Mont-Saint-Bruno National Park

The park is named after mount Saint-Bruno, whose namesake is Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, a municipality directly adjacent to the west flank of the mountain. The mount was known in the past as the "colline de Montarville" (hill of Montarville), from the name of the signory of Montarville. It was the establishment of the Saint-Bruno parish that provoked a gradual shift towards the current name. The parish itself was named as a tribute to the Bruneau family, its early financial contributors. == Geography ==

The park covers an area of . It comprises part of mont Saint-Bruno, one of the nine Monteregian Hills and is high. It is located about east of Montreal and is surrounded by the municipalities of Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, Sainte-Julie and Saint-Basile-le-Grand, all three belonging to the administrative region of Montérégie. approximately 124 million years ago, the Monteregian hills have been exposed to the elements by the progressive erosion of their paleozoic sedimentary layers, which are softer than their core of metamorphic and igneous rocks that typically form plutons. The massif's composition is mainly of peridotite accompanied by gabbro surrounded by shale and siltstone dating from the Ordovician (approximately 500 million years ago) and metamorphosed by the intrusion of magma. Terrain Mount Saint-Bruno is an inselberg that reaches in altitude, above a plain with an average altitude of . Its highest summits are situated on its north-eastern flank and form an ellipse around the "lac des Bouleaux" (Birch Lake). Its outer terrain gradually recedes towards the south-east and is punctuated by water-filled dips. Hydrography Despite its small size, the hydrographic network of the park is well developed. It comprises five lakes, one bog, two artificial ponds and many streams, all of them part of the Richelieu River watershed. The du Moulin, Seigneurial and des Bouleaux lakes are used for the municipal water supply of Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville. Although the mountain stands at only , the conditions on the summit are a bit harsher than at the bottom, which in consequence causes altitudinal zonation. As the altitude increases, the vegetation passes from sugar maple, bitternut hickory at the base, to northern red oak, sugar maple on the summit. == Biology and ecology ==

According to the ecological framework of Canada, the park is located in the ecoregion of the Saint-Lawrence lowlands. This region is the one that presents the most meridional climate of the Province. It is characterized by the presence of mixed forests dominated by the sugar maple, the yellow birch, the Canadian hemlock and the eastern white pine. Approximately 60% of the region is dedicated to intensive agriculture. Urbanization is also very important as it comprises Montréal, Québec City and Ottawa within its area. Flora The Mont-Saint-Bruno park is home to 574 plant species, 20% of the documented total in the province. Below of altitude, the park's forest is dominated by maple and bitternut hickory (). Between and , the forest is dominated by the sugar maple () together with the American tilia () or the red oak (). Also found in the park are the Canadian hemlock (), the American hophornbeam (), the yellow birch (), the moosewood () and the northern whitecedar (). 24 plan species found in the park are threatened species. Fauna Mammals The park is frequented by 38 species of mammals. The sole great mammal found in the park is the white-tailed deer (). The most common mammals are the eastern grey squirrel (), the white-footed mouse (), the eastern chipmunk () and the groundhog (). Three threatened species find home within the confines of the park, all of them bats: the silver-haired bat (), the hoary bat () and the eastern red bat (). Its amphibian population is composed of 14 (62% of the province's total) species, the eastern newt (), the spotted salamander (), the blue-spotted salamander (), the four-toed salamander (), the red-backed salamander (), the American toad (), the gray tree frog (), the spring peeper (), the wood frog (), the leopard frog (), the pickerel frog (), the green frog (), the mink frog () and the bullfrog (). Four of those species are threatened, the four-toed salamander, the pickerel frog, the northern map turtle and the ringneck snake. File:Eastern Garter Snake.jpg|Common garter snake File:Ambystoma laterale.jpg|Blue-spotted salamander File:Rana clamitans MN.jpg|Green frog Fishes 13 species of fish have been counted in the park's lakes, the pumpkinseed (), the smallmouth bass (), the yellow perch (), the white sucker (), the brown bullhead (), the golden shiner (), the common carp (), the black crappie (), the goldfish (), the bluntnose minnow (), the tessellated darter (), the rock bass () and the blacknose shiner (). File:YellowPerch.jpg|Yellow perch File:Pomoxis nigromaculatus1.jpg|Black crappie File:Ambloplites rupestris.jpg|Rock bass == History ==

at the Îles-de-Boucherville National Park. No trace of indigenous occupation has been found in the park. However, it is likely that the territory was occupied during the archaic period beginning at least years ago and continuing through the Sylvicole (1000 B.C. to 1500 A.D.) until the arrival of the French in the 16th century. The native indigenous culture associated with Mont-Saint-Bruno is that of the St. Lawrence Iroquoians, who disappeared around 1580. In 1710, the seigneury of Montarville was conceded to Pierre Boucher, son of the neighboring seigneur of Boucherville. However, it was 30 years before the seigneury began to develop, due to a lack of navigable waterways in close enough proximity. Contrary to other seigneuries of the Montreal region, the seigneury of Saint-Bruno used water rather than wind to power its mills, which at one point numbered five and were all built between 1725 and 1816. Their hydraulic power was harnessed for grinding wheat, tanning leather, carding and spinning wool and sawing wood. The sole mill that is still standing to this day is the grain mill, rebuilt in 1761 on the site of the first mill. In 1825, the Boucher family sold the seigneury to François-Pierre Bruneau, a lawyer from Montreal who in turn passed it to his cousin, Olivier-Théophile (who was the first professor of anatomy at McGill University in 1851. In 2001, the status of the park was modified, along with that of all other of Quebec's provincial park, to "parc national". In 2000, public hearings were conducted again with the aim of increasing the territory covered by the park from to by annexing land belonging to the city and the Department of National Defence, the latter comprising the summit of the mountain. Finally, on the 27th of July 2012, the government of Québec announced that the area of the park was to be increased to its limits established back in 2000. Limits over which the park had full administration rights, but were not officially part of its territory. This increase in land coverage included a mire and the main hills that the park was previously missing. A few more lots were again annexed to the park in 2013, giving it its current area. == Administration ==

As is the case for Quebec's other national parks (with the exception of Pingualuit and Kuururjuaq national parks, which are administered by Nunavik parks), the Mont-Saint-Bruno national park has been administered by the Société des établissements de plein air du Québec (SÉPAQ) since 1999. The SÉPAQ oversees the provision of activities and services as well as park protection and promotion. The exploitation of natural resources for forestry, mining or energy production is forbidden, as it is in any other of Quebec's parks, and so are hunting, trapping and poaching. The passage of gas or oil pipelines is also forbidden in all parks except for existing installations. The park shares its administration center with the Îles-de-Boucherville National Park, about to the west, where its offices are located. == Tourism ==

The park is frequented by around visitors yearly, In wintertime, cross-country skiing and hiking are the preferred activities. == See also ==