The Power of a Small Green Place – A case study of Ottawa’s Fletcher Wildlife Garden Photo: Renate Sander-Regier Renate Sander-Regier Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the PhD degree in Geography Department of Geography Faculty of Arts University of Ottawa © Renate Sander-Regier, Ottawa, Canada, 2013 The Power of a Small Green Place ii Contents ABSTRACT V ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS VI INTRODUCTION VII PART I THE RESEARCH STORY 1 CHAPTER 1 GETTING HERE – TURNING EARTHWARDS 2 1.1 Hands in the dirt 2 1.2 The intellectual turn 2 1.3 Turning back to the dirt 5 CHAPTER 2 THE RESEARCH PROCESS – SEEKING TO FILL A GAP 7 2.1 An exploratory case study 7 2.2 Conceptual orientation 9 2.3 Ethnographic methodology 12 2.4 Interpretation 25 PART II PEOPLE, PLACES AND NATURE – EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP 29 CHAPTER 3 “PLACE” – EXPLORING THE CONCEPT 30 3.1 Geographical conceptions of “place” – a bit of history 31 3.2 Contemporary geographical conceptions of “place” 33 3.3 Contemporary geographical theorisations of place 35 3.4 An expanded conceptualisation of place 40 CHAPTER 4 “NATURE” – EXPLORING THE CONCEPT 51 4.1 Defining nature 51 4.2 Nature and geography 53 4.3 Nature estranged – a growing dilemma 60 4.4 Re-connecting 74 CHAPTER 5 NATURE IN HUMAN PLACES – NEEDS AND BENEFITS 75 5.1 A long-standing need for nature in human environments 75 5.2 A need for nature in ordinary places 77 5.3 “Placeful” needs for nature 82 5.4 The need to reconnect with nature 92 The Power of a Small Green Place iii PART III OTTAWA’S FLETCHER WILDLIFE GARDEN – RECONNECTING HUMANS AND NATURE 94 CHAPTER 6 LOCATING THE FLETCHER WILDLIFE GARDEN 97 6.1 Imagining the Fletcher Wildlife Garden 97 6.2 Selecting a site for the Fletcher Wildlife Garden 98 6.3 The final location 100 6.4 Internal locations – physical FWG features 103 6.5 Porous boundaries – location dynamics 107 CHAPTER 7 THE COMPLEX FLETCHER WILDLIFE GARDEN 120 7.1 Human-natural complexity at the Fletcher Wildlife Garden 120 7.2 Non-human presence at the Fletcher Wildlife Garden 121 7.3 Non-human activity at the Fletcher Wildlife Garden 132 7.4 Human presence at the Fletcher Wildlife Garden 134 7.5 Human activity at the Fletcher Wildlife Garden 140 7.6 The complex Fletcher Wildlife Garden 145 CHAPTER 8 THE ACTIVE FLETCHER WILDLIFE GARDEN 146 8.1 Meeting physical exercise needs at the FWG 146 8.2 Physical outdoor activity – “synergistic benefit” 157 CHAPTER 9 THE RELATIONAL FLETCHER WILDLIFE GARDEN – A COMMUNITY OF INTEREST AND ACTIVITY 163 9.1 Relational roots 163 9.2 Human connections 167 9.3 Relational fusion at the FWG 183 CHAPTER 10 THE RELATIONAL FLETCHER WILDLIFE GARDEN – NATURE CONNECTIONS 185 10.1 A typology of values associated with nature 186 10.2 Motivation 187 10.3 Immersion and appreciation 188 10.4 Interaction and involvement 193 10.5 Intervention 207 10.6 Nature connections at the FWG 218 CHAPTER 11 THE MEANINGFUL FLETCHER WILDLIFE GARDEN 220 11.1 A place of stimulation and renewal 221 11.2 A place of enrichment 225 11.3 A place of kinship and revelation 234 11.4 A place of transformation and inspiration 242 11.5 A rich tapestry of meaning at the FWG 246 The Power of a Small Green Place iv PART IV HUMAN-NATURE RECONCILIATION AND RECIPROCITY – R&R 247 CHAPTER 12 R&R – PLACES FOR PEOPLE AND NATURE 250 12.1 Making sense of human-nature reconciliation 251 12.2 Human-nature reconciliation at the FWG 254 12.3 Making sense of human-nature reciprocity 270 12.4 Human-nature reciprocity at the FWG 272 12.5 Human-nature futures 280 CHAPTER 13 FINAL REFLECTIONS ON THE FLETCHER WILDLIFE GARDEN CASE STUDY 283 13.1 Reflections on autoethnography 283 13.2 Research limitations 284 13.3 Future research opportunities 287 13.4 Contributions 288 APPENDIX A – INTERVIEW GUIDES, PART 1 AND 2 293 APPENDIX B – INTERPRETIVE FRAMEWORK 298 APPENDIX C – FWG CASE STUDY THEMATIC CATEGORISATION 300 APPENDIX D – FLETCHER WILDLIFE GARDEN (FWG) PHOTO GALLERY 302 302 BIBLIOGRAPHY 307 NOTES 333 The Power of a Small Green Place v Abstract The Power of a Small Green Place is an ethnographic case study among the volunteers and urban wilds of Ottawa’s Fletcher Wildlife Garden (FWG). Through the conceptual lens of the geographical concept of place – with its wide range of physical, relational and deeper meaningful considerations – this urban wildlife habitat project emerged as a place of profound significance. Volunteers working to create and maintain the FWG’s diverse habitats benefit from opportunities to engage in physical outdoor activity, establish social connections, make contact with the natural world, find deep personal satisfaction and meaning, and experience healthier and mutually beneficial relations with nature. This case study fills a knowledge gap in geography regarding the significant relationships that can emerge between people and the land they work with, thereby contributing to geography’s “latest turn earthward” examining practices and relationships of cultivation with the land. The case study also contributes to a growing interdisciplinary dialogue on human-nature relations and their implications in the context of future environmental and societal uncertainties. The Power of a Small Green Place (Le pouvoir d’un petit coin de verdure) est une étude de cas ethnographique parmi les bénévoles et les espaces sauvages urbains du Fletcher Wildlife Garden (FWG) à Ottawa. Ce projet de création d’un habitat sauvage en milieu urbain constitue un lieu chargé de sens multiples et de significations profondes, comme permet de le révéler le recours au concept géographique de lieu (et sa gamme d’éléments physiques, de relations variées et de sens complexes). Les bénévoles qui oeuvrent à la création et au maintien des divers habitats du jardin profitent de cette expérience de nombreuses façons : participation à une activité physique en plein air, développement de liens sociaux, contact avec la nature, épanouissement personnel profond, et expérience d’une relation plus saine et mutuellement bénéfique avec la nature. Cette étude de cas contribue à la connaissance géographique de l’importante relation qui se développe entre les gens et le sol avec lequel ils travaillent et, chemin faisant, au plus récent « retour à la terre » de la discipline en examinant diverses pratiques et relations de culture avec la terre. Elle contribue aussi à l’épanouissement d’un dialogue interdisciplinaire au sujet des relations entre les humains et la nature et de leurs implications dans un contexte d’incertitude environnementale et sociétale. The Power of a Small Green Place vi Acknowledgements I would like to thank, first and foremost, my supervisor, Dr. Marc Brosseau, who followed me willingly down yet another garden path, so to speak. I appreciate his wise and patient guidance, his intuition, and his insightful suggestions, which have contributed to making this dissertation stronger. Many thanks also to the members of my thesis committee – Dr. Anne Gilbert, Dr. Brian Ray, and Dr. Robert McLeman – for their patience and support, and for providing direction, input and encouragement at critical points along the way. I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to my family, without whom I could not have completed my doctoral studies. My husband Raymond’s encouragement and support have been unshakable through the years, even when my seemingly endless studies have made life together challenging. My brother Bernie and his partner Jennifer provide a warm and supportive home away from home. My mother, Margaret, never fails to tell how proud she is of what I am doing and to provide material support in times of crisis. Volunteers involved in the Fletcher Wildlife Garden provided support and encouragement throughout the course of the project. Individuals who participated in the study gave their time and input freely and generously. This entire project hinges on their contributions, and I am deeply grateful to them. I am also profoundly indebted to the natural world, at the Fletcher Wildlife Garden and elsewhere, and to my home garden and animal friends – felines Tim and Raggs, canine Fame. They all enrich my life and provide much-needed sources of diversion and restoration. I would like to express appreciation to the University of Ottawa, Department of Geography, for providing support through scholarships, teaching assistantships and office space. I would also like to acknowledge Québec’s Fonds de recherche sur la société et la culture (FQRSC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) for supporting my academic endeavours during my doctoral years. The Power of a Small Green Place vii Introduction I was aware, going into this doctoral research project, that urban green spaces are positive and beneficial places. I also knew that Ottawa’s Fletcher Wildlife Garden (FWG), an urban wildlife habitat creation project, was one such place. But just how positive and beneficial it was, I would not have been able to guess at the beginning. The significance of the FWG – its power to motivate, delight and inspire; its impact on wildlife, people involved in the project, and the greater community; its deep and compelling lessons – surprised me, fascinated me, and challenged me. This dissertation is the result of that challenge. I was challenged initially to develop a research project which responds to a knowledge gap in geography regarding the significant relationships that can emerge between people and the land they work with in various ways (Brady 2006, 9). Motivated by personal gardening experiences, by knowledge gained through earlier research, and by previous ad-hoc involvement with the FWG project, I decided to develop a case study that sought insight into the human-nature relationships which develop between FWG volunteers and the natural world they work with on-site.