Collaboration between Trent and Kawartha Land Trust “A Natural”

To those familiar with the Kawartha Land Trust (KLT), it should come as no surprise that the organization was easily able to come together with Trent University to initiate a new speaker series on land uses in central Ontario.

“Part of the whole brand of Trent is ‘natural spaces’ and we’re about protecting that,” says Mike Hendren, KLT’s executive director. “In many ways our values are aligned.”

The connections between Trent and KLT don’t end there. Mr. Hendren is a graduate of Trent, and virtually the entire staff of KLT are alumni or have ties to the University. Lands manager Ian Attridge teaches several courses for Trent University’s Environmental and Resource Studies program, and is a lawyer with ecological and agricultural training and expertise in stewardship, trails and conservation techniques. Other Trent faculty and staff have been past and present board and committee members.

“There is a long tradition of working together,” Mr. Hendren says.

Lecture series evokes sense of place
Dr. Lisa Nisbet, assistant professor at Trent University in the Psychology Department, is the latest to add her name to that list, after being selected as the first keynote lecturer in the new speaker series, which debuted in March and will run through the fall. The theme of the series is “A Sense of Place: Perspectives on Relationship to Land and Water in the Kawarthas” and it promises to explore ways in which people can connect to the local area. Experts from Trent and like-minded parties are using the speaker series as an opportunity to promote and explore the human relationship with the area and the importance of maintaining undeveloped natural spaces.

Professor Nisbet says the Peterborough region offers many opportunities for nature contact – both through nearby accessible parks and greenspace as well as more secluded wilderness. 

“Increasingly, evidence points to the physical and mental health benefits of connecting with nature,” she says. “Regular nature time can increase our well-being, reduce stress, and improve our immune health. To ensure we have access to the natural places that keep us healthy and happy, we need community organizations like the Kawartha Land Trust.”

At Trent, Prof. Nisbet focuses her research on the understanding of nature, including the importance of having access to natural spaces. Her research has examined the effects of access to nature on health, well-being and environmentally-sustainable behaviour.

The Kawartha Land Trust, formerly known as the Kawartha Heritage Conservancy, is a non-governmental organization and a registered charity dedicated to acquiring land and interests in land and maintaining it in a natural state. Since its inception more than a decade ago, more than 20 significant natural sites in the Kawartha region, along with the life they support, have been preserved under KLT stewardship.

To learn more about the “A Sense of Place” speaker series, including details of upcoming lectures, visit http://kawarthalandtrust.org/