Mont-Saint-Bruno National Park

The eponymous mountain

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The Parc national du Mont -Saint- Bruno is one of the 24 National Parks in the Canadian province of Québec.

There is a corresponding Parc national but what is a provincial park in the other provinces and territories.

The park covers the area of 218 m high Mont Saint- Bruno, about 20 kilometers east of Montreal rises and is one of the Montérégie hills. At its southwestern flank, the village of Saint- Bruno -de- Montarville. The task established in 1985, only 5.9 km ² park is on the one hand to protect the rich flora and fauna of the mountain, on the other hand, here was the center of 1710 conferred Seigneurie de Montarville, a basic rule of the French colonial period. One of the water mills of this period, the water mill of Saint- Bruno -de- Montarville from 1725 still exists today.

History

It is believed the first settlement of the region about 8000 years ago, although there is no archaeological evidence. Before the first Europeans lived here St. Lawrence Iroquois, but disappeared around 1580.

In 1710, the mountain was part of the lent to Pierre Boucher basic rule. Boucher was lord of the neighboring Seigneurie de Boucherville. Until 1740 the country remained unaffected. Between 1725 and 1816 put the Seigneurie, in contrast to the neighboring manors, not wind, but water mills. These were used to grind grain, but also for walking laundry, for sawing wood, etc.. The only remaining mill is a corn mill from 1725.

In 1825 the family sold their Seigneurie Boucher at the Montreal lawyer François- Pierre Bruneau. In 1851, she took over his cousin Olivier - Théophile. 1897 bought by the wealthy banker Edson Loy Pease a part of the mountain, namely 406 acres, which he sold two years later to the Mount Bruno Association, which he chaired. She built luxurious hotels there, including the Lac du Moulin, who, however, burned down in 1941 by Pease. With the dissolution of the manorial estates, the area of the general public has access. Founded already in 1715 Frères du Saint -Esprit ( 1910 they changed their name to Frères de l'instruction chrétienne de Saint Gabriel ) built here one of their houses and an arboretum. Also bought Jesuits, Trinitarians and Arnstein Fathers land in the area in order to withdraw from the troubled Montreal life. The Saint -Gabriel brothers acquired the lion's share, including the Jesuit House Villa Grand Coteau in 1912. They produced there milk and apples. In 1976 she sold the territory to the province, in 1985 the park einrichtete.

Flora and Fauna

The small park is located in the ecoregion Basses- Terres du Saint- Laurent. Its mild climate in southern Canada offers mixed forest with sugar maple, yellow birch, hemlock Canadian or Weymouth pine suitable locations. A total of exactly 574 plant species were recorded in 2010, which is about one -fifth of the species in the province, of which 24 are threatened.

38 species of mammals inhabit this small area. These include the white-tailed deer, but then also small mammals such as Tamias striatus, gray squirrel, white-footed mouse, woodchuck, the bat species Lasionycteris noctivagans, Lasiurus cinereus and Lasiurus borealis. There are also 234 species of birds, representing 72 % of the species represented in Québec, then 7 reptiles, 14 amphibians and 13 species of fish.