Community: Regional Coordinator: Contact Info:

Otterburn Park Quentin van Ginhoven E-mail: quentinvg@videotron.ca Phone: (450) 467-2453

Otterburn Park is a suburban town of 8,171 people located in Southern Québec, on the shore of the Richelieu River, 30 km east of Montreal. This town is mainly residential with no industry and few small businesses.

The town has a very interesting history, perhaps its claim to fame is the fact that this was once the Dominions’ largest recreation park, hence its name, with its own train stop, serving Montrealers in their quest to bathe in the waters of the Richelieu River. Things have changed since those days, and as the French expression goes, "much water has flowed under the bridge". For one, the "park" is now a residential community – one large forested section of town is still preserved as park. Moreover, the beach has been closed due to the poor quality of the river. The river remains the regions main source for drinking water. The town’s modern claim to fame is that is it one of the first communities in Québec to ban pesticide-use on lawns.

The town’s expansion is such that it has become the region’s most dense in human population and is still growing, with housing development planned. More people means having to monitor the environment so that no unique or important natural characteristics of the area are lost to over-population. This is where CBM steps in.

An ongoing effort is presently looking at allowing participating residents to become more familiar with their environment by establishing monitoring and add their efforts to existing projects (Polybel fish monitoring, and the COVABAR stream monitoring) so that observed data can become the foundation to achieving influence to local decision-making. For an update, please contact me.