Field Studies in the Regional Ecosystem

This is a course in “reading” the landscape for application in site planning and design. The course will focus on the human-modified ecosystems of the lower mainland and southern Vancouver Island - the urban, and urban-fringe successional and productive landscapes in which we live and work. We will visit a range of ecosystem types including old growth Douglas fir forests, and Garry oak ecosystems, salt and freshwater wetlands, sand dunes, urban-disturbed ecosystems and development sites.

The majority of each day will be spent in the field.  Guest instructors will be with us for four of those days. The course will cover identification of native plants and soils, invasive plants, biogeoclimatic zones, plant associations, seral stages, habitat types, species/habitat relations, integrated stormwater management and the ecological restoration of such ecosystems.

While identification of natural elements, systems and processes is the basis of the course, these are understood as a means to the interpretation of these landscapes. From field observations, we will learn to analyze and interpret where a landscape has been, and where it is going. Each day, we will discuss the implications of our findings for site planning, design and management.

• What will happen if the natural systems and/or human systems of the place continue in their present course?

• Are interventions necessary to adjust the trajectory of a given landscape? If so, why?

• What interventions are possible and reasonable?

• What are the benefits and costs to society of non-intervention or intervention?

• How can we develop in a way that integrates, or even enhances, the natural systems of the site?

Course is offered only during the summer.

Instructor: Patrick Mooney

Course Outline

Course Schedule