The Macoun Marsh Biodiversity Project
By Michael Leveille Educarium Science Teacher
There is a unique inner-city wetland located in the center of Ottawa, Canada. It is found on the grounds of the beautiful Beechwood Cemetery, and it has gained a new status thanks to a group of Grade 6 & 7 students. The name of this marsh honours the great Canadian naturalist, John Macoun, who is buried at Beechwood.
To date, the students and teachers have recorded over 1000 species in an area no bigger than 150m X 140m. We believe that there are at least 6000 species to be found here. The study area includes a small wetland, a meadow and a forest remnant.
Educarium is now actively working with Jean Vanier Catholic Intermediate school. In 2006, the two schools won a top international environmental award with the Volvo Adventure (This event is in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme).
The simple recipe of placing city kids into a natural environment like our Macoun Marsh is absolutely magical. Our new Outdoor Classroom will bring even more kids to appreciate our natural heritage. Jonathan Guindon is a Grade 6 Educarium student. He describes our outdoor classroom as “a most useful place to sit and observe species, to have a fun educational time with our friends and teachers and even to have our lunch outside!”
The teachers of this project have begun thinking far beyond our little marsh. Recently children from Educarium visited tropical ecologies in Costa Rica making comparisons to our local Ottawa biodiversity. We have made a partnership with HabitatNet, a global biodiversity monitoring project in New Hampshire, USA. We are now preparing an Ottawa-based International Youth Symposium on Biological Diversity for 2009. Thanks to The Beechwood Cemetery Foundation and a lot of dedicated youth and teachers, a ripple effect has now begun far beyond the study area of the Macoun Marsh.
