Return the Landscape

A long time ago in a far away city (Sarnia, Ontario), I had the pleasure of meeting Larry Cornelis and Shawn McKnight, founders of Return the Landscape. Larry and Shawn are two people who came up with a really great idea that they believed in and went out and put that idea to work.

Return the Landscape is a native plant rescue and restoration project that Shawn and Larry started in Lambton County in 2010. First, they would find natural areas throughout the county that were scheduled for development. Then, they would search through the vegetation for native plants, dig up chunks of earth, and replant them in parks were the plants would be saved from demolition. Transplanting the entire chunk of earth along with the plants meant that they were saving not only the plants, but the well developed organic topsoil, the native mycorrhizae (fungi that live in the soil and are very important for ecosystem function), and the plant community structure.

To give these rescued plants the best chance for survival following transplant, and to ensure that this work was having a positive impact on the local environment, Larry and Shawn would carefully search out transplant locations that had similar soil types and environmental conditions to the areas where the plants were being rescued from. Many times these plants ended up in Canatara Park, a wonderful park in the heart of Sarnia located right where the turquoise blue water of Lake Huron empties into the mighty St. Clair River. This has to be one of my favourite places in true southwestern Ontario.

I remember reading the Return the Landscape Feasibility Study several years ago. The project idea was novel and inspiring and the document itself was fun to read. The design, use of pictures, and the style in which the study was written, was, and is, captivating and interesting. It's a great example of how we can communicate what may seem to be a complex science-based idea clearly and effectively using plain language and compelling images.

In the spring of 2012 I asked Shawn and Larry to speak to my class at Ridgetown Campus. They brought along a local filmmaker and filmed their presentation in the class. This footage would possibly be incorporated into Return the Landscape the film. They have released a trailer and I am looking forward to the full-length version.

The last time I spoke with Larry and Shawn, they were working on a way to have their Return the Landscape methods incorporated into official planning documents for Lambton County. The overarching goal of the project is to have native plant rescue and restoration be a required step when developing an area of land. Hopefully, if they could demonstrate the value of this work, this requirement would be adopted by other cities.

I haven't spoken with Larry or Shawn for quite some time, but I'm certain that their good work continues and I hope that we'll hear about the film release one of these days.