Dr. Stephen Monet has over 20 years experience in various aspects of environmental planning and management. He has worked on a number of environmental impact studies for private and public clients.
Stephen received an undergraduate degree in wildlife management and graduate degrees in horticulture and landscape architecture and received a joint PhD in Biology and Planning from the University of Waterloo. He is a Registered Professional Planner and a Landscape Architect registered with the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects.
Currently, he is Manager of Environmental Planning Initiatives with the City of Greater Sudbury, overseeing environmental planning matters as well as the City’s Regreening Program, Lake Water Quality Program, and the EarthCare Sudbury Program.
Topic: Living Landscape – Greater Sudbury’s Biodiversity Action Plan
Summary:
Past forestry and mining and smelting activities have had profound impacts on the City of Greater Sudbury’s local environment both directly and indirectly. The virtual elimination of vegetation over tens of thousands of hectares has had direct impacts on the plant communities and the organism communities present in the soils that subsequently eroded.
Dramatic losses of vegetation cover also resulted in the loss of habitat for the numerous animal species inhabiting the former forests. For decades, plant species richness was reduced to mainly those species that were either metal tolerant or that were able to persist on micro-sites shielded to varying degrees from sulphur dioxide fumigations.
This presentation summarizes Greater Sudbury’s regreening efforts that have been underway since 1978 and discusses the recent development of a Biodiversity Action Plan. As the Action Plan is implemented, ecological recovery in Greater Sudbury will enter a new phase that should lead to the establishment of healthy, diverse, self-sustaining ecosystems on formerly barren lands.
Social aspects of ecological recovery, including research, education and community engagement in regreening actions and ecological monitoring are also discussed.
