Working Together for a Greener Mountain

Les amis de la montagne relies on citizen engagement to fulfil our mission of protecting Mount Royal. Indeed, we are lucky to be supported by a vast community committed to preserving this beloved green space. Faced with issues such as climate change and the proliferation of invasive non-native pests, the mountain’s biodiversity needs a helping hand now more than ever.
 


Because there is strength in numbers, since 1998, we have been inviting citizens to take an active role in biodiversity conservation and raising awareness of the fragility and importance of natural habitats by joining our Environmental Stewardship Program.

This year, some 840 volunteers answered our call for help! Together, we spent 3,290 hours doing concrete conservation actions on the mountain:

• Planting 2,026 trees and shrubs in Mount Royal Park to revitalize trails and replace ash trees felled due to the emerald ash borer infestation.
   
• Performing biodiversity inventories by counting birds and trees remarkable for their species or maturity, leading to a better understanding of the ecosystem around us.
   
• Removing invasive non-native plants (in particular, common buckthorn and dog-strangling vines) in Mount Royal Park. As a result, tens of thousands of invasive plant stalks were cut, helping the forest return to its natural state.
   
• Participating in a biodiversity enhancement project in the Mackenzie-King Park in collaboration with Claire Vasseur, a researcher at the Montreal Biodome, and the Côte-des-Neiges—Notre-Dame-de-Grâce borough. Some 50 volunteers cut more than 16,000 stalks of buckthorn in 5 days in the park’s woodlands, which resulted in a more enjoyable public green space.
   
• Animation of 10 information kiosks in Mount Royal Park over the fall with the help of 8 volunteers trained in the Leave No Trace principles. As a result, our volunteers spent a total of 106 hours talking to approximately 600 people about the responsible use of natural areas such as Mount Royal!

Thanks to these efforts over the past three seasons, Mount Royal is a pleasant, greener and healthier public space for the benefit of all users. Les amis de la montagne wishes to thank all the volunteers for their time and commitment and we hope to see you all again next year! 

photo: Frédérique Ménard-Aubin