Environmental Sciences Certificate

Want to be knee-deep in a wetland within a month of starting college? Lakeland’s Environmental Sciences Certificate gets you outdoors fast. It is a one-year certificate taught face to face at the Vermilion campus, and it doubles as the first year of Lakeland’s Environmental Sciences diploma.

The Environmental Sciences Certificate year covers the foundations every environmental field worker relies on: ecology, soil classification, plant identification, forestry and rangeland management, along with GPS and GIS mapping. You put these to work in aquatic habitat assessments, wetland and soil classification, water monitoring and sampling, and an introduction to environmental site assessment. By April you can identify plants, dig and describe a soil profile and collect water samples to a consistent standard.

Classes start indoors, but certificate students are in outdoor labs within their first month on the Vermilion campus and its surrounding college lands. Learning in Action activities across Environmental Sciences include soil pits across Alberta, live trapping of small mammals and field tools such as GPS, aerial photo interpretation and topographic maps. The certificate also opens pathways: you can return for a second year to earn the diploma in a chosen major, move into Lakeland’s Bachelor of Applied Science: Environmental Management, or transfer credit to the University of Lethbridge, University of Alberta, University of Saskatchewan or Athabasca University.

With the Environmental Sciences Certificate you can take entry-level seasonal roles such as environmental field assistant, water sampling technician, vegetation survey assistant, reclamation labourer or environmental monitor with consulting firms, municipalities and resource companies. It suits students who want a one-year start in environmental work, or who want to test the field before committing to a diploma major.