August 2020
At Trent University we envision a sustainable and inspiring campus community,
thoughtfully integrating the natural and built environments, with vibrant places to
learn, live, innovate, and be active.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Trent Lands and Nature Areas Plan Update
Trent University is reviewing and updating the Trent Lands Plan – the strategic overview for the stewardship, care, and use of Trent’s approximately 1,400 acres on the Symons Campus. The University has conducted four-season environmental studies and dedicated Indigenous engagement, alongside campus and community engagement. The final Plan will include Guiding Principles, a Framework Plan outlining possible land uses, and a Nature Areas Stewardship Plan.
What We've Done
Phase 1 "Understanding the Land" focused on understanding and mapping the natural, cultural and archaeological features and functions existing within the campus lands, such as the location, type and status of wetlands and woodlands, species, and areas of significance to First Nations.

Phase 2 "Campus Vision" explored the campus and community needs that could or must be accommodated on Trent lands, ways to enrich the campus, and the principles that will guide decisions around land use. 

Reporting Back
As a refresher, or if you're new to the Trent Lands and Nature Areas Plan update, the following documents are available on the Trent Lands Plan website as background: 
Next Steps
This Fall, we'll be bringing all this work together and seeking campus and community input on the draft Trent Lands and Nature Areas Plan, including the Vision and Guiding Principles, the Framework Plan, and the draft Nature Areas Stewardship Plan. More details on how this engagement will take shape will be shared over the coming weeks.
TRENT LANDS PLAN PHASE TRACKER
City of Peterborough Projects
North End & Trent University Area Class Environmental Assessment
The City of Peterborough has initiated a comprehensive Municipal Class Environmental Assessment (EA) to study infrastructure improvements in the City's north end to accommodate planned growth.

Community members, looking to provide feedback, are encouraged to review the City of Peterborough’s work completed thus far. Concerns and ideas gathered from this update will help to inform the design options for roadways, intersections, active transportation facilities, sewage and stormwater management infrastructure, and mitigation measures for all of the projects.
Cycling Master Plan
The Cycling Master Plan will identify strategies to improve and grow cycling in the City of Peterborough, helping to make this a more bicycle friendly city.

The Cycling Master Plan will feed into the update of the City's Transportation Plan and will look at ways to grow and support the use of regular bikes and e-bikes including infrastructure needs, policies, programming and design standards.

The City is seeking input into the plan to help guide the vision of cycling in the City, identify infrastructure and programming needs and to prioritize projects.
Trent's Consultation & Engagement Update

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we live, work and connect. Feedback and input from the Trent and Peterborough-area communities is a key feature in the final Trent Lands & Nature Areas Plan, but we need to ensure engagement happens safely.

In the coming weeks, we will be sharing the draft ​Vision and Guiding Principles, Framework Plan, and Draft Nature Areas Stewardship Plan for public review and comment. The Trent Lands and Nature Areas Plan team is working to shift our engagement to online formats.

While we'll miss seeing and chatting with you, the safety of the Trent and Peterborough-area communities is of utmost importance. Stay tuned for more details on how we can work together to finalize the Trent Lands and Nature Areas Plan.
IN THE NEWS
Flying Squirrel Research at Trent Builds Better Understanding of Enigmatic Species
Trent students bring an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the flying squirrel
The northern flying squirrel lives in every province in Canada, but this nocturnal creature is rarely seen – or heard. During the day, flying squirrels stay hidden away in their nests in tree cavities, but when night falls, they emerge to glide silently between the branches. Or at least they seem silent to us. Trent University Ph.D. candidate, Sasha Newar, in collaboration with the Toronto Zoo, spent six months recording the high frequency calls in over 40 species of mammals. The result will be the largest sampling of ultrasound in non-echolocating mammals in the literature -- a detailed library of flying squirrel sounds. Read more on Trent's website.
Construction Underway for State-of-Art Forensics Crime Scene Facility
New on-campus facility offers exciting features and aims to be Canada’s first zero-carbon building certified by the International Living Future Institute

Construction is underway on the University’s new state-of-the-art Forensics Crime Scene Facility and students can expect to have access to this professional forensics training building starting in January. The facility is a first-of-its-kind building constructed on a Canadian university campus and offers exciting features such as cameras installed in crime-scene spaces to record students’ analysis, moveable walls to stage up to eight crime scenes, and modern equipment to process and analyze evidence while minimizing cross-contamination. The 4,100 square-foot facility also aims to be Canada’s first zero-carbon building certified by the International Living Future Institute. Read more on Trent's website.
$4.8M Federal Investment in Cleantech Accelerator at Trent
Funding to support the Trent Enterprise Centre at Cleantech Commons

A key component of Cleantech Commons at Trent University is getting a $4.8-milllion boost from the federal government. The Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario announced the funding, via a special virtual event on July 23, to support infrastructure in the Trent Enterprise Centre – an accelerator initiative in the on-campus research park that will offer shared labs, space for technology assessment, demonstration and piloting, office space, and scale-up facilities specifically designed to support the commercialization of clean technologies. Read more on Trent's website.
MEET THE TEAM
Trent has partnered with experts in environmental study, Indigenous and community engagement, and land-use planning and design to help complete the Trent Lands and Nature Areas Plan.
Kristen Harrison
Principal & Senior Ecologist
North-South Environmental
Kristen is a creative and adaptive problem solver with a professional interest in natural heritage planning and the intersections between people and the natural environment. She brings environmental knowledge and policy insight to the Trent Lands team.
HISTORY OF TRENT LANDS PLAN
Planning for the Future
Since the 1964 Trent University Master Plan, land use planning has helped to protect, enhance and support our natural setting, teaching and research, the student experience, our academic reputation and the surrounding communities.
Learn more and get involved at