Hit Below the Greenbelt

Montreal and its neighbours aren’t winning any awards for protecting natural spaces—despite having a seemingly large number of parks and waterways—usually coming in last of major Canadian cities for green habits.

It’s not that there isn’t the potential to be greener. A Siemens report from 2011 counted 19 per cent of the island as green space, though only a quarter of that is protected.

Environmental movements began in the mid-2000s to develop and protect a continuous stretch of undeveloped land, otherwise known as a greenbelt, in southern Quebec, with the backing of Thomas Mulcair, the former Quebec environment minister and an NDP parliamentarian at the time.

Nature parks were threatened by plans for the extension of a Laval highway through Île Bizard until the Trans-Canada Highway, inspiring an environmental movement for a Parc Écologique de l’Archipel de Montréal, according to Green Coalition president Gareth Richardson.

Meanwhile in southern Ontario, the movement for a regional greenbelt is celebrating the 10th anniversary of a law that protects 730,000 hectares of natural and agricultural land around Toronto.

Montreal’s attempt at a greenbelt was described as a “green lace doily” in 2008 by Green Coalition vice president David Fletcher. Years later, the project has grown and gained the support of the David Suzuki Foundation, which hired a full-time project manager for the Mouvement Ceinture Verte earlier this year.

The definition of a greenbelt differs in cities like London, England, which created bands of undeveloped land around major cities to contain sprawl. The greenbelt in Quebec connects 282 cities from Ontario to the west and the U.S. to the south until Lac-St-Pierre to the east.

The idea is to put cities at the forefront, getting municipal approval before approaching the provincial government, says Sylvain Perron, project manager of the Mouvement Ceinture Verte. In a similar way, Perron will only approach Montreal’s mayor after strategically getting surrounding cities on board. The movement also emphasizes protecting agricultural lands from further development.

“It’s a long campaign,” said Perron. “It takes a long time, you must reach every city and the idea of a green-belt is not as known as in other places.”

The Montreal Metropolitan Community has a target of 17 per cent “green and blue spaces” across the region. Montreal, meanwhile, increased its targets for conservation to 10 per cent of its territory earlier this year, but only 5.75 per cent of Montreal’s territory is protected according to an appraisal from 2013.

“They’ve got a long way to go,” Richardson said.

The MMC, which governs the 82 municipalities in the greater Montreal area, instituted its conservation plan in 2012, according to Michel Allaire, head of the Community’s environment department. The MMC increased its long-term goal to protect more green space in the region, not including agricultural land.

“Denis Coderre wants to do some things that are alright, but to build 5,000 households in l’Anse-à-l’Orme says a lot about what he thinks of green spaces,” – Sylvain Perron, project manager of the Mouvement Ceinture Verte.

Most green space land is privately owned and would be too expensive to purchase despite funding programs, according to the MMC. But cities can enact bylaws to protect forests and green spaces without having to buy up lots. According to the latest land use and development plan from 2012, only 9.6 per cent of Greater Montreal is protected—most of the protected area is made up of waterways and parts of the St. Lawrence river—but there’s potential to protect up to 21 per cent of the area.

Citizen groups across the island have fought to protect spaces like Meadowbrook, a golf course caught in a tug of war between condo developers and local activists fighting for a park. The city agreed to rezone the land in Montreal West as recreational space.

In areas like NDG, Meadowbrook and the slim strip of forested escarpment below St. Jacques St. are pretty much all that’s left protected.

In Beaconsfield, Montreal’s agglomeration council, which has jurisdiction over island-wide issues, has promised to buy up the privately-owned lots that make up Angell Woods. The forested area is home to maple-hickory and red ash trees in the West Island and is on its way to becoming a nature park, which will create an eco-corridor with northern parks until Cap-St-Jacques.

The western end of Pierrefonds is the latest area slated for a 5,000-unit development, despite locals asking for protection of the territory in line with nearby nature park Anse-à-l’Orme. The area, a collection of overgrown agricultural land is now home to deer and coyote, according to Richardson.

“It will be a huge development if it happens,” he said. “And it’s out in an area where there is really no access to public transport.”

“Denis Coderre wants to do some things that are alright, but to build 5,000 households in l’Anse-à-l’Orme says a lot about what he thinks of green spaces,” Perron said.

Richardson says there is plenty of brownfield—former industrial areas or land that needs to be decontaminated—for redevelopment. Keeping the green space in the West Island would bring the protected area to about 10 square kilometres and could become commercially viable as a tourist attraction, he said.

The city could create something like the High Line in New York City, which transformed an old elevated railway into a linear park. Transforming hydro and high- way servitudes into green spaces in Montreal can create corridors between green parts of the island, contributing to a greenbelt.

“You can do an awful lot if you use your imagination turning areas that aren’t very promising into green areas, and then using them to link up existing parks,” Richardson said. This is happening at the St. Michel Environmental Complex, an old quarry-turned-city dump that is being transformed into the city’s second largest park, he added. Montreal’s east end is also combating “heat islands,” which are significantly warmer urban areas caused by a lack of green space.

“The hotter it gets, the worse the effects of air pollution,” Richardson said. “Even psychologically, people feel better in natural areas.”

Quebec’s government committed $2 million to add at least 15,000 plants in the east end. Heat islands contribute to higher levels of CO2, which can trigger respiratory problems like asthma, as well as thermal stress.

“There are many good reasons to maintain the green area that we’ve already got and increasing it,” Richard- son said. “Montreal has a definite deficit compared to most other major cities.”

Montreal created the “ecoterritory” concept in 2004 when it adopted a policy to protect natural habitats. This led to 10 new “ecoterritories” of natural green space and significant biodiversity—but most of the land is privately owned. The ecoterritory designation is supposed to help protect them, but development in these areas is still possible.

Environmentalists have pushed to have these areas fully protected. Groups like Sauvons la Falaise are critical of trees that were felled in the Falaise St. Jacques earlier this year.

• Forêt de Senneville

• Corridor écoforestier rivière à l’Orme

• Corridor écoforestier de l’Île Bizard

• Rapides du Cheval Blanc

• Coulée verte du Ruisseau Bertrand (near Parc-nature du Bois-de-Liesse and Bois-de-Saraguay)

• Sommets et flancs du mont Royal

• Coulée verte du ruisseau De Montigny

• Trame verte de l’Est (near Parc-nature de la Pointe-aux-Prairies)

• Rapides de Lachine

• Falaise Saint-Jacques

Source: Ville de Montréal

1.7 million hectares (1% of the territory in Quebec)

Over 3.7 million inhabitants (less than half of the population of Quebec)

More than 50% of the 455 vulnerable or threatened species in Quebec

Agricultural lands 48%

Forested areas 26%

Urban areas 11%

Waterways 7%

Wetlands 6%

Riverbands 2%

Source: Mouvement Ceinture Verte

Parks designated as nature parks are intended to contribute to the conservation of greenspace and environmental education on the island, according to the city of Montreal’s website. They’re free to access and together make up 1,300 hectares and 21 km of riverbanks.

• Parc-nature du Cap-Saint-Jacques

• Parc-nature du Bois-de-l’Île-Bizard

• Parc-nature du Bois-de-Liesse

• Parc-nature de l’Île-de-la-Visitation

• Parc-nature de la Pointe-aux-Prairies

• Parc-nature de l’Anse-à-l’Orme

• Parc-nature des Rapides-du Cheval-Blanc

• Parc-nature du Bois-de-Saraguay

• Parc-nature du Bois-d’Anjou

• Parc agricole du Bois-de-la-Roche

• Parc-nature du Ruisseau-De Montigny

Source: Ville de Montréal