these vegetated areas.
Institution's approach to landscape materials management and waste minimization :
The University organizes an annual student and staff clean-up to remove litter from the Mount Royal woodlands.
Other sustainable landscape management practices employed by the institution :
Residual grass cuts is kept and used as natural fertilizer on site. Certain City regulations ensure that the University removes dead leaves from the premises, including all places considered institutionnal parks (trees on grass). When possible, dead leaves are kept on new plantation sites as natural fertilizer.
Other university campuses are located in urban areas and do not have landscaping.
Organic landscape management program
The City of Montreal regulates the use of pesticides on the whole Island of Montreal. The University complies with these regulations. No fertilizers are used on campus except for a few on-campus permaculture gardens where only natural fertilizers are used.
Plant stewardship
The University’s Unité de développement durable launched a program in 2017 to remove buckthorn, an invasive species, from the main campus, located on the protected area of Mount Royal.
Hydrology and water use
The University’s developing strategies for stormwater management include :
● development of vernal pond
● promotion of vegetated drainage areas
● retainment, treatment and control of stormwater discharge into a retention pond
● usage of phytotechnologies through vegetated areas
Landscape materials management and waste reduction
The University organizes an annual student and staff clean-up to remove litter from the Mount Royal woodlands near campus.
Other sustainable landscape management practices
Residual grass cuts are used as natural fertilizers on campus. City regulation mandates that the University removes dead leaves from campus, including all places considered institutional parks. When possible, dead leaves are kept on new plantation sites as natural fertilizers.
Website URL where information about the institution’s sustainable landscape management program is available: https://durable.umontreal.ca/accueil/
Sustainable Recycling and Relocation of Research Waste
In 2019, the physics, chemistry, biology and geography departments at the Université de Montréal moved to a research and educational centre at the new MIL campus. This move created a lot of waste, mostly old scientific equipment, which contained many hazardous materials, such as gold, copper, aluminum, palladium and iron. The University recycled all these artefacts and prevented them from being thrown away in landfills.
Scientific equipment waste management at the University is divided into two categories :
● Still useful equipment includes all equipment that still has use for research and educational purposes. This category includes equipment that is transferred to other activities, equipment considered too old but still valuable for its materials and thus needs to be recycled, and equipment that is kept as important museum artefacts.
● Useless equipment is damaged or in need of important repair and already excluded by laboratories. This kind of equipment is then recycled by specialized recycling authorities (e.g., ARPE, Frigo responsable).
The results of this program were astonishing. A volume of waste of about 11 truckloads has already been recycled, of which only 3% has been thrown into landfills.
The program is now called OREL. It aims to promote the re-use of scientific equipment and apparatus.
For more information :
https://durable.umontreal.ca/campus/matieres-residuelles/materiel-scientifique/
Single-Use Plastic Ban
Water bottles have also been banned on campus since 2013.
www.durable.umontreal.ca/campus-durable/optimisation-des-ressources/eau/
Straws were banned from University of Montreal's main campus in September 2018 at the initiative of Institutional Food Services, Local Local.
Recently, the Food Services of the Université de Montréal removed a significant number of single-use plastic food containers from its outlets, in line with the new regulation introduced by the City of Montreal
Innovation A
Sustainable recycling and relocation of scientific material
In 2019-2020, the department of physics, chemistry, biology, and geography of the Université de Montréal have been transfered to the new research and educational center, the Sciences complex of the new MIL Campus. This move has begun in the spring of 2019 and, obviously, has created a lot of waste. Principally old scientific equipment which are obsolete, no more useful or simply unwanted in the new building.
The institution took forward the initiative to sustainably recycle all these artefacts and prevent them to be misthrown away in landfill risking, for instance, soil contamination. Indeed, many of these materials containing gold, copper, aluminium, palladium, iron and brominated flame retardant have a strong contamination potential.
Moreover, all these components can be reused in a green way to build new items and hence a sustainable circular economy of scientific equipment waste.
Scientific equipment waste management has been divided into 2 sub-divided categories:
- Useful equipment includes all equipment that is still useful for research and educational purpose and needs to be valorised. This category includes equipment that will be transferred for further activities, equipment considered too old and unneeded anymore but still have value for their pieces and thus need to be recycled and equipment that will be kept as important museum artefacts.
- Unuseful equipment is those damaged or in need of an important reparation but is already excluded by laboratories activities. These kinds of equipment will then be recycled by specialised recycling authorities (ARPE QC, Frigo responsable).
Since this year, a volume waste of about 11 truck-load has been already recycled of which only 3% has been thrown into landfills, wich represent a 97% performance rate for the relocation so far.
Publication featuring the innovation :
Procedure_de_gestion_des_equipements_PDA-01_p3_6.pdf
The website URL where information about the innovation is available :
https://durable.umontreal.ca/campus/matieres-residuelles/materiel-scientifique/
Hazardous Waste Management
Reduction of hazardous, special, universal and non-regulated chemical waste
Based on its chemical safety training sessions and inspection programs, the Université de Montréal encourages its staff to :
● maintain an up-to-date inventory information system
● make the best purchasing decisions
● minimize hazardous waste
Through its MON ÉCOLABO program, the University developed an online database to facilitate the sharing of unwanted chemicals to faculty and staff who can reuse them. Lab personnel may search in this database for the chemicals they need and obtain them for free.
Disposal of hazardous, universal and non-regulated chemical waste
The Université de Montréal manages the collection and disposal of hazardous waste materials generated through its research, academic and operational activities. The hazardous waste is sorted, consolidated and stored in secured facilities on campus. In compliance with relevant regulations, the dangerous residues are then shipped to authorized environmental companies.
Significant hazardous material release incidents during the previous three years, including volume, impact, response and remediation
The OHS department is the main authority in case of hazardous material spills by providing technical assistance and guidance to university employees. OHS sends a response team to clean up spills in situations that involve injury, that pose a fire hazard or that university employees do not have proper training or protective equipment to deal with.
Inventory system that facilitates the reuse or redistribution of laboratory chemicals
The University maintains an updated chemical inventory database to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements (governmental agencies, fire department and insurance companies). Laboratory personnel can contact the OHS department to check the availability of any chemical on campus.
Electronic waste recycling program
The University’s Technologies de l’information is committed to minimizing electronic waste. It created a refurbishment program for computers. Materials that can neither be reused nor refurbished are sent to a certified external recycling facility in compliance with the Recycler Qualification Program.
The Community Services Division installed bins that collect electronic waste on campus.
For more information : https://durable.umontreal.ca/campus-durable/optimisation-des-ressources/matieres-residuelles-reemploi/
Community Partnerships
Darlington Ecological Corridor
The Darlington Ecological Corridor is one of the flagship projects of the University’s Unité de développement durable. This project combines all three of the preservation of biodiversity, sustainable development and the teaching mission of the University. The goal is to create an ecological corridor (through greening, urban agriculture, stormwater management and other ecological interventions) to link the University’s main campus to its new MIL campus. This corridor allows native flora and fauna to disperse throughout the Island of Montreal, improving the quality of life of its residents. The Unité de développement durable teamed up with the Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce borough to complete the project. This involved, among other things, the establishment of urban gardens, the demineralization of contaminated lands and the planting of trees.
The Project Through Time
The Darlington Ecological Corridor is a project that focuses on the ecological connectivity of green spaces in Montreal. The benefits are primarily to facilitate the expansion of wildlife in the urban fabric, but there are many other benefits. Among them, the project promotes greater citizen empowerment, provides food, develops habitats for bees, offers a pollination service, offers ecological alternatives to rainwater management and becomes an interesting playground for both students and the local community.
In 2014, the Unité de développement durable, its biodiversity advisor and a trainee in landscape architecture proposed a project to connect green spaces that links the University’s two campuses. First proposed as a project of ecological connectivity between green spaces, it quickly integrated the social sphere.
In fact, in 2015, a workshop organized by the Unité de développement durable and a human geography student took place with organizations that work on environment, conservation and development issues, as well as some residents who took part in discussions about the main outcomes for the community. This workshop was held at the summit of Mount Royal, a natural site where the University maintains its main campus. Also in 2015, a second student completed his internship in food sociology to better understand the profile of the surrounding community and its relationship with food. The main findings of this study still guide various interventions at the University. In partnership with the local borough, the University set up 40 giant pots to encourage residents to garden.
In 2016, a third student completed an internship at the University. This sustainable development student created a second consultation workshop, targeting mainly residents. These exchanges allowed the University to identify a priority intervention zone and develop relationships with the urban garden community. This is how the University’s gardening group came to develop a special project on composting. Until then, the Darlington project office acted as a facilitator between the community, the University and the borough. That same season, the Unité de développement durable secured external funding for the first time from the TD Friends of the Environment Foundation. This money was directly reinvested in the community by inaugurating a nourishing forest in a rather moribund area. The planting of trees took place with a group of young people known as the Green Patrol, whose job was to bring concrete solutions concerning environmental matters. The project made it possible to provide a place for young people to learn about tree planting and to green a sector while opening the area to the local community.
In 2017, the Unité de développement durable got another funding amount for a development project of flowery meadows to provide a habitat for bees. This project took place in the field of the University’s new partners, the community gardens. Maintenance of this site always takes place during the summer. During the summer of 2019, the University targeted a sub-community more specifically. The University hosted a party in a park to discuss with the community and assess its specific needs. This approach made it possible to target certain projects and resulted in the creation of a dog park. The University repeated this model of celebratory consultation since then.
In 2018, an urban planning student, supervised by the Unité de développement durable, contributed to the project by proposing new areas of intervention, while proposing to link the project to other boroughs (Ville Mont-Royal and Outremont). The borough of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce offered funding to hire a horticulturist, a community animator, two urban planning students (specialized in active transportation and rainwater management), a project manager in social mobilization and a project coordinator. This funding was renewed in the summer of 2019.
During the summer of 2019, a student in socio-ecology and sustainable development developed a program of resident engagement through a calendar of activities (e.g., gardening, BBQs, gatherings for children, permaculture workshops). The benefits exceeded expectations. Residents joined the Darlington team as volunteers to develop new project areas and new activities (e.g., green alleys, cleaning chores, resident workshops, composting). Also, the University started a first development project with a Centre intégré universitaire de santé et de services sociaux. It is the first project carried out by a sustainable development team from the healthcare system in the neighborhood.
Also, during the 2018–2019 academic year, the University hosted workshops in local elementary schools to create a new generation of gardeners who will maintain the gardens and to raise students’ awareness related to urban ecology issues.
In addition to these partnerships with local organizations, the University developed a partnership with Polytechnique Montréal. In the fall of 2017 and 2018, the CIV-4940 course for graduating students in civil engineering offered students the opportunity to develop an integrated approach to stormwater management in the corridor that addressed infrastructure problems while providing water supply for local biodiversity. The best ideas were then selected by the instructor and were offered to the sustainable development office of the borough. This successful project became a continuing education workshop offered by Polytechnique Montréal in the form of a massive open online course. This course is offered in English and to all Canadian engineers. This made it possible to integrate new notions of urban ecology into an engineering curriculum.
Also, each year since 2015, a professor from different disciplines takes over the project concept to make it a semester project. The University was able to work with students in urban planning, architecture, landscape architecture, communication and sustainable development. The University hopes to integrate students from other disciplines, such as geography and biology, in the near future.
FIRM project
The FIRM project consists of developing plots of land on public, institutional and private rights-of-way. Its main objective is to allow the community to discuss issues related to ecological and food planning. This programming, motivated by urban health milestones, aims to empower the community in terms of food supply while providing interfaces for cultural mediation.
For more information on the Darlington Ecological Corridor :
https://unpointcinq.ca/article-blogue/corridor-darlington-montreal/
https://ici.radio-canada.ca/recit-numerique/4151/environnement-vert-darlington-ecologie-sommet-terre