final program - Canadian Association of Geographers

Environmental Management Challenges
in an Urbanizing Watershed and the
Niagara Escarpment
Dr. Rob Milne, Wilfrid Laurier University
Monday, May 28 (all day)
field trips | excursion
The Niagara Escarpment Biosphere Reserve is a prominent
landform in the urbanizing landscape of the Greater Toronto
Area (GTA) which serves a multifunctional role for local
ecosystems as well as the surrounding watersheds and urban
centres. This field trip will explore the management conflicts
and resolutions that come from a diverse landscape by visiting
several sites where environmental issues and management
strategies have been addressed by the Niagara Escarpment
Commission and Credit Valley Conservation. Themes that
will be addressed include landscape conservation/restoration
and resource extraction, recreational use and ecological
systems, wildlife habitat and urbanization. The full day trip
will include field talks from local agencies and moderate
hiking to experience the unique flora and geomorphology of
this biosphere reserve.
Satellites and Visual Environments:
High-tech geomatics industries in
Waterloo Region
Dr. Steve Roberts / Dr. Colin Robertson, Wilfrid
Laurier University
Monday, May 28 (all day)
In the morning we travel by bus to Cambridge for a tour of Com
Dev a local aerospace company to see their satellite production
facility. In the afternoon, we visit Christie Digital Systems and/
or the Communitech Hub to view immersive visualization
environments. Technical staff are to be part of each of these
tours to help makes these visits relevant for researchers as well
as entertaining and informative for interested academics from
other disciplines.