University Stewardship & Sustainability Martin J. Lechowicz Professor of Biology and Director, Gault...
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Transcript of University Stewardship & Sustainability Martin J. Lechowicz Professor of Biology and Director, Gault...
University Stewardship & Sustainability
Martin J. LechowiczProfessor of Biology and
Director, Gault Nature Reserve
Gault Nature Reserve: 1958-2008
Mont St-Hilaire Biosphere Reserve1978-2008
RETHINK2008
Benefactors &
Legacies
Redpath Museum - 1882Mont St-Hilaire – Gault Estate1913 – 1958 - 2008
McGill University1822-1913-2008
James McGill’s Burnside Estate
The Gault Bequest:
1958
Andrew Hamilton Gault
Brigadier Gault left his mountain property to the university stipulating "...that its beauties and amenities may be preserved for all time to come, not only to the immediate interests of the university itself, but through its corridors of learning, as a great heritage for the benefit and enjoyment of the youth of Canada."
Exceptional natural diversityOver 500 native plant species, 38 designated rare and at risk.
Over 340 minerals, 42 known from nowhere else in the world.
Over 800 butterfly and moth species, 130 rare.
15 species of herps, and two others known to be lost to development on the perimeter of the reserve since the 1960s.
More than 200 bird species, including the peregrine falcon
Unharvested forests with trees 500+ years old, two forest types endangered in Qc.
On visiting Mont St-Hilaire in 1929, Frère Marie-Victorin wrote: "Quel éblouissement ! La montagne entière, la féerie des verts harmonisés des érables, des hêtres, des chênes et des bouleaux, et, au fond de la coupe, de l'écrin plutôt, l'opale mal taillée du lac Hertel.”
Iconic status in Quebec science
Mont St-Hilaire: a haven for artists
1864-19551905-1960
Paul Émile Borduas
Respecting the Gault Bequest:
1958-2008, and beyondMission of the Gault Nature Reserve:
Ensure that the ecological integrity of Mont St. Hilaire is maintained for future generations
Ensure that both the University and the public appreciate and benefit from the academic and cultural value of the mountain.
Encourage university outreach in the region
Principals come and go, the university and its commitments go on.
A stewardship challenge: both the university’s Monteregian Hills
Mont St. Hilaire
Mont Royal
Since 1958 Mont St. Hilaire has grown from a rural village to a thriving suburb at the edge of greater Montreal – in this century the reserve will be enveloped by suburban development.
Honoring our stewardship obligation: the challenge of a peri-urban
environment
1958: Mont St. Hilaire
population – 5,500
1999: Mont St. Hilaire
population --13,500
18,000 TODAY!
1958
1999
McGill: a global university in a local reality
…getting on with the neighbors isn’t always easy!
Lessons for the university from Mont Royal
…the necessity of community partnerships
View from the Sulpician property on the southern flank of Mont Royal ~ 1839
University-Community partnerships
at Mont St-HilaireAlice Johannsen
Director, Redpath Museum1952-1970
Founding Director,Mont St-Hilaire Nature Conservation Centre1972-1979
VILLE DE MONT ST-HILAIRE
Creator of the Mont St-Hilaire Biosphere Reserve in 1978 – the first Canadian biosphere reserve designated by the United Nations.
LOCAL REGIONAL NATIONAL INTERNATIONAL
The mission of the Nature Centre
La mission du Centre de la Nature aujourd’hui est de: 1. Assurer l'intégrité à court et à long terme du patrimoine
naturel de la montagne2. Offrir, à tous les groupes de la société, un contact
privilégié avec la nature accompagné d'une gamme d'activités éducatives et culturelles
3. Promouvoir la conservation des milieux naturels de la région.
Initially informal, guided by Alice and her vision That vision was lost with Alice’s death in 1992 In the late 1990s the Governing Board struggled
to define an explicit mission
Mont St-Hilaire Nature Conservation Centre
8 permanent staff, 15-20 seasonals
4900 members
Annual operating budget of ~$1,000,000
Strong media presence Fund raising:
for land acquisitions renovation of the Johannsen Pavilion
http://www.centrenature.qc.ca/index.html
Our primary partner in the community… a robust relationship built on shared interests, complementary missions and mutual benefits.
Protecting the Perimeter
Orchards
Refuge faunique
Perimeter Committee
Poudrette Quarry
McGill’s global mission: linking beyond the region
Organization of Biological Field Stations
Sustainability around the reserve:global links, local action
Mont St. Hilaire Biosphere Reservehttp://www.unesco.org/mab/wnbr.htm
Forest corridors project
Biodiversity and recreational corridors linking the Monteregian Hills
Revitalizing the character of theMonteregian landscape
Respecting our natural and patrimonial heritage on a
living landscape
The Gault Estate becomes Gault Nature Reserve
6 March 2003Signing of an entente with the Qc Minister of Environment to protect our property under the Natural Heritage Act as an official nature reserve.
20 September 2004Official declaration of the Gault Nature Reserve
Contributions to Quebec’s Sustainable Development
Initiative
Gault Nature Reserve as a model for good stewardship through
university-community cooperation
"Sustainable Development -Because Quality of Life Counts!"
2004-2007
Thomas Mulcair, then the Québec Minister of Environment, "…saluer l’engagement exceptionnel de l’Université McGill et de l’ensemble de ses partenaires dans la préservation de cette merveilleuse colline montérégienne et de cette beauté de la nature qu’est le mont Saint-Hilaire".