Environment

A municipality plays an important role in protecting and conserving the environment. The Municipality has set up several services that aim to highlight the natural environment: water, fauna, flora and landscapes. Here are the main environmental services offered by the municipality:

• Recovery Programs
• Management of lakes and rivers
• Identification and protection of wetlands
• Management of septic systems
• Control of nuisances
• Distribution of good practice guides

Definition of the shore

The shore is a strip of land that borders lakes, rivers and streams and extends inland from the high water mark. The width of the shore to be protected is measured horizontally.
The shoreline has a minimum of 10 meters:
– when the slope is less than 30%, or;
– when the slope is greater than 30% and has a slope of less than 5 meters in height.

The shoreline has a minimum of 15 meters:
– when the slope is continuous and greater than 30%, or;
– where the slope is more than 30% and has a slope of more than 5 meters in height.

Typical section of a stream showing the boundary of the shore and coastline

Waterways

Attention! Some ditches are now considered as waterways under article 103 of the Loi sur les compétences municipales. The law makes no distinction between regular or intermittent waterways and those created or modified by human intervention.

Consult the following PDF file for the definition of a waterway.

Vegetation of our shorelines

Our lakes and rivers are elements that play an essential role in our daily lives. They function as canals for surface water; Provide habitat, food and transportation for several organizations; Offer travel routes for exploration, trade and leisure; Leave expensive deposits of sediment; Provide power for the production of electric power; And create the majestic landscape that we so often associate with Canadian nature.

Source : Environnement Canada 2011-03-10

In 2011, the Brome-Missisquoi MRC launched the Virages Rivages project, shoreline nursery, to protect shoreline strips in the MRC’s municipalities.

Shoreline owners will benefit from this campaign to develop a management plan and revegetation of their shore. The nursery offers plants native to the shores of the region.

Visit the MRC website for all the details: 

For several years, we have heard of the Emerald Ash Borer, which is spreading in several regions of Quebec. It is a small beetle of metallic green color that attacks exclusively ash trees. In October 2016, following an inventory carried out by the MRC Brome-Missisquoi in several municipalities, the emerald ash borer was detected on the territory. Since then, several actions have been taken by the MRC to check the invasion.

To find out how to identify if your ash trees are infested, the actions to be taken as well as all relevant information on the subject, please visit the RCM’s website by clicking on the following link:

REMINDER: You must have a permit issued by the municipality before cutting or pruning a tree.