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University Stewardship & Sustainability Martin J. Lechowicz Professor of Biology and irector, Gault Nature Reserve Gault Nature Reserve: 1958-2008 Mont St-Hilaire Biosphere Reserve 1978-2008 RETHINK 2008

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Page 1: University Stewardship & Sustainability Martin J. Lechowicz Professor of Biology and Director, Gault Nature Reserve Gault Nature Reserve: 1958-2008 Mont

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

Page 2: University Stewardship & Sustainability Martin J. Lechowicz Professor of Biology and Director, Gault Nature Reserve Gault Nature Reserve: 1958-2008 Mont

Benefactors &

Legacies

Redpath Museum - 1882Mont St-Hilaire – Gault Estate1913 – 1958 - 2008

McGill University1822-1913-2008

James McGill’s Burnside Estate

Page 3: University Stewardship & Sustainability Martin J. Lechowicz Professor of Biology and Director, Gault Nature Reserve Gault Nature Reserve: 1958-2008 Mont

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."

Page 4: University Stewardship & Sustainability Martin J. Lechowicz Professor of Biology and Director, Gault Nature Reserve Gault Nature Reserve: 1958-2008 Mont

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.

Page 5: University Stewardship & Sustainability Martin J. Lechowicz Professor of Biology and Director, Gault Nature Reserve Gault Nature Reserve: 1958-2008 Mont

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

Page 6: University Stewardship & Sustainability Martin J. Lechowicz Professor of Biology and Director, Gault Nature Reserve Gault Nature Reserve: 1958-2008 Mont

Mont St-Hilaire: a haven for artists

1864-19551905-1960

Paul Émile Borduas

Page 7: University Stewardship & Sustainability Martin J. Lechowicz Professor of Biology and Director, Gault Nature Reserve Gault Nature Reserve: 1958-2008 Mont

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.

Page 8: University Stewardship & Sustainability Martin J. Lechowicz Professor of Biology and Director, Gault Nature Reserve Gault Nature Reserve: 1958-2008 Mont

A stewardship challenge: both the university’s Monteregian Hills

Mont St. Hilaire

Mont Royal

Page 9: University Stewardship & Sustainability Martin J. Lechowicz Professor of Biology and Director, Gault Nature Reserve Gault Nature Reserve: 1958-2008 Mont

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

Page 10: University Stewardship & Sustainability Martin J. Lechowicz Professor of Biology and Director, Gault Nature Reserve Gault Nature Reserve: 1958-2008 Mont

McGill: a global university in a local reality

…getting on with the neighbors isn’t always easy!

Page 11: University Stewardship & Sustainability Martin J. Lechowicz Professor of Biology and Director, Gault Nature Reserve Gault Nature Reserve: 1958-2008 Mont

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

Page 12: University Stewardship & Sustainability Martin J. Lechowicz Professor of Biology and Director, Gault Nature Reserve Gault Nature Reserve: 1958-2008 Mont

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

Page 13: University Stewardship & Sustainability Martin J. Lechowicz Professor of Biology and Director, Gault Nature Reserve Gault Nature Reserve: 1958-2008 Mont

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

Page 14: University Stewardship & Sustainability Martin J. Lechowicz Professor of Biology and Director, Gault Nature Reserve Gault Nature Reserve: 1958-2008 Mont

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.

Page 15: University Stewardship & Sustainability Martin J. Lechowicz Professor of Biology and Director, Gault Nature Reserve Gault Nature Reserve: 1958-2008 Mont

Protecting the Perimeter

Orchards

Refuge faunique

Perimeter Committee

Poudrette Quarry

Page 16: University Stewardship & Sustainability Martin J. Lechowicz Professor of Biology and Director, Gault Nature Reserve Gault Nature Reserve: 1958-2008 Mont

McGill’s global mission: linking beyond the region

Organization of Biological Field Stations

Page 17: University Stewardship & Sustainability Martin J. Lechowicz Professor of Biology and Director, Gault Nature Reserve Gault Nature Reserve: 1958-2008 Mont

Sustainability around the reserve:global links, local action

Mont St. Hilaire Biosphere Reservehttp://www.unesco.org/mab/wnbr.htm

Page 18: University Stewardship & Sustainability Martin J. Lechowicz Professor of Biology and Director, Gault Nature Reserve Gault Nature Reserve: 1958-2008 Mont

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

Page 19: University Stewardship & Sustainability Martin J. Lechowicz Professor of Biology and Director, Gault Nature Reserve Gault Nature Reserve: 1958-2008 Mont

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

Page 20: University Stewardship & Sustainability Martin J. Lechowicz Professor of Biology and Director, Gault Nature Reserve Gault Nature Reserve: 1958-2008 Mont

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".