McGill Bieler School of Environment students are making an impact on their community. This February, they presented to local, provincial, and Indigenous leaders, fostering collaboration to help the Gault Nature Reserve protect its historical ecosystem.
Deer overpopulation has been a hot topic across southern Quebec and surrounding regions. Under Professor Fiona Soper’s guidance, students in the Environment 401 course tackled this issue head-on, creating a deer management plan and presenting the findings to Gault Nature Reserve stakeholders.
“The plan synthesized information on the effects of deer overpopulation on the ecology of Gault, collected information on management options from around North America, and assessed their suitability for the Gault context,” said Professor Soper.
The university course encourages students to address real-world environmental issues through community collaboration. In this project, students gathered and communicated insights from leaders of the W8banaki Indigenous nation, SEPAQ, the Quebec Ministry of the Environment (MELCCFP), McGill researchers and administrators, Gault staff, the Mayor of Mont-St-Hilaire, Quebec hunting organizations, and animal rights groups.
Leah Paukstaitis BSc, U3, who’s currently completing a major in Environment, focusing on land surface processes and environmental change grew up in Chelsea, Québec, a town not far from the nature reserve.
She expressed pride in a project rooted in science involving a diverse group of Mont-St-Hilaire stakeholders. “As an environmental science student, I’m not a fan of the ‘ignorance is bliss’ mindset. Instead, I’m driven to investigate these environmental issues and find solutions before it is too late,” she said.
Frédérique Truchon, Communications Associate for Gault, emphasized the importance of collaboration and unity. “This student project and presentation brought all these people together, facilitating exchange among them. Everyone met with a common purpose, and it was nice to see.”
The stakeholder meeting was a key step forward in the ongoing project to decide how to best manage the reserve’s unique resources.
Professor Soper plans to continue working with Gault on other student-assisted projects to explore the best ways to introduce the social acceptability of deer management to the McGill community.