Conservation groups fighting to preserve greenspace northwest of Trudeau Airport in Dorval are devastated. When they learned that the field had been cut down in late June, they were shocked.
“The first thing that came out of my mouth was that this place was massacred,” said Technopark Oiso member Jim Harris.
He says everything, including shrubs to fix feet, and about 4,000 milkweed plants in the greenspace called Monarch Fields, were cut down.
Now milkweed plants, which they say are essential to the survival of monarch butterflies, are almost non-existent.
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The Airport de Montréal leases land from the federal government.
Technoparc Oiseaux claims that the airport cut grass on all 19 hectares. When its members asked for clarification, they said the airport said it was routine maintenance. This is something Harris says hasn’t been done since at least 2012.
“No maintenance work of this type has been done. It was left to go wild again,” he told Global News.
Trudeau Airport did not comment about our deadline.
Environmentalists say monarchs aren’t the only species whose habitats have been destroyed. They say that small bushes that have collapsed are usually home to birds that are currently nesting.
“It’s terrifying. What has happened here is absolutely unconscionable,” said David Fletcher, a spokesman for the Green Coalition.
It comes months after a company withdrew its plans to build a mask-manufacturing plant in the Monarch regions. Technopark Oiseaux and Green Coalition both fought against plans to protect green space.
Now, they are reiterating their demand from the government to completely save that area, which is the industrial sector, from development.
“If you want to build here, maybe there’s somewhere around that you can build too,” Harris said.
Technoparc Oiseaux says it will contact Canada’s environment minister in the coming days.