Programme Updates ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

by William Ross (Programme Director)

The Environmental Science Programme in Environmental Design is about the professional practice of environmental science, integrative analysis leading to effective interventions that result in developments selected by society being more sustainable, environmentally, socially and financially. This has involved working in a variety of topical areas: protected area planning and management; wildlife planning and management; ecological management; environmental health; environmental impact assessment; and corporate environmental management. Scholarly work in these areas has been carried out over the last twenty-five years by faculty members and students: as research projects, as Master's Degree Projects, as course projects, and as community service. These kinds of scholarly activities, illustrated by the following examples are, in many ways, exactly what the Programme intends to continue doing in the future. With increasing financial constraint, the means of continuing these activities will certainly change, involving more external people (e.g., adjunct professors, alumni, practicing professionals), but the substance will likely evolve more slowly in response to needs of the profession. One of the regions in which we have done a good deal of valuable work is in Banff National Park. This work has included arguing successfully against a large new environmentally inappropriate development at Lake Louise, providing advice on a variety of resource management, policy and parks planning issues within the Park, recommending conditions of approval for environmentally appropriate expansion of the TransCanada Highway, analyzing various issues in Banff townsite and contributing to the work of the Banff Bow Valley Study investigating the cumulative effects of development. Many Environmental Science projects have involved intervening in project development decisions or in enforcement of environmental laws and regulations. They have been on behalf of project proponents arguing how the projects have been designed to be environmentally sound, or on behalf of project opponents arguing against projects because of the lack of environmentally sound design. These interventions have involved public hearings of regulatory tribunals and panels and appearances as expert witnesses in legal proceedings and have relied on a wide range of professional expertise. Corporate environmental management, involving the use of such tools as environmental reporting, environmental audits, environmental impact assessment and environmental management systems, has also been a significant area of study in the Programme. This work has been done for a variety of corporate and community clients including the University of Calgary.

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