CASSANDRA BUUNK
  • About
  • Education
  • Employment
    • Volunteer Experience
  • Art and Illustration
  • Contact
  • About
  • Education
  • Employment
    • Volunteer Experience
  • Art and Illustration
  • Contact
Volunteer Experience
I am currently helping the UN Decade on Ecological Restoration with simple graphic design. An organization participating in the decade sends their version and custom design of a heart, and I incorporate it into the heart in the UN Decade logo. 
I have been an active member of the Ancient Forest Committee club at UVic from 2018 to present. I have run several outreach booths to get petition signatures and to do letter writing initiatives in support of Ancient Forest Alliance campaigns.
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I participated in the Christmas Bird Count in December 2020.
 In the 2020 BC Provincial Election I volunteered for the Victoria-Beacon Hill Green Party candidate. I handed out flyers and was a social media ambassador. 
I helped remove invasive species with the Garry Oak Ecosystems Recovery Team (GOERT) on Trial Island, and Green Teams Victoria at Royal Roads, in May 2018
In the spring of 2017 I volunteered at the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority's annual Niagara Children's Water Festival where I ran an activity tent that taught children about how wetlands function and why they are important.
My sister runs fundraising events for rhino conservation with the American Association of Zookeepers and I have helped at 3 of the events in the past selling merchandise, tickets, and taking donations.
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I was the secretary for the Society for Ecological Restoration - Niagara College Student Chapter from 2015-2016. I was responsible for keeping meeting minutes, as well as an active member of the Plant Material Management and Research working groups. We worked on a project that is attempting to eradicate Phragmites australis from the campus over time. I helped to do vegetation monitoring along transects on the 'Escarpment Toe', where over the years our professor has been monitoring and has seen notable changes in the density of Phragmites, with more and more dying back each year.

We chose a plot at the front of the campus to conduct an experiment - chopping down the Phragmites and re-planting it with quick growing species such as willow and dogwood, as it is believed that the cause of the die back is due to Phragmites being out-competed by these species, particularly pussy willow. The project itself will take years of monitoring, but the implications could be great!
Everyone in the Ecosystem Restoration Graduate Certificate program (2015 - 2016) worked on a year-long project in groups of 3-4. One of the requirements for each project was to hold a task management exercise where you organize your fellow classmates for an activity related to your project. My group did and Ecological Land Classification survey where we organized about 15 people to help us collect data.

Through attending other group's task management exercises we get the opportunity to expand our learning experience. I have participated in the following activities:
  • Wildlife Corridor Modeling - The data and variables were given to us for different groupings of animals. I used the 'Least cost path' tool in GIS to determine the likely movements of my group of species around the partner lands.
  • Ash tree assessment in a park in Fort Erie, Ontario, where we flagged and measured the trees infected with Emerald Ash Borer.
  • Removal of invasive Black Alder trees from a wetland site in Welland, Ontario.
  • Bird box building for Tree Swallows - These bird boxes will help enhance habitat at the site.
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In November 2015 I participated on a 'work day' with the The Hamilton Naturalist's Club in the Short Hills Nature Sanctuary. Along with a wonderful, informative hike with 2 experts who enhanced our knowledge of invasive species and forest pests/disease, we were responsible for flagging and girdling Norway Maple trees and helping to free some important endangered species from a dense tangle of grapevine.
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I was a member of the Student Environmental Sustainability Committee from 2010-2012. Our primary goal was to undertake initiatives that would help make the campus a more sustainable operation. We initiated a campaign for the installation of water bottle refill spouts in the existing water fountains to help encourage students to use refillable bottles rather than continuously purchasing bottled water. We campaigned for this by communicating with faculty, college administration, and the facilities management staff. Unfortunately I graduated before the logistical issues were sorted out, but I can happily report that there is now a water bottle refill spout on every fountain in the school!
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