Keeping tabs on the toads – among other things

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March 22, 2011

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/urban.jpg” caption=”A volunteer with URBAN collects samples from a local body of water. Volunteers identify a number of organisms in order to track biodiversity and ecological health in the area.”]

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Next month a team of people will gather at McMaster University and prepare to
disperse throughout the city and its surroundings. Armed with nets and rubber boots,
the team will travel to streams, fields, marshes and ponds to track changes in
biodiversity and ecosystem health throughout the region. It's important work – and it
will be performed entirely by citizen volunteers.

Called URBAN (Urban-Rural Biomonitoring
& Assessment Network), the McMaster-run program enlists the help of nature
enthusiasts in collecting water samples, identifying birds and amphibians and
performing other tasks in order to track long-term changes in the environment. One of
only a handful of such programs in North America, URBAN has proven popular with
Hamiltonians interested in learning more about water quality and wetland health in and
around the city.

“This is only our second year, but we have more volunteers than we have sites to
study,” said Patricia Chow-Fraser, a professor of biology at McMaster and organizer
with URBAN. “It's a great sign that residents take the health of their environment
seriously.”

According to Chow-Fraser, the program's volunteers come from all walks of life and all
age groups, from students in high school or at McMaster to area seniors.

“Being able to get the youth out for such activities is very important,” she said. “Not
only are they the future stewards of the environment, but they are also great advocates
at home with their parents. We often see teaching in this area going from child to
parent rather than the other way around.”

URBAN began in 2009 with funding from the RBC Foundation's RBC Water and Health
Initiative. The network's long-term goal is to provide information on water and air
quality as well as wetland and forest health for conservationists, city planners, resource
managers and researchers while at the same time educating citizens.

“People can make better, more informed decisions when they have more information,
so our goal is to collect as much information as possible and track the long-term
trends that the public needs to know about,” said Chow-Fraser.

The group is also working with the City to monitor the wetland areas in the Red Hill
Valley created as a result of the Red Hill Valley Expressway's construction.

URBAN's spring workshop is scheduled for April 2 from 1 to 4 p.m. in McMaster's Life
Sciences building, room 213.

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