Queen’s University Biological Station Expansion Planned

Published on: 2011/06/09 - in Releases

The Queen’s University Biological Station (QUBS) is hoping to add a teaching and outreach facility situated on a sizable parcel of pristine land to its existing holdings.

QUBS has entered into a lease-to-own agreement with the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) to partner in managing a 1,000-acre property northeast of Kingston. QUBS is running programs at the facility on a lease basis, but hopes to acquire a permanent ownership interest in the property in the future.

“We are very excited about leasing the facility and potentially becoming a co-owner in partnership with NCC,” says QUBS Interim Director Stephen Lougheed. “This facility will allow us to increase and enhance the level of research and teaching done at QUBS, as well as expand our outreach programming.”

QUBS hopes to generate $600,000 through private fundraising and federal and provincial government grants to achieve this goal within four years.

The land is located 25 kilometres north of Kingston, just southwest of the area that QUBS currently occupies, and features rugged terrain, deep wooded valleys and lowland and shoreline wetlands including beaver ponds, marshes, and wooded swamps. It is a mix of wetland and heavily forested areas, and has approximately six kilometres of shoreline frontage on Elbow, Spectacle, and Upper Rock Lakes. Several significant plant and animal species have been observed on or near the property.

The property also contains infrastructure including 19 buildings with more than 12,000 square feet of heated space, docks, boats, storage facilities, and machinery. QUBS plans to use the facilities to run a summer camp for young people ages 10 – 14 this year.

QUBS has been a pivotal part of research and teaching at Queen’s for more than six decades. Research at QUBS has resulted in more than 800 publications in peer-reviewed journals and more than 200 graduate and undergraduate theses. The Station also hosts multiple field courses, school groups and outreach workshops annually.

For more information on QUBS, please visit the website.

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Release and photo: Queen’s University News Centre