University launches master naturalist program

By Patrick Bales, The Orillia Packet & Times

A program unlike any other in the country is coming to Lakehead University this spring.

A memorandum of understanding was signed earlier this week between the school and Ontario Nature to launch a master naturalist program. The partnership will provide the opportunity for naturalists and those dedicated to environmental stewardship to become certified as master naturalists.

Bob Bowles, a local naturalist, is behind the program.

“It’s going to be a real coup for Orillia and for Lakehead, but also for Ontario Nature members because now they’ll be recognized in status as a naturalist,” Bowles said.

The term “naturalist” has been part of the vernacular for years, since Henry Walter Bates and Alfred Russel Wallace were documenting new species in the New World. The two men weren’t university professors or scientists, but laymen who had a keen interest in the world.

Bowles admitted there is a vagueness around the word today, one he’s hopeful a master naturalist program will help clear up.

“People who call themselves naturalists have a wide range of knowledge. Some naturalists are very dedicated and quite informed; others are just on the learning curve,” he said. “This will … narrow that gap of what a naturalist is.”

The program will have six modules that cover the natural world, beginning May 2 and running until the end of June. There is a seventh module, something of a bonus, Bowles said, where the students are taken into the field and do a review of what they have learned and get the required 30 volunteer hours with an environmental organization. After that time, students will graduate as master naturalists.

Bowles approached Lakehead about a year ago following a trip to South Carolina. While there, he was at Clemson University, which has had a master naturalist program for nearly a decade. He has based what will begin at Lakehead in May on what he saw in the U.S.

“The master naturalist program would take individuals — not people who want to get a degree, but people who have an interest in the natural environment — and give them a series of modules, instruction in the natural environment, to develop their knowledge base,” explained Kim Fedderson, Lakehead Orillia dean and vice-provost. “(Bowles) was quite inspired by this program. He came back and said, ‘Such a program doesn’t exist in Canada. Why don’t we start one?’”

Bowles has been busy with researchers from Lakehead to develop the curriculum for the program.

Fedderson was always on board with the proposal, as it would fit in to Lakehead’s overall commitment to studying environmental and ecological issues. Following this week’s announcement and the words from Ontario Nature’s Caroline Schultz, he feels there is a tremendous opportunity.

“The benefits to the participants, in terms of their knowledge base, are going to be great, but what I hadn’t seen until Carolyn talked about this was the benefits to scientific research and the scientific community,” Fedderson said.

Schultz talked about the need for citizen scientists — people who are not academics or researchers, but from ordinary walks of life, who have both an interest in the environment and an interest in participating in research in relation to the environment — building a body of knowledge.

“Ontario Nature is really interested in developing citizen scientists,” Fedderson said. “In order to gather information about the natural environment, you can’t do that simply from a university. You can’t just have university researchers. You need people out there. Citizen scientists need to have a body of knowledge so that they can actually contribute to building that body of knowledge.”