Portrait of the park

History of Parc national du Mont-Mégantic

The modern vocation of Mont Mégantic took shape in the 1960s. During this time, Université de Montréal, having recognized that the summit of Mont Mégantic was a perfect place for observing the sky, rented land from the Québec government on which the Mont-Mégantic Observatory was built.

The observatory began research operations in the spring of 1978. This observatory inspired the park’s theme, From the Earth to the Stars. The same year, a proposal was made to protect Mont Mégantic and make it a conservation park. This idea became a reality 16 years later.

In 1984, the Department of Leisure, Hunting and Fishing gave a grant to the Mont Mégantic skiing and hiking club (which later became Sentiers Mont-Mégantic) to develop a network of trails south of the mountain and to build a reception cabin and some huts. In addition, faced with the threat of major logging operations in the area, the government acquired a forest concession that was still active.

On June 16, 1994, the efforts of local and regional authorities led to the creation of Parc national du Mont-Mégantic, whose mission would be to protect this unique mountainous area. Many interpretive natural and astronomy activities were then developed to complement the outdoor activities already being offered.

The Park’s Natural Heritage

Parc national du Mont-Mégantic was created to protect the geological, wildlife and floristic characteristics of the natural region of border mountains for the benefit of current and future generations. The Mont Mégantic Massif is unique because it is home to forest stands that are rare in Québec and the region because it’s part of the family of Montérégian mountains, and because of its astronomy vocation.

Made up of an imposing massif of 1,105 m in altitude, and surrounded by steep-sided ridges, soft hills and a deep valley, the mountainous terrain of Parc national du Mont-Mégantic is quite unique in Québec in terms of its shape.

Vegetation is an important natural component of the massif, especially because of the scarcity of certain species. It is diverse, and includes sugar maple and yellow birch at the base of the mountain, balsam fir and yellow birch a little further up, and balsam fir-mountain wood sorrel in the higher regions where the weather conditions are more severe. On the intermediate summits, fir-red spruce stands are found, a plant combination that is rare in Québec. There are also rare species that have arctic-alpine characteristics, such as the Northern gentian (Gentiana amarella) and the highland rush (juncus trifidus).

Adapted to the mountain’s harsh climatic conditions, a wide variety of animals evolve in this natural environment. There are about 20 mammal species, including the moose, the white-tailed deer, the black bear, and the bobcat, very rare at this latitude. There are also more than 125 boreal bird species, including the Canada Jay (Perisoreus canadensis) and Bicknell’s Thrush (Catharus bicknelli), a species with limited distribution.

The Cultural Heritage of the Park

Starting in 10,000 BC, shrublands began springing up in the tundra. First came coniferous and mixed forests, and then, around, 8,000 BC, maple and yellow birch began to populate the valleys and mountainsides. Since then, the area’s forest landscape has changed very little. In this natural context, the Amerindians of the region roamed the land.

The Mont Mégantic area was one of the last parts of southern Québec to be colonized. It was mostly populated through the Repatriation Act of 1875, which encouraged French Canadians in exodus to move there. The region then had an agricultural and forestry vocation, which slowly declined starting in the 1960s.

At the end of the 19th century, rapid deforestation left the crops and buildings exposed to winds so violent that the local priest decided to erect a cross on the summit of Mont Saint-Joseph to obtain protection from heaven. Following “favours received”, a few years later, a chapel was built on this magnificent site, the second-highest summit in the massif (1,065 m). This spot became a major place of pilgrimage, where the tradition of Sunday mass still continues today.