Ecomuseum

The St. Lawrence Valley Natural History Society (SLVNHS) was founded in 1981 by McGill University professor Dr. John Roger Bider. A visionary of those times in his perception of the need to educate children about the environment, Dr. Bider envisioned a society where every individual respected and protected the environment. To make that dream a reality he opened the Ecomuseum zoo in 1988 as the main focus of the Society’s environmental education, research, and conservation activities. Although a rather modest installation at first, it was through the sheer determination of Dr. Bider and the support of a founding committee he recruited that the zoo came to be. He then went on to dedicate the next seventeen years of his life to the zoo. Through his work and that of staff and countless volunteers through the years, the Ecomuseum zoo is today a unique and exceptional organization that continues to build on his legacy.

The Ecomuseum zoo is located on an 11.3 hectare site originally considered prime wetland that was unfortunately used as a landfill in the early 1960s when highway 40 was extended westward. Since its opening and throughout its development, the Ecomuseum zoo has been, and still is, restoring the original beauty of the site by giving it all the attention and protection it needs.

In 1989, the Ecomuseum began offering its first education programs on site, as well as off-site outreach activities. In 1992, the first official administrative and education building was erected on the site to provide basic services to visitors, present a few indoor exhibitions of small animals and provide premises for running educational activities. Substantial progress has since been made with the living collections and outdoor exhibits, and the area used for the public from 1988 to 1991 is now reserved for animal-care facilities only and not accessible to visitors. In 1996, the Ecomuseum opened to the public in the winter for the first time; since then, it has remained open 364 days a year and is closed only on December 25^th

In 2000, an extension was built onto the main education building, adding more space for educational activities and customer services, a lunchroom for visitors, and larger areas for public services, administration and additional indoor exhibits. In 2002, a first large indoor exhibition for fish, amphibians, reptiles and small nocturnal animals was opened in this building.

With now over 100,000 visitors annually and nearly 1.5 million people having visited the zoo since it opened, the Ecomuseum zoo remains a private, nonprofit charitable organization whose mission is centered on the preservation of Québec’s wildlife and flora through recreational visits, entertaining environmental education programs, as well as active field research and conservation programs.

The Ecomuseum zoo’s operations are not subsidized. They are covered by admissions and other revenues, whereas the renewal and development of its infrastructures depends primarily on donations and fundraising activities.

The zoo is also one of only 27 institutions proudly accredited in Canada by the Canadian Association of Zoos and Aquariums (CAZA), an independent organization which holds the mandate to ensure that its accredited institutions comply with quality standards for animal care, education, research and conservation activities, as well as management and ethics.

The public can visit the Ecomuseum or take part in its many educational activities, both on site or off, throughout the year. With over 40,000 young people benefiting from its education programs every year, the Ecomuseum is clearly one of Canada’s most effective zoos in terms of environmental education for children.

As a tribute to its strong involvement in research and conservation for the protection of wildlife, the Ecomuseum zoo was presented, in October of 2011, with the Thomas R. Baines Award by the Canadian Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Representing the most prestigious award offered nationally by CAZA, the Thomas R. Baines Award highlights an outstanding achievement by a Canadian accredited zoo or aquarium, and is currently the highest honour that can be bestowed on such an institution in this industry in Canada.

The award was presented to the Ecomuseum zoo for its body of work, many achievements, and intensive involvement in the field of research and conservation for the protection of the reptiles and amphibians of Québec over the last twenty-three years.