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PARTNERING TO CONSERVE NATURE               

On behalf of Minister Pierre Arcand - Minister for Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks, Deputy Pierre Reid (Orford) announced $15,390 in financial assistance to the Appalachian Corridor Association (ACA). This assistance will enable the organization to supervise work by the Massawippi Foundation, an organization dedicated to the conservation and perpetuity of the exceptional natural environments of the Lake Massawippi Basin. This initiative constitutes the second phase of a project started in 2011.

"I want to make a point of emphasizing the remarkable success obtained by the Appalachian Corridor in what encompasses the conservation of the natural environments of the area. Until now, the affiliated organization and its members have been responsible for the protection perpetuity of 9,200 hectares in the Appalachian Mountains. The territory involved in this new stage of the project shelters a rich biodiversity, including nineteen threatened or vulnerable floral species and four endangered faunal species", declared Deputy Reid.

During this second phase, ACA and the Massawippi Foundation will continue their concerted efforts toward conservation on private properties. These actions are geared toward the realization of inventories and ecological evaluations of some great properties, canvassing and negotiation of conservation agreements with the owners of these properties, and obtaining the legal and perpetual protection rights of at least one of these great properties. The protection of these natural environments of the Lake Massawippi Basin is crucial to maintaining and improving the quality of water in this sector.

ACA will continue its work involving surrounding municipalities and to sensitize the citizens about this cause. This project also involves the creation of a network of ACA protected sites, which will make it possible to achieve and to even exceed the regional goals in regards to protected areas.

"Thanks to the collaboration agreements which it established in Quebec and along our borders, the Appalachian Corridor represents, for local communities, the means of maintaining and restoring a framework of life which respects the ecology of the area in a developmental and sustainable manner. Its actions deserve to be encouraged", underlined Minister Arcand.