Breaking Ground on the Braun Building Stormwater Management and Demonstration Site!

On Monday morning, July 9, our Physical Plant grounds crew broke ground on the new 34 square metre Braun Building Rain Garden. The Stormwater Management and Demonstration Site was funded by the MOECC and is a collaboration between staff, faculty, and students on campus. Dr. Lindsay Galway, the University's Sustainability Coordinator, Physical Plant, students, and EcoSuperior have all partnered together to help make this happen.

Thank you to Physical Plant for excavating the ground and removing materials at the rain garden site. This in-kind donation is greatly appreciated!

The site will feature a rain garden to reduce stormwater runoff, protect water quality, and provide habitat for pollinators. It will also feature interpretive signage to raise awareness about the importance of rain gardens as tools for improving stormwater management, and promote student and community engagement. A precipitation gauge will enable experiential learning opportunities. A group of ten university students participated in a three-part workshop series facilitated by EcoSuperior, where they learned about stormwater management and then applied these skills to contribute to the design of the Braun Building rain garden.

This rain garden is nested in a larger project that aims to use the campus as a living laboratory, or in other words work collaboratively at all levels, from staff, faculty, students, and community members, to help advance sustainability at the university both operationally and academically. The rain garden will provide opportunities for experiential learning and applied research in the built and natural environment to collaboratively advance sustainability at Lakehead University.

Stay tuned later this week when volunteers gather to install the rain garden!