We won an ERCA award!

Healthy Headwaters Lab – Education Award for these multi-disciplinary students who, under the leadership of Dr. Catherine Febria, work closely with decision makers to restore freshwater ecosystems to full health and vitality. They focus on a variety of headwater ecosystems such as drains, wetlands, streams and interfaces between surface and groundwater, and align the values of science, society and holistic restoration through partnerships, research, Indigenous collaborations and role in the local community.

(ERCA Conservation Awards 2022)

We are so incredibly grateful for our partners and collaborators, this award wouldn’t be possible without you.

Chi-Miigwech to Essex Region Conservation and all of our team members for their hard work.

— HHL

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

(ERCA narrator)

The Healthy Headwaters Lab has a single mission: to restore freshwater ecosystems to full health and vitality for the benefit of future generations. This lab is spearheaded by Dr. Catherine Febria who is the Canada Research Chair in Freshwater Restoration Ecology – among many other hats she wears -    at the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research at the University of Windsor.  

The lab conducts research in Canada, the United States and New Zealand, focusing on a variety of headwater ecosystems such as drains, wetlands, streams and interfaces between surface and groundwater. These are incredible places are among those most threatened by human actions, conflicting legal protections and climate change.

The lab team is comprised of Undergraduate and Graduate students and partners representing departments and institutions at a variety of universities as well as industry, non-governmental and government organizations, practitioner groups, indigenous communities, farmers and others.  They work closely with communities and decision-makers to drive truly impactful science, and are committed to inclusion, diversity, kindness, and curiosity.

Locally, the Healthy Headwaters Lab has begun research on a farm in Essex testing a variety of farming techniques such as planting cover crops, harvesting methods and soil amendments and the benefit to ecosystem health. 

Another study aims to advance science knowledge on the human-impacted streams by addressing changes in organic matter and carbon dynamics. Two Essex County wetlands were also research sites for the lab, focusing on wetlands and their role as a carbon sinks. Further, the Healthy Headwaters Lab is undertaking multiple projects to investigate the ecology of invasive Phragmites to better understand management options available. Other projects include research on lower Great Lakes mussel species- at-risk, understanding the relationship between soil and freshwater cycling in agricultural settings; and studying benthic macroinvertebrates communities across watersheds. 

The Indigenous Knowledge Circle aims to build capacity in the next generation of Indigenous scientists. Indigenous peoples are historically underrepresented in higher education and the Healthy Headwaters Lab is committed to closing that gap. The Indigenous Allyship Program was launched in 2019 and renamed Ode’imin Indigenous Knowledge Circle in 2021. The Traditional Ecological Knowledge course was co-developed with Walpole First Nation to introduce students to different ways of knowing, and to present Indigenous environmental perspectives.

The Healthy Headwaters Lab effectively demonstrates the importance of aligning values of science, society and holistic restoration through its partnerships, research, Indigenous collaborations and role in the local community. Those involved gain valuable experience in using multiple scientific approaches to real-world challenges while working towards reconciliation with Indigenous people.

(Dr. Catherine Febria)

Hello! I’m Catherine Febria and on behalf of the Healthy Headwaters Lab I’d like to thank you so much for this recognition of the Education Award by ERCA. This is very much a team effort and so I wanted to acknowledge all these people on the screen and those behind the scenes that have worked with us to help achieve our mission of using science to connect land, water, and people.

In that thank you we want to extend our thanks to the communities that have welcomed us — the farming communities from here, as well as at Bkejwanong and in particular NinDaWaabJig, many partners including ERCA, the City of Windsor, people and groups at the University of Windsor, and we hope that for those that are just learning about our group, that you join us in this journey to try and use science to help restore our ecosystems for the benefit of future generations.

So on behalf of everybody, thank you very much.