Delegates at this week’s Leading Edge conference at Brock will explore environmental issues from inside the woods, not just from the conference rooms.

Retired Physics professor John Black, author of Niagara Birds, will lead a bird walk through the woods surrounding Brock Friday morning as part of the Niagara Escarpment Commission (NEC) conference.

Several Brock researchers have teamed up with the NEC for the two-day event, which starts this Thursday, to consider economic and tourism opportunities related to the escarpment.

Employing the themes of sustainable tourism and economic development, the conference is a forum to explore the incredible resources of the Niagara Escarpment Biosphere Reserve. The conference, titled “Ontario’s Natural Edge,” is being hosted at the first university in Canada to be located within a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve.

Brock faculty served on the organizing committee and will showcase their research at the conference. Highlights include:

• Black, who in addition to the bird walk will present a Thursday morning session on Niagara birds
• Don Cyr, Business professor, and Tony Shaw, Geography professor, will present on the changing Niagara weather and the use of weather contracts in tourism on Thursday
• Brian Calvert, graduate student in Earth Sciences, will present his research on the Louth Conservation Area flora, fauna and geology on Thursday
• Francine McCarthy, Earth Sciences professor, will make back-to-back presentations Friday. The first is about the historical implications of climate change on the beach off Flowerpot Island, and the second is about the contents of core samples from the bottom of Crawford Lake.
• Brad May, a lecturer at Brock and part of the Brock Environmental Sustainability Research Unit, will present a session on local adaptation to climate change in Niagara on Friday

Organizing committee members include Tourism and Environment researchers Dave Brown (who will co-chair proceedings on-site), Danuta De Grosbois, John Middleton and Tony Ward. The event is co-chaired by Karen Carruthers of the NEC.