By Ruby Pratka
Local Journalism Initiative
Twenty hectares of mostly forested land in Brome Lake and Sutton will be preserved in perpetuity thanks to donations by two local landowners to the Mont Echo Conservation Association (MECA), a member of Appalachian Corridor.
The generosity of the two anonymous donors “ensures the perpetual protection of nearly 20 hectares of additional natural environments of high ecological value in the sector,” Appalachian Corridor communications co-ordinator Frédérique Vuillermoz said in a statement last week.
The larger of the two donations is an 11.4-hectare swath of land in Sutton, southeast of Chemin Parmenter, close to Mount Echo, adjacent to an existing protected area. It “makes a remarkable contribution to expanding the ecological corridor of the Réserve naturelle des Montagnes Vertes,” the statement said. The smaller of the two is an 8.5-hectare forested property close to the centre of the town of Brome Lake; during a ceremony held last August, it received the name Kpiwi Pmossa, which means “wood walkers” in Abenaki, in honour of the Indigenous people who once hunted and fished there. Both properties “have some [plant and animal] habitats we want to protect,” Caroline Bisson, co-director general for community relations at Appalachian Corridor, told the BCN.
“These two donations were given to a local organization, MECA, and they were interesting because they were very diverse habitats with a lot of ecological value,” Bisson said. “The Sutton one is a [key] habitat in our conservation strategy, and the one in Brome Lake has a stream and some bird habitats we want to expect.”
Bisson said she wasn’t familiar with the details of the discussions that had been ongoing with the two property owners, but that generally, discussions with donors can go on for months or years. “The particularities [of donations] are always discussed with the owner. We meet the owner, we do evaluations and the owner has to consider their options.”
Christian Godin is the treasurer of MECA, a volunteer-run conservation organization based in Brome which is a member of Appalachian Corridor. He said the donation of the Brome Lake property in particular has been “long in the making.”
“The owners keep on adding access to the property and they are sort of the guardians, but MECA will become the long term fiduciary for monitoring that the land remains a forest and keeps its integrity,” he said.
Donors who make a gift of land to Appalachian Corridor or a similar organization benefit from certain tax advantages. Although land donations do come with transaction and evaluation fees, Appalachian Corridor covers those fees through donations.
Appalachian Corridor intends to leave nature to its own devices on the two properties. “We do develop hiking trails on some of our larger properties, but…these are relatively small. They will be registered as protected areas and evaluated each year. Our goal is to let nature do what nature does,” said Bisson.
“We want to emphasize the contribution of these two ladies, who have so much heart, and who gave their land. Natural heritage is very important to them, and they want this land to remain a forest,” Bisson said.
She added that land donations are not the only way to support local conservation initiatives. “There are a lot of opportunities to contribute as a volunteer as a donor to help us maximize our efforts,” she said.