André Bouchard (environmentalist)

André Bouchard (January 26, 1946 – 4 March 2010) was a Canadian ecologist and environmentalist who spent most of his career at Université de Montréal (UdeM) and the Montreal Botanical Garden. His specialties included landscape ecology and plant community ecology, and he received several awards during his lifetime.

Bouchard was born in 1946 in Montreal and grew up in Côte-des-Neiges, although his family came from Saint-Anicet, and maintained a secondary residence there.^[1][2][3] His father, Louis G. Bouchard, was a successful leather goods supplier.^[1] He studied first at Collège Jean-De-Brébeuf before graduating with a degree in biological sciences from Université de Montréal. He went to McGill and Cornell University for his postgraduate studies, which he completed in the 1970s.^{[note 1][4]}

In 1975 he began teaching at his alma mater Université de Montréal, while simultaneously becoming curator at the Botanical Garden.^[5] He would remain at the University until his death, and at the garden for 21 years.^[4] As curator, his primary duty was directing research at the garden.^[6] His own research discussed the flora of Newfoundland (Gros Morne National Park was the topic of his doctorate dissertation) and of southwestern Quebec.^[7][8][9] His creative use of notarized acts to study the evolution of Quebec forest since New France led to significant discoveries regarding the evolution of beech-maple forests.^[8]

Beyond scientific work, he rapidly became known for his involvement in various environmental issues, notably the fight to save the Bois de Saraguay, an old-growth forest on the northern side of Montreal Island that was threatened by developers.^{[note 2][6][10]} Over the years, he invested himself in numerous other debates, such as those over the Boisé du Tremblay in Longueuil,^[11] the Muir Forest in Hichinbrooke^[12] (now the Boisé-des-Muir Ecological Reserve) and, closer to home, the Little and Large Tea Field, two peat bogs in his native town of Saint-Anicet.^[13][14] He was also a member of the 2004 Commission Coulombe whose report was to define provincial forest exploitation policy.^[15] Although he was well aware that he and his fellow commissioner would catch flak from the industry for the recommendations (which included a 20% reductions of wood cuts), he pushed forward with the belief that these were the right decisions to make.^[8]

Having been a close collaborator of Pierre Bourque, he was named director of the Botanical Garden in 1994 when Bourque had to leave the position following his election as mayor.^[4][10] It was a short stay, both because he had notified the administration he considered it an interim position, and because he was not comfortable with the complicated administrative apparatus connected to the position.^[6] In 2002, he became the first director of the newly founded Institut de Recherche en Biology Végétale (IRBV), a position he occupied until 2006. All these years he continued to teach at the Université, and directed over 45 master's and doctorate students.^[4] He also sat on the Montreal Heritage Council from 2006 to 2008,^{[note 3]} on the Centre hospitalier universitaire Sainte-Justine board of directors,^[2][4] and received awards from the Quebec Association of Biologists (prix Georges-Préfontaine, 2005) and the Acfas (prix Michel-Jurdant for environmentalism, 1990).^[2][9]

In addition to his environmental and scientific work, he had a keen interest in history, both local and scientific. In 1998 he published a short historical account of the botanical garden, and in 2007 a compendium of correspondence from Marie-Victorin. At the time of his death, he was working on books about southern Quebec wetlands and a biography of Marie-Victorin.^[2][8] A great admirer of the man, he had retraced Marie-Victorin's expeditions in Cuba and organized an exposition on the topic.^[8] A founding member of the local history society of Saint-Anicet, he wrote several accounts of prominent locals such as Jules and Paul-Émile Léger, whose families had local ties.^[17] He had also been heavily involved on two book projects on the local church and the municipality itself.^[3]

Bouchard died unexpectedly from heart attack on March 4, 2010, in Montreal's Central Station, a few months from his planned retirement.^[2] Bourque presented his condolences,^[18] and flags at the Botanical Garden were flown half-staff for several days.^[19] He was married with three children.^[1][20] In June of that year, he was a granted a posthumous honoris causa doctorate from Université Laval.^[21]

Notes

References

• Published works