Second-year ecology students had a wonderful opportunity to experience Windsor’s Carolinian habitat last week, during field work in Ojibway Park.

“It is important to get students outside to appreciate the ecology of Essex County as part of their learning process,” says biology professor Trevor Pitcher.

Groups of students engaged in a tree identification exercise September 26 and 27, October 2 and 3 in the west-side park. Lab technician Candy Donaldson says the variety of species makes it an ideal setting.

“Many of the student said they wish all of our labs could be held in Ojibway,” she says. “Our unique temperatures and rich soils create a diverse environment that many of our students hadn’t been able to explore yet.”

Masters student Jeff Buckley says in just the few hours he spent in the park, he saw not just a wide variety of trees, but deer, woodpeckers and other birds, and two species of snakes.

“I have studied ecology throughout Ontario, and having seen all the natural places across the province, this is one of the most diverse,” he says.

The commuter meal plan offers a way for students who live off-campus to save on every purchase of food on campus.

Students purchase a plan starting with a minimum of $195 and then access their account by presenting their UwinCARDs to pay at campus food outlets, and receive a 10 percent discount.

“It’s so convenient,” says Jane Meunier, a manager with Food Services. “You don’t have to worry about carrying cash. It’s a great thing to have for those times when you just need something to eat.”

Campus Services is promoting the plans this week with a display outside the Marketplace in the CAW Student Centre, allowing students to transfer funds to the UwinCARD from any debit account.

Find details, including a list of applicable food outlets, on the program’s website.

A free public reception from 7 to 9 p.m. on Friday, October 10, will mark the closing of Propagation, an installation by visual arts master’s student Patricia Coates in the SoVA Projects Gallery, LeBel Building.

In her installation, Coates says, “the interface of living and manufactured objects collides to convey a complex and conflicted human nature playing out in our relationship with the land.”

She has grown more than 2,000 seedling trees of the Carolinian forest—pin oak, chinquapin oak, Shumard oak, Kentucky coffeetree, honey locust, sycamore and cottonwood. She gathered the seeds and planted them in reclaimed, recycled and littered cups gleaned from urban streets, rural roads, fast food dumpsters and contributions from family, friends, and her own consumption.

This art intervention is ongoing; planting continues on restoration sites throughout the county, including the former Essex County landfill.