It is urgent to “protect in perpetuity” the fallow land mown by Aéroports de Montréal (ADM), where there are thousands of milkweed plants that serve as food for monarch butterflies, hammered Thursday the official opposition to the city Hall.
Posted at 2:38 p.m.
“The mowing that occurred at the Champ des Monarques is a wake-up call. The City of Montreal must reiterate to the federal government the urgency of protecting it, as well as the others located north of the airport belonging to it, in order to preserve biodiversity. These could finally be integrated into the Parc-nature des Sources project, which would become a major environmental legacy for future generations,” the mayor of Saint-Laurent, Alan DeSousa, castigated on Thursday.
In July, Quebec elected officials had expressed their concerns about ADM’s explanations concerning the recent mowing of the “Champ des monarches”, an immense natural environment the size of 10 football fields, rich in biodiversity. The 19-hectare area mowed by ADM is part of a huge 200-hectare green zone adjacent to Trudeau Airport, the size of Mount Royal Park.
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PHOTO PROVIDED BY TECHNOPARC OISEAUX
The “monarch field” before the cut
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PHOTO PROVIDED BY TECHNOPARC OISEAUX
The “monarch field” after the cut
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Marwah Rizqy, the provincial Liberal MP, and Alexandre Boulerice, the deputy leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP), had then jointly asked the federal government to act quickly to protect all of this “urban lung”, the last green space scale unprotected on the island of Montreal. The citizen group Technoparc Oiseaux says it has identified at least more than 4,000 milkweed plants there, feeding monarch butterflies, a species threatened with extinction.
At the time, the office of Transport Minister Omar Alghabra indicated that a meeting was planned “soon between the Minister and the airport to discuss the situation”, saying “request details on the next steps in this file”, given “the urgency of the situation”.
“Redouble the pressure”
A month and a half later, however, the situation still does not seem to be resolved. Mr. De Sousa asks the Plante administration to “redouble the pressure on the Government of Canada to protect in perpetuity the lands located north of the Montreal airport in collaboration with the City of Montreal, the borough of Saint-Laurent and the City of Dorval”.
In the office of Valérie Plante, it is indicated that “the field of monarchs is extremely important for biodiversity””. “We expect all occupants of the sector to take concrete action to ensure its protection,” said press secretary Alicia Dufour, recalling that Montreal already protected the land belonging to it in the southern sector of the Technoparc in February. . However, the City intends to “discuss” with the opposition to “define the best methods to achieve our objectives”.
“The monarch butterfly population has dropped 90% over the past two decades. If we want to ensure its survival, it is now or never that we must act, ”said opposition councilor Stephanie Valenzuela, who is also an environmental critic, on Thursday.
His party will table at the next city council, on August 22, a motion to force the City to take more intensive steps with the federal government. The opposition also suggests encouraging municipal services to plant more milkweed, and encouraging the boroughs to “offer free milkweed seeds”.