Gatineau Park - Expanding “the green lung of the Outaouais”

Blanding's Turtle (Photo by NCC)

Nicknamed "the green lung of the Outaouais,” Gatineau Park is part of an ecological corridor in the Outaouais region of Quebec. The region is known for its forest and wetland habitats that span the Ottawa Valley north of Gatineau, providing clean air, abundant greenery and undisturbed habitats.

The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) will now protect 25 hectares in the area, thanks to Matthew Sanger and Mary O’Neill, who offered their land for conservation. To put that into perspective, that is about the size of 158 NHL-sized skating rinks! The property is adjacent to Gatineau Park, helping create a large, continuous habitat for species to roam. 

The property will add more conserved land to the Outaouais region, increasing the amount of important conserved habitats. The property itself features a vast forest and some wetlands, helping the species in the area, such as the endangered Blanding’s turtle, to thrive without worrying about human disturbance and habitat destruction.

NCC is the country’s unifying force for nature. We seek solutions to the twin crises of rapid biodiversity loss and climate change through large-scale, permanent land conservation. When nature thrives, we all thrive.

Thank you to the partners who made this project possible, so that this property’s natural habitat may be conserved for generations to come:

Matthew Sanger and Mary O’Neill
 

Learn about what you can do to help protect nature here!