Friends of the Lac Saint-François Wildlife Reserve are using a new promotional tool, thanks to a series of video capsules produced by film maker André Desrochers, which combine the site’s ecological treasures with local legends.
These capsules are about four minutes long and can be accessed on the Friends of the Reserve web site (www.amisrnflacstfrancois.com) under the tab Hiking Trails. Their production was made possible thanks to a $20 000 grant from Environment and Climate Change Canada.
At a press conference at the Alfred-Langevin Cultural Hall, André Desrochers explained that these capsules are the prelude to an hour long film about the National Reserve and its legends.
The video capsules deal, in particular, with the Butternut tree, various species of ducks, raptors and wading birds and some are connected to local legends which are presented by story tellers, Benoit Loyer, Samuel Bleau, Alexandre Malo-Cyr and poet, Claude H. Vallée. The sound track was created by Jérôme Langlois who has already set music to a number of documentaries.
« The agreement was concluded last October and it took us 25 days of filming under difficult conditions in October and November in order to capture the migration of various species of birds, » explained André Desrochers, who also produced the documentary filmRi>La Saint-Louis, l’eau…culture rivière<@$p> about the rivière Saint-Louis.
These video capsules can also be viewed by visitors to the Reserve on panels that are installed at the beginning of the various hiking trails and fitted with QR codes to access the web site. « I believe these tools have the potential to make the reserve better known to people from outside the region by providing them with information about the richness of the area and encouraging them to visit, » indicated Jacques St-Georges, the Director General.
Improved infrastructure
These new facilities are part of various improvements that have been made to the National Wildlife Reserve since last summer: construction of a boardwalk along the Bay of Frogs, new sign posts, new geocoaching rallies with the loan of GPS equipment.
Packages are also available in collaboration with the Hôtel Plaza Valleyfield.
The Lac-Saint-François National Wildlife Reserve was created in 1978 by the Canadian Wildlife Service of Environment Canada to protect all of these wetlands and marshes that are unique to Québec and shelter a wide diversity of flora and fauna and rare species.
It is estimated that two thirds of migrating birds in Quebec make a stopover here annually. The Reserve officially welcomes some 3000 guests a year at the visitor centre, but this number could easily rise to 10 000 by including those with direct access to the hiking trails..
The Lac Saint-François National Wildlife Reserve
-Created in 1978 by the Federal Government
-14 km² of protected territory
-10 km of marked hiking trails
– Interpretive tours on foot or in kayaks
– More than 650 species of plants
-23 species of amphibians and reptiles
-237 species of birds
-35 species of mammals
-Located at 7600, chemin de la Pointe-Fraser, Dundee
Translated by Cathleen Johnston
