The potential deal between Trent University and the City of Peterborough will, among other things, see Trent pass land ownership and use over to the City in return for the City contributing $2-million to the DNA cluster project. Normally one refers to such transactions as, respectively, a sale or lease of land.

One question that has yet to be evaluated is the impact of these transactions on the Trent Nature Areas. To answer that question we must first understand how the nature areas are being used, their location and applicable University policies.

Research and teaching activities at the university are under the authority of Senate. The Trent University Nature Areas are used for research and teaching purposes (for example by the departments of Biology, Environmental and Resource Studies, and Native Studies). Would not any change in use or ownership of nature area lands that affects teaching and research activities therefore be subject to Senate approval?

To date it does not appear that Senate has been consulted at any point in the development of the pending deal between Trent and the City. The absence of Senate involvement and/or Senate approval of such a deal could present significant legal issues. If the board were to strike a deal with the City that had the effect of eliminating a "natural laboratory" used for research and teaching purposes without Senate approval, legal challenges similar to Kulchyski v. Trent University could be launched that could potentially invalidate the deal.

The only document we've been able to find that describes the lands involved in the transfer is the letter from the City's Director of Planning and Development, Malcolm Hunt, to Trent’s Vice President (Administrations), Don O'Leary dated February 3, 2005. The subject of that letter is "Essential Components of the Memorandum of Understanding" and it contains brief descriptions and maps of the relevant lands.

Trent's Nature Areas may be described by the maps below. Map "A" is included in the Trent Board of Governors document "Guidelines – Endowment Lands Planning Group", as approved at its meeting of January 31, 1992. Map "B" is included in Chapter 1 of the 2002 draft document "Stewardship Plan for Trent University Nature Areas (draft)".

OurTrent Editor's note: This Stewardship Plan document is not a Trent policy document. This extensive and exhaustive document was completed in 2002 by Professors Roger Jones, Michael G. Fox and John S. Marsh. However, it appears that the administration has taken little heed of its contents. The Trent Nature Areas Committee (TNA) will be holding a public meeting on the Plan. The full document may be found on the TNA website. It is also available here with all chapters conveniently in one in zip file (26MB).

The maps share the same base and differ only in additional explanatory notes.

Map A

Map B

A brief review of aspects of the Hunt to O’Leary letter with respect to specific nature areas follows.

The "Future Ring Road" is depicted on the map below. It appears that the new road might affect nature areas 4 and 5 and possibly 15. Does the road go through any of these areas? Will road construction affect the drainage and accessibility of these areas? How will the road affect academic use of these areas?

The "Sports Field Development" is depicted on the map below. This involves 12-15 acres of for the City to build a sports field. However, it appears to involve utilizing nature area 1. The letter does suggest that an alternative location be identified if this location is deemed not permissible.

The 70 acre parcel of land known locally as "Total Loss Farm" and located at the north-east corner of Woodland Drive and Water Street is depicted on the map below. Potentially the ownership of this land could be conveyed from Trent. Nature area 10 is located on this parcel of land.

The area north of the main campus between locks 22 and 23 is depicted on the map below. This area will be involved should there be any type of power generation project developed in the area. Such a project would utilize the land adjacent to the river. Nature areas 11 and 12 are located on the west bank and nature areas 13, 14, 15 and 16 are on the east bank.

We hope the potential impact(s) on the Trent Nature Areas of the DNA cluster project, both as a whole and the potential deal with the City, will be properly and thoroughly evaluated and the results of such and evaluation made public.

This document is available in pdf format.