Gault Nature Reserve (Mont Saint-Hilaire)

Gault Nature Reserve owes its existence to an exceptional legacy: Brigadier Andrew Hamilton Gault, an English-born resident of Montreal who passed away in 1958, donated his Mount Saint-Hilaire property to McGill University that same year, creating one of Quebec's most important natural research stations. This early protection enabled the preservation of exceptional forest remnants of the Saint Lawrence Valley: some trees in the reserve are several centuries old, the oldest being 500-year-old eastern white cedars inhabiting the Dieppe Cliff, while rare oak summit forests crown some of the four peaks that dominate Hertel Lake at the mountain's center, with Sugar Loaf Peak reaching 415 metres. This exceptional ecological richness led Mount Saint-Hilaire to be designated in 1978 as Canada's first Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO under its international "Man and the Biosphere" program, a recognition that underscores the rare balance achieved between rigorous conservation and continuous scientific research activities. A refuge for migratory birds since 1960, the reserve is home to more than 185 bird species, attracting amateur ornithologists and researchers to its 25-kilometre network of trails open year-round, where views from the summits also offer opportunities to observe turkey vultures gliding above the surrounding Montérégie plain.