Last summer, Health and Life Sciences student Tristan Peirce created a pollinator patch on campus, officially placing Dawson’s Living Campus on the Butterflyway map of the David Suzuki Foundation.

The Butterflyway Project is a Canada-wide, bilingual, volunteer-driven initiative that promotes biodiversity by planting gardens composed entirely of native pollinator plants.

“Volunteers across the country organize, fundraise, and plant these gardens in their local communities. Over time, this creates a vast national network supporting native pollinator species such as bees, beetles, and of course, butterflies,” Tristan explained.

You can find Dawson’s Butterflyway patch by looking for the blue Butterflyway sign in the garden, surrounded by native species including Echinacea, Black-eyed Susans, and Milkweed, which will soon bloom.

Tristan hopes the project will help support biodiversity and “foster a connection between the student body and Nature. This is an integral step toward reaching our climate goals and reducing climate anxiety,” he said.

Even though Tristan is graduating this semester and heading to McGill University to study Environmental Biology, he is continuing to expand the Butterflyway this spring and summer. “I’ve teamed up with my biology professor Brian Mader and Jennifer de Vera from the Office of Sustainability to create two new pollinator gardens on campus,” he said.

The new gardens will be planted near the Dawson College signs at the Sherbrooke Street and Atwater Avenue entrances. Planting will take place on May 12 during the Environmental & Sustainability Certificate ceremony. Students receiving the certificate — and any others interested — will be invited to plant a flower as part of the celebration. “We expect more than 50 students to participate in this year’s gardens!” Tristan added.

He also expressed his gratitude to Jenn de Vera for her support and mentorship, noting that this year’s project received funding from the Minifauna Project, a Montreal-based initiative that supports local biodiversity. Brian and Tristan have also applied for funding from the Dawson Foundation to help cover soil and plant costs.

“I am so grateful to these wonderful people for their continued support,” Tristan said.