Press Release

Gatineau, July 8, 2010 – Ministère des Transports du Québec (MTQ) is to transfer 5.4 hectares of prime environmental land in the Aylmer area of Gatineau to Ministère du Développement durable, de l’Environnement et des Parcs (MDDEP). The announcement was made today by the MNA for Pontiac, Charlotte L’Écuyer, on behalf of the Minister of Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks, Line Beauchamp.

Following the transfer, MDDEP will entrust the City of Gatineau with managing the land via an emphyteutic lease. The Boucher Forest Foundation could then be put in charge of developing and protecting the land.

“I am delighted at this major step toward conserving Boucher Forest. It is proof of our government’s continued efforts to preserve our natural heritage,” said Charlotte L’Écuyer, adding that the government was responding to a public desire to protect the ecologically invaluable forest.
 
“In this International Year of Biodiversity, this action is particularly significant. The forest is teeming with biodiversity and is home to more than 25 species of native trees,” said Minister Beauchamp.

Boucher Forest spans some 270 hectares of woodland and wildland covered with trees and herbaceous plants. It boasts no fewer than seven stretches of water and eight wetlands, not to mention a broad spectrum of rich and diverse flora and fauna. American ginseng—a threatened plant—has been found growing there, alongside cedar, maple, butternut, and black ash.

The Boucher Forest Foundation is a charity formed in June 2007 to protect, preserve, and showcase the flora and fauna of Boucher Forest.  

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