Archive for year: 2022

Jane seen here tagging the property with Appalachian Corridor biologist.

Jane is an outdoor enthusiast who loves nature and walking. You can see her striding through the village and walking on our trails year round. She has always loved walking and especially enjoys showing her visitors the Massawippi Trails when they come to stay in the region.
She is as intimately entwined in the history of North Hatley as is fellow board member Tom Wilcox. Jane is a permanent resident of North Hatley since retiring from her law career with the Federal government. Born in Sherbrooke, she grew up in Montreal and spent all of her summers in the village. Her great grand-father’s family bought their first summer home here back in 1920. Jane remembers summers spent in her family home, enjoying the independence which came with her 3 ½ horse power boat which she took across the lake each day to reach the North Hatley Club. In the 1960’s her father bought a large farm property in the Canton de Hatley where he planted trees and conserved the land. It was here that she took long walks with him and sometimes explored the land on horseback. She came back regularly to the property in the late 1990’s when she built some trails for walking, cross country skiing and snowshoeing.
Jane became involved with the Massawippi Foundation fairly early on as the Board was being formed in 2012. She was invited to join in 2013 and today she is its Chair. The passion and respect of the original group is as strong today as it ever was. None of them are environmentalists, but they all share a deep love for the natural beauty of the region and want to do what they can to protect it for future generations.
When asked if she found the area had changed over the years she says, “Not really, the buildings haven’t changed, only the businesses on the inside.”  She remembered the general store and hardware where the Pilson now stands, Earl’s was the Dep, and the Hob Nob, (now the Mercantile) where her family always picked up hot dogs and fries for supper when arriving from Montreal on Friday nights. Of course LeBaron’s was and still remains today.” The biggest change was when the railway was sold.” Thinking back she remembers when she used to walk along the tracks to get from one side of the village to the other, sometimes jumping off the bridge into the water, in order not to get run over by the noontime train. The walkway and gazebo are what remain today. A lovely place to get a view of the lake and the ridge behind it.
When the Sentier Massawippi opened its trails, Jane was there with her sister. She realized then that this would be the special place to walk keeping in mind that George Wardman Sr. had been a good friend of her Father. The Meagher farm property was sold in 2018 and Jane and her husband Jean bought an Airstream thereby joining a new community. Their choice reflects their love of nature. The Sentier Massawippi trails in North Hatley and Sainte- Catherine, are her preferred local places to walk. She likes the beauty of the trail and the views of the lake. Jane makes sure to speak about the Foundation and its conservation mission with visitors.
When asked if she is an environmentalist, conservationist, or nature lover, Jane chooses the latter, saying she loves nature and tries to do her bit to help the planet and her community. Her son has recently bought a property in the area and so the family tradition is continuing.

By Marie-José Auclair, President of Appalachian Corridor’s Board of Directors

Although hiking is a low-impact activity for the environment, our behaviours while enjoying the trails can sometimes be devastating and lead to permanent impacts on surrounding flora and fauna. Garbage, fires in forbidden areas, improvised bathrooms in the bushes, and loud hikers; all of these disturbances can unfortunately be damaging to natural habitats and spoil our intimate contact with nature. The principles of the program Leave No Trace (www.leavenotrace. ca) offer an outdoor code of conduct adopted by more than 90 countries and suggest the adoption of key behaviours for the practice of our activities on foot, on bikes, on skis or in kayaks in order to leave natural habitats intact
Appalachian Corridor encourages the adoption of the following seven principles from Leave No Trace:
• Plan ahead and prepare for the unexpected in order to have a safe and pleasant experience.
• To avoid damaging the vegetation and reduce erosion, travel only on established and durable surfaces, and camp on designated sites.
• Dispose of waste properly and don’t leave any items behind.
• Leave what you discover intact so that others may enjoy it too in its most natural state.
• Minimize campfire impacts and preferably use a lightweight stove as a heat source.
• Respect wildlife and avoid disturbing animals, especially during the delicate periods of mating, nesting, or raising young.
• Be considerate of other visitors by limiting excessive noises, let nature’s sounds prevail so that all can enjoy their experience.

Reproduced with the permission of Appalachian Corridor, our partners in conservation.

You own land on the Massawippi Conservation Trust (MCT) territory of action? You are interested in learning more about ecological gifts and the tax benefits you could enjoy? You are curious whether there are prerequisites or fees to this program? What are the resources available to support your conservation project? What type of servitude would allow you to retain ownership of the land while still enjoying tax benefits?