The Coldwater Creek valley is the site of this project and is at the nexus of a large natural corridor that connects with the Royal Botanical Garden lands at the north and the Dundas Conservation area and escarpment at the south. Greening this area and balancing natural habitat with human infrastructure will not only provide unique educational and research opportunities but will establish a mosaic of habitats that will contribute to addressing larger global concerns for water quality and climate change.
McMaster is well positioned to be a leader as we shift our attitudes and ways of doing things and we invite you to join us in the journey.
We are still in the planning stages of this project and are consulting, collecting data, identifying priorities and designing the space. While this important work is underway, we will raise awareness for this initiative through an art activation on Lot M parking lot called the West Campus Eco-Art Project. Research has revealed the many ways that water once moved through this floodplain and we plan to acknowledge this by painting a blue line across the asphalt to demarcate one of those historic water routes. Students and the public will be invited to create stencils of key species of flora, fauna, historical symbols or text to stencil along the blue line remembering the history of the area and also imagining into the future of what the project can achieve.
The West Campus Eco Art Project is a collaboration between the School of the Arts, Nature @Mcmaster and the McMaster Museum of Art.
Photos by Carmela Laganse