The U.S. government is helping to preserve land...in Canada
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is helping conserve a large tract of land...in Canada.
On Wednesday, November 16, the Nature Conservancy of Canada and Kenauk Institute announced a plan to conserve Kenauk: 61,776 acres in the Outaouais region of Quebec, north of the Ottawa River. The lands are home to exceptional biodiversity, including rare and endangered plant and animal species.
The Kenauk lands are north of the village of Montebello, which is located on the north bank of the Ottawa River east of Gatineau. Part of the lands were originally part of the elegant Fairmont Chateau Montebello resort where the announcement was made.
According to the NCC, the USWS has contributed CDN$100,000 to the initiative because of the importance of the Kenauk lands as a site for migratory birds whose habitat also includes the United States.
The NCC and KI and other partners have launched a CDN$20 million fundraising campaign to complete the project. To kickstart the campaign, CDN$30 million in funding support and land donations have already been raised.
The families of Doug Harpur, Dominic Monaco, Patrick Pichette and Mike Wilson — co-founders of KI — donated half of their lakeside properties to NCC to create a protected area with the 1,593 acre tract of land.
Pichette is an Associate of Inovia Capital and the former Chief Financial Officer of Google. The four property owners have pledged to donate the other half of their land to protect the territory in perpetuity.
The donation of 1,593 acres was completed as part of an NCC program that received CDN$1 million from the Government of Quebec and CDN$1,010,000 from the Government of Canada’s Natural Heritage Conservation Program, of Canada’s Nature Fund.
This partnership between the NCC and KI is intended to establish a permanent open-air laboratory in a temperate forest in Quebec, dedicated studying climate change and educating future generations. The Université du Québec a l’Outaouais (UQO), Montréal-based environmental organization Age of Union Alliance, and Inova Capital are the other partners.
“Kenauk is a very, very special place,” said Age of Union Founder, high tech entrepreneur, Dax Dasilva.
“We’re going to help the next generation,” Pichette said.
Kenauk’s old-growth forests and wetlands house exceptional biodiversity, including rare and at-risk plant and animal species, such as black maple, which is designated as a vulnerable plant species under Quebec’s threatened and vulnerable species law, and the eastern wood-pewee, designated as a species of special concern under Canada’s Species at Risk Act. Kenauk’s Papineau Lake is the source of the Salmon River.
Jessica Turgeon served as a Senior Intern at the Kenauk Institute in 2016 while doing research for her master’s thesis on beetle and spider communities. She made significant discoveries while doing her work in the area.
“Some of the species had never been found before, in the region,” she said.
Other, completely new species were found for the first time.
NCC Quebec Vice President Claire Ducharme proudly welcomed the partnership to preserve the Kenauk lands.
“Nature conservation is more important than ever,” Ducharme said.
She said Kenauk forms a significant natural link between Quebec’s Parc national de Plaisance on the Ottawa River and Parc national du Mont-Tremblant to the north.
