Montreal/Mont-Royal

Mont-Royal, also known as "the mountain", is Montreal's largest greenspace.

Conservation policy

There's a recent trend of blocking off smaller trails "for nature conservation". This is a terribly misguided decision, when you consider the bigger ecological picture.

The mountain needs trails of all sizes - not just big paved ones, but small organic ones too, for people to really feel close to nature. (...)( Also, walking only on paved surfaces may cause repetitive strain; there are health benefits of varying the terrain. ) If people can't get that experience here, they'll find it by driving 50 to 200 km outside Montreal - which is MUCH worse for the environment.

Rural Quebec has thousands of times more nature to conserve; Mont-Royal is a tiny dot on the map (see video clip), where all the people are concentrated.

Walkability is a key part of making cities green; To maximize walkability, we need to fit as many experiences as we can in one city. The mountain should be optimized for human enjoyment. Rural nature should be optimized for conservation.

It's sad to see misguided environmentalism turn out to be worse than no environmentalism.