André Bouchard (environmentalist)

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