By Trevor Greenway

editor@lowdownonline.com

The NCC wants to own every bit of property in Gatineau Park, and the crown corporation is getting closer to that goal after it acquired another 42 acres of land – the former Dunnderosa Golf Course. 

With that acquisition, which was finalized at the end of March, the NCC now owns 99 percent of Gatineau Park and says it has its sights set on that last remaining one percent. 

“Because, for our conservation mandate, it’s easier to have the control and the management over all the lands in the park,” explains Catherine Verreault, director of Quebec Urban Lands and Gatineau Park with the NCC, about the crown corporation’s goal. “But we’ve been having good discussions with the private property owners and municipalities in the park.”

The NCC paid $3.9 million for the 42 acres that used to be home to the Dunnderosa Golf Course, and Verreault said the organization is thrilled to conserve this land, especially because owners had previously wanted to put a housing development there. The lands, which connect to the Chelsea Creek Ecological Corridor, will be conserved and maintained as eco lands – with user trails connecting to Gatineau Park. Verreault says the property has rich biodiversity, and the NCC will create a plan that allows residents to ski, bike and hike through the lands, while giving flora and fauna natural space to thrive. 

“Securing this land allows us to protect part of that corridor,” adds Verreault. “The golf course has not been used in many years, and it’s starting to regenerate. It’s a really nice, open area and used by lots of pollinators, breeding birds, amphibians, reptiles and small mammals. It’s very interesting in terms of biodiversity.”

According to the NCC’s Ecological Corridor report, 16 species of special concern – both plants and animals – are found within the Chelsea Creek Ecological Corridor, like the eastern milk snake, olive-sided flycatchers and woodland pinedrops. 

The NCC has acquired 63 separate properties in Gatineau park since 2008, amounting to 665 acres. To own 100 per cent of the land in Gatineau Park, the NCC needs to acquire the remaining 884 acres, which they say they plan to do. 

While the Dunnderosa Golf Course has been closed since 2020, Village Dunnd’s still operates a minigolf and outdoor playground at the corner of Notch and Kingsmere roads.