André Bouchard
Encyclopedia
André Bouchard was a Canadian ecologist and environmentalist
who worked primarily at Université de Montréal
(UdeM) and the Montreal Botanical Garden during his career. His specialties included landscape ecology
and plant community ecology, and he received several prizes over the course of his career.
, although his family came from Saint-Anicet
, and maintained a secondary residence there. His father, Louis G. Bouchard, was a successful leather goods supplier. 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.His dissertation is dated from 1975, the same year he
became curator at the Botanical Garden.
In 1975 he began teaching at his alma mater Université de Montréal, while simultaneously becoming curator at the Botanical Garden. He would remain at the University until his death, and at the garden for 21 years. As curator, his primary duty was directing research at the garden. His own research discussed the flora of Newfoundland (Gros Morne National Park
was the topic of his doctorate dissertation) and of southwestern Quebec. 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 forest
s.
Beyond scientific work, he rapidly known for his involvement in various environmental debates, 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. Over the years, he was involved in numerous other debates, such as those over the Boisé du Tremblay in Longueuil
, the Muir Forest in Hichinbrooke
(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. He was also a member of the 2004 Commission Coulombe whose report was to define provincial forest exploitation policy. 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.
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. 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. 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. He also sat on the Montreal Heritage Council from 2006 to 2008, and the Centre hospitalier universitaire Sainte-Justine
board of directors, as well as received prizes from the Quebec Association of Biologists (prix Georges-Préfontaine, 2005) and the Acfas
(prix Michel-Jurdant for environmentalism, 1990).
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 wetland
s and a biography of Marie-Victorin. A great admirer of the man, he had retraced Marie-Victorin's work in Cuba and organized an exposition on the topic at the Garden. 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. He had also been heavily involved on two book projects on the local church and the municipality as a whole.
Bouchard died unexpectedly from heart attack on March 4, 2010, in Montreal's Central Station, a few months from his planned retirement. Bourque presented his condolences, and flags at the Botanical Garden were flown half-staff
for several days. He was married with three children. In June 2010, he was a granted a posthumous honoris causa doctorate from Université Laval
.
Environmentalist
An environmentalist broadly supports the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that seeks to improve and protect the quality of the natural environment through changes to environmentally harmful human activities"...
who worked primarily at Université de Montréal
Université de Montréal
The Université de Montréal is a public francophone research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It comprises thirteen faculties, more than sixty departments and two affiliated schools: the École Polytechnique and HEC Montréal...
(UdeM) and the Montreal Botanical Garden during his career. His specialties included landscape ecology
Landscape ecology
Landscape ecology is the science of studying and improving relationships between urban development and ecological processes in the environment and particular ecosystems...
and plant community ecology, and he received several prizes over the course of his career.
Biography
Bouchard was born in 1946 in Montreal and grew up in Côte-des-NeigesCôte-des-Neiges
Côte-des-Neiges is a working class neighbourhood of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, situated at the geographic center of the Island of Montreal on the western slope of Mount Royal. The neighbourhood is part of the borough Côte-des-Neiges—Notre-Dame-de-Grâce...
, although his family came from Saint-Anicet
Saint-Anicet, Quebec
Saint-Anicet is a parish municipality of Quebec, located within the Le Haut-Saint-Laurent Regional County Municipality in the Montérégie administrative region...
, and maintained a secondary residence there. His father, Louis G. Bouchard, was a successful leather goods supplier. He studied first at Collège Jean-De-Brébeuf before graduating with a degree in biological sciences from Université de Montréal. He went to McGill
McGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
and Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
for his postgraduate studies, which he completed in the 1970s.His dissertation is dated from 1975, the same year he
became curator at the Botanical Garden.
In 1975 he began teaching at his alma mater Université de Montréal, while simultaneously becoming curator at the Botanical Garden. He would remain at the University until his death, and at the garden for 21 years. As curator, his primary duty was directing research at the garden. His own research discussed the flora of Newfoundland (Gros Morne National Park
Gros Morne National Park
Gros Morne National Park is a world heritage site located on the west coast of Newfoundland. At , it is the second largest national park in Atlantic Canada ....
was the topic of his doctorate dissertation) and of southwestern Quebec. His creative use of notarized acts to study the evolution of Quebec forest since New France
New France
New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...
led to significant discoveries regarding the evolution of beech-maple forest
Beech-maple forest
A beech-maple forest is a climax mesic closed canopy hardwood forest. It is primarily composed of American Beech and Sugar Maple trees which co-dominate the forest and which are the pinnacle of plant succession in their range...
s.
Beyond scientific work, he rapidly known for his involvement in various environmental debates, 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. Over the years, he was involved in numerous other debates, such as those over the Boisé du Tremblay in Longueuil
Longueuil
Longueuil is a city in the province of Quebec, Canada. It is the seat of the Montérégie administrative region and sits on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River directly across from Montreal. The population as of the Canada 2006 Census totaled 229,330, making it the third largest city in...
, the Muir Forest in Hichinbrooke
Hichinbrooke, Quebec
Hinchinbrooke is a rural community in southwest Quebec, in the Châteauguay Valley. The population as of the Canada 2006 Census was 2,369.Hinchinbrooke shares municipal boundaries with Huntingdon, Godmanchester, Elgin, Ormstown, Franklin and the American border with Clinton, Chateaugay, and Burke in...
(now the Boisé-des-Muir Ecological Reserve
Boisé-des-Muir Ecological Reserve
Boisé-des-Muir Ecological Reserve is an ecological reserve of Quebec, Canada. It was established in 1995.-External links:* -References:...
) and, closer to home, the Little and Large Tea Field, two peat bogs in his native town of Saint-Anicet. He was also a member of the 2004 Commission Coulombe whose report was to define provincial forest exploitation policy. 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.
Having been a close collaborator of Pierre Bourque
Pierre Bourque
Pierre Bourque, CQ is a businessman and politician in Quebec, Canada. He founded the Vision Montreal political party and served as mayor of Montreal from 1994 to 2001.-Background:...
, he was named director of the Botanical Garden in 1994 when Bourque had to leave the position following his election as mayor. 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. 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. He also sat on the Montreal Heritage Council from 2006 to 2008, and the Centre hospitalier universitaire Sainte-Justine
Centre hospitalier universitaire Sainte-Justine
The Centre hospitalier universitaire Sainte-Justine is a pediatric university health centre affiliated with the Université de Montréal, located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada...
board of directors, as well as received prizes from the Quebec Association of Biologists (prix Georges-Préfontaine, 2005) and the Acfas
Acfas
Association francophone pour le savoir is the principal French-language learned society in Canada and, particularly, Quebec.The Acfas was founded in 1923 as the Association canadienne-française pour l'avancement des sciences . Its name was changed in 2001 to the Association francophone pour le...
(prix Michel-Jurdant for environmentalism, 1990).
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
Marie-Victorin
Brother Marie-Victorin was a De La Salle Christian Brother and botanist in Quebec, Canada, best known as the father of the Jardin botanique de Montréal....
. At the time of his death, he was working on books about southern Quebec wetland
Wetland
A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....
s and a biography of Marie-Victorin. A great admirer of the man, he had retraced Marie-Victorin's work in Cuba and organized an exposition on the topic at the Garden. A founding member of the local history
Local history
Local history is the study of history in a geographically local context and it often concentrates on the local community. It incorporates cultural and social aspects of history...
society of Saint-Anicet, he wrote several accounts of prominent locals such as Jules
Jules Léger
Jules Léger was a Canadian diplomat and statesman who served as Governor General of Canada, the 21st since Canadian Confederation....
and Paul-Émile Léger, whose families had local ties. He had also been heavily involved on two book projects on the local church and the municipality as a whole.
Bouchard died unexpectedly from heart attack on March 4, 2010, in Montreal's Central Station, a few months from his planned retirement. Bourque presented his condolences, and flags at the Botanical Garden were flown half-staff
Half-staff
Half-staff is the American term for to describe a flag flying a flag below the summit of the flagpole . The rest of the English-speaking world uses the term half-mast. Technically the flag should be flown one breadth lower to allow for the invisible flag of death...
for several days. He was married with three children. In June 2010, he was a granted a posthumous honoris causa doctorate from Université Laval
Université Laval
Laval University is the oldest centre of education in Canada and was the first institution in North America to offer higher education in French...
.
Selected publications
- Bouchard, André, and Paul F. Maycock. (1970) "A phytogeographical and phytosociological study of Viola rotundifolia in Eastern Canada." Canadian Journal of Botany. 48(12):2285-2302.
- ——————— (1970) The phytosociology of the northern conifer-hardwoods of the Appalachian foothills in Southern Quebec. M.Sc. Thesis, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.
- Auclair, Allan N., André Bouchard, and Josephine Pajaczkowski. (1973) "Plant composition and species relations on the Huntingdon Marsh, Québec." Canadian Journal of Botany 51(6):1231-1247.
- ——————— (1975) Natural Resources Analysis of a Section of the Gros Morne National Park, in Newfoundland, Canada. Ph.D. Thesis, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.
- Auclair, Allan N., André Bouchard and Josephine Pajaczkowski. (1976) "Productivity Relations in a Carex-Dominated Ecosystem." OecologiaOecologiaOecologia is an international peer-reviewed English-language journal published by Springer. The journal publishes original research in a range of topics related to plant and animal ecology....
26(1):9-31. - ———————, Stuart Hay and Ernest RouleauErnest RouleauErnest Rouleau was a Canadian botanist specialist of Eastern Canada flora, in particular that of Newfoundland. He studied under Marie-Victorin, of which he published the second, enlarged and revised edition of the Flore Laurentienne, and under Fernald, whose Gray's Manual of Botany he also revised...
. (1978) "The vascular flora of St-Barbe South District, Newfoundland: An interpretation based on biophysiographic areas." RhodoraRhodora (journal)Rhodora is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the New England Botanical Club. It is issued four times a year and was established in 1899. According to the Journal Citation Reports, its 2009 impact factor is 0.200. The editor-in-chief is Elizabeth Farnsworth .-External links:*...
80(822):228-308. - ———————, Denis Barabé, Madeleine Dumais and Stuart Hay. (1983) Les plantes vasculaires rares du Québec = The rare vascular plants of Québec. "Syllogeus", 48 . 79 p.
- ———————, Denis Barabé, Yves Bergeron, Madeleine Dumais and Stuart Hay. (1985) "La phytogéographie des plantes vasculaires rares du Québec." Le Naturaliste canadienLe Naturaliste CanadienLe Naturaliste Canadien is a Canadian French-language peer-reviewed scientific journal published semiannually by the Société Léon-Provancher d'Histoire Naturelle du Canada. The journal publishes articles on all topics of natural sciences with a specific focus on ecology and conservation biology in...
112(2):283-300. - ———————, Stéphan Dyrda, Yves Bergeron, and Alain Meilleur. (1989) "The use of notary deeds to estimate the changes in the composition of 19th century forests, in Haut-Saint-Laurent, Québec." Canadian Journal of Forest Research 19(9):1146-1150.
- ———————, Stuart Hay, Luc Brouillet, Martin Jean and Isabelle saucier. (1991) Les plantes vasculaires rares de l'Île de Terre-Neuve = The rare vascular plants of the Island of Newfoundland. "Syllogeus", 65. 165 p. ISBN 0-660-50311-5
- ——————— 1992. Journal de voyage en Chine. Une famille Québécoise au Pays du Milieu. Montréal: Méridien. 280 p. ISBN 2-89415-073-3
- Simard, Hélène, and André Bouchard. (1996) "The precolonial 19th century forest of the Upper St.Lawrence region of Quebec: a record of its exploitation and transformation through notary deeds of wood sales." Canadian Journal of Forest Research 26(9):1670-1676.
- ——————— and Francine Hoffman (1998) Le Jardin botanique de Montréal: esquisse d'une histoire. Saint-Laurent: Fides. 112 p. ISBN 2-7621-2057-8
- Charest, René, Luc Brouillet, André Bouchard, and Stuart Hay. (2000) "The vascular flora of Terra Nova National Park, Newfoundland, Canada: a biodiversity analysis from a biogeographical and life-form perspective." Canadian Journal of Botany. 78(5):629-645.
- ——————— and Martin Jean. (2001) "Historique d'un paysage de tourbières profondément transformé par l'homme" In Serge Payette and Line Rochefort (eds.). Écologie des tourbières du Québec-Labrador. Quebec City: Presses de l'Université Laval. pp. 389–398. ISBN 2-7637-7773-2
- Domon, Gérald, and André Bouchard. (2007) "The landscape history of Godmanchester (Quebec, Canada): two centuries of shifting relationships between anthropic and biophysical factors." Landscape Ecology 22(8):1201-1214.
- ———————, ed. (2007) Marie-Victorin à Cuba. Correspondance avec le frère Léon. Montréal: Presses de l'Université de Montréal. 217 p. ISBN 978-2-7606-2066-7
- ——————— (2007) "Sur le chemin de Marie-Victorin à Holguin, Cuba." Quatre-temps 31(3):8-12.
- Laliberté, Étienne, André Bouchard and Alain Cogliastro. (2008) "Optimizing hardwood reforestation in old fields: the effects of treeshelters and environmental factors on tree seedling growth and physiology." Restoration Ecology 16(2):270-280.
- ——————— (2008) "Sur le chemin de Marie-Victorin à la Punta de Maisí, Cuba." Quatre-temps 32(3):8-11.
- ——————— (2009) "Sur le chemin de Marie-Victorin à Trinidad et Topes de Collantes, Cuba." Quatre-temps 33(3):42-46.