Naturalization

A Beautiful Naturalization Project in an Urban Setting

I love the city of Magog, especially for its abundance of public green spaces, its magnificent bike paths along Lake Memphremagog and the Magog River, and its proximity to Mont-Orford Park. What’s more, it’s a small town on a human scale, where citizens play a key role.

This summer, I discovered Espace Saint-Luc: a naturalization project on 22,000 square meters of completely bare land (the equivalent of 4 soccer fields). It’s located in an old part of town, and was once home to the public works storage site and the ecocenter.

Before naturalization.

The project aimed to transform this vast heat island zone into a cool space by encouraging the planting of trees, shrubs, perennials and grass in an area that suffered from a great lack of greenery. Design of the Espace Saint-Luc began in 2021, but first the site had to be decontaminated. Fortunately, this $4.6 million operation was 60% subsidized by the ClimatSol-Plus program of the Ministry of the Environment and the Fight against Climate Change (MELCC).

A Great Collaboration With Citizens

Beyond the environmental benefits of this new green space, this project was a great opportunity to collaborate with citizens to improve their quality of life. First, there was a wide-ranging public consultation on the future of the park in 2022, then the city of Magog also put a suggestion platform online for citizens to use.

Photo: Le Reflet du Lac – Jérémy Trudel.
After the transformation.

In June 2023, over a hundred volunteers came forward to plant a total of 820 mostly native plants across the entire site, including 350 trees and 470 shrubs. The project was coordinated in collaboration with Arbre-Évolution, a solidarity cooperative based in l’Islet in the Chaudière-Appalaches region. This organization provides communities with a tool for financing greening initiatives with citizens. The result is not standard manicured landscaping, but a planting of trees and shrubs that should become a small “natural” urban forest. The city is committed to maintaining and protecting this future woodland for at least 50 years.

Of course, the project also includes the construction of paths and the installation of urban furniture. For example, checkers and chess enthusiasts can bring their pieces and play games with family and friends on the checkerboard-printed tables. There are also areas for picnics, free play and outdoor training. A slide will be available in winter.

Low-Cost Vegetables for Local Residents

What’s more, a 557-square-meter community garden space is managed by Magog’s Centre d’écoinitiatives populaires (CÉPOP). A coordinator looks after the vegetables and herbs as if it were her own garden. When fully operational, the harvest potential of the fifty or so bins is estimated at half a ton of tomatoes, carrots, squash, garlic, etc. Low-cost food is distributed at monthly neighborhood markets and mini-sales. Surpluses are also sold in the outdoor community fridge and indoor freezer located near the park.

Photo: Le Reflet du Lac – Jérémy Trudel.

Work on the Espace Saint-Luc will have cost $549,000, not including planning, consultation, communications and project management. However, Magog benefited from a $330,000 grant from the Climat Municipalité 2 program of the Ministry of the Environment and the Fight against Climate Change.

A Revamped Sports Park to Boot

At the same time, Magog has revitalized the Maurice-Théroux park located right next to Espace Saint-Luc. The refurbishment of this sports park, which was nearing the end of its useful life, and the addition of infrastructure include a multifunctional surface with boards for sporting activities twelve months a year, including pickleball in summer (4 fields) and skating (field hockey) in winter. The refurbishment of the two baseball fields, the replacement of the children’s play modules and the creation of a picnic area complete the project.

I think it’s a fine example of a development that blends sports and leisure facilities with nature, and it’s a new asset for this little jewel in the Eastern Townships.

Trees and Shrubs Planted in the Espace Saint-Luc:

30 Serviceberry
26 Red maple
23 Western hackberry
6 American thornless beech
30 Cottonwood
2 ‘Siouxland’ cottonwood
36 Quaking aspen
22 Red oak
37 Bird mountain ash
23 Siberian elm
20 Balsam fir
20 Eastern white cedar
25 Virginia juniper
20 White spruce
30 Tamarack
50 Arboreal caragana
50 Speckled alder
50 Broad-leaved spirea
50 Flexible violet
100 Interior willow
50 Rough rose
50 Dogwood
15 Alder-leaved serviceberry
10 Black chokeberry
10 Elderberry
10 Canada honeysuckle
15 Whorled cinquefoil
10 Fragrant bramble

Edith Smeesters is a biologist and a pioneer in ecological horticulture in Quebec. She has given countless conferences and workshops and written several books on the subject for over 20 years. She founded and has been president of several environmental organizations, such as Nature-Action Québec and the Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides. She was a key figure in the creation of the Pesticide Management Code of Quebec, which has been in effect since 2003. She has received several awards for her involvement in the environment and is a member of the prestigious "Cercle des Phénix".

2 comments on “A Beautiful Naturalization Project in an Urban Setting

  1. heathergrammie

    Well done! Such a lovely space. If the playground were accessible to all children it would’ve been perfect. Sadly, kids in walkers and wheelchairs are almost always forgotten when it comes to playground construction.

  2. How nice that they can use mostly native trees. When we plant street trees in Los Angeles, only a few are native, mostly because natives are not so conducive to urban situations. Even if they were more appropriate, what we plant is so much more numerous than what was there naturally. Los Angeles was formerly chaparral or desert, with mostly open grassland and very few trees. There are MANY more trees there than they were naturally, but somehow there never seems to be enough.

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