As part of the Invasive Species Centre’s 10-Year Anniversary, the Invasive Species Centre has awarded 24 microgrants of $1,000 each to support invasive species education and community action in Ontario. We’re featuring these projects throughout the year to help amplify the exciting microgrant project work being completed this year to support prevention and management of invasive species.
Current feature:
This project, lead by the Society of Ecological Restoration Niagara College Student Chapter (SER NCSC), focuses on removing invasive phragmites and planting native riparian species, such as dogwood and willow trees, on the portion of the Six Mile Creek running through the Niagara College Daniel J. Patterson campus.
“Invasive species pose a large threat to North America’s biodiversity and ecosystem health. Because of this, I was thrilled to see a student-led initiative at Niagara College to combat Phragmites, a particularly destructive invasive species which crowd out native grasses and reeds; and disrupt animal habitat,’ says Horticultural Studies Student Akira Ourique.
“The innovative strategy to shade out the Phragmites by planting trees was developed by the Ecosystem Restoration Program, with planting assistance from Environmental and Horticultural students like myself. I believe this project will be fruitful, and strongly hope to see future projects carried out, modelled from the data collected from Six Mile Creek Riparian Restoration.”
Rehabilitating this stretch of creek highlights important environmental features on the campus and advertises the ecosystem restoration activities taking place.
“The ISC microgrant program proved to be a highly effective teaching tool, providing my post-grad students a real-world opportunity to put ideas together into a proposal, feel the sense of accomplishment with funding approval, and confront the realities of implementation,” adds Niagara College Ecosystem Restoration Program Coordinator Martin Smith.
Learn more about sustainability at Niagara College by visiting its website here.
To learn more about all the recipients of the Education and Community Action Microgrant Awards for Ontario, visit our ISC 10 Microgrants webpage.
