Students from Carolyn Johns’ Environmental Studies 261 Sustainable Agriculture Systems class received a hands-on lesson in sheep shearing from Sarah White. The sheep are part of the Environmental Studies Department’s Ecological Sustainability Landscape.

Integration between the classroom and the “real world” is a significant goal of the environmental studies department. A key teaching tool to this end is the program’s “Ecological Sustainability Landscape” (ESL). The ESL is a beautiful 110-acre tract of land including fields, forests, wetlands, and steams complete with a three-story house and outbuildings.

Certainly the largest laboratory at St. Lawrence University, the land is used for a variety of class projects especially sustainable agriculture and agroecology. Students have the opportunity to apply textbook concepts to hands-on projects including growing organic crops and experimenting with natural pest controls including integrated pest management. An ongoing acid rain sampling program is monitored by environmental studies students.