Renaissance Lac Brome members
demonstrated a great deal of integrity.
Beaudoin described Decelles as a person with a lot of faith and temerity to personally advance the funds to acquire an immense and extraordinary wetland area which today is known as the Quilliams-durrell Nature Reserve. It was Decelles, along with three other like-minded environmentalists who founded Brome Lake Land Foundation which now owns over 500 acres of preserved land in the Brome Lake watershed. He remained an active member until his death in 2014. Beaudoin said that typical to his personality and commitment to the natural surroundings, Decelles kept a close eye on all the properties owned by the BLBF as if they were his own until the end of his life.
According to Beaudoin, Decelles was active in all the major files related to the environment including urbanization projects started in 1987, the condos at 400 Lakeside, the Inverness condos, navigation buoys on the lake, management of the Foster dam and other conservation projects such as the protection of wetlands.
A strong community-man, Decelles, in his years prior to becoming a permanent resident of TBL, began his social involvement in Longueuil - from 1974 to 1978 - as a municipal councillor with a specific interest in municipal parks and the city’s open-air spaces. “His interest in public spaces continued at Brome Lake where he did volunteer work on the trails for the millennium project at Coldbrook Park and then at Call’s Mills and the Veterans’ Park.”
Edward A. Whitcher
Since the early 1900’s the Whitcher family has owned a major tract of land in Foster at the limits of TBL and West Bolton. They have farmed that land for four generations. The 100-acre farm where Whitcher now lives dates back to 1875. It is from there that in years gone by, chickens and fresh eggs from the farm were delivered to Knowlton.
This year Renaissance Brome Lake wanted to pay tribute to the remarkable contribution of Mr. Edward (Eddy) Whitcher and his family to the water quality of the lake’s major tributary, Quilliams Brook.
Known as reserved and humble, Richards described Edward (Eddie) Witcher as a person who prefers to stay in the background, but he is always ready to help. “He would like to leave his mark as a responsible farmer who is very involved in his community, a proud promoter of local and cooperative agriculture, despite the many challenges this faces in our sector. He is probably one of the last of his kind.
Pierre Beaudoin, Secretary of Renaissance Lac-brome posthumously awarded Micheline Croteau in hounour of her husband, Marc Decelle, for his lifetime committment to protecting the quality of water in Brome Lake and its watershed. Over the last century, the ‘real farmers’ in the Brome Lake watershed have declined in numbers from several hundred to about a hundred”.
Richards said that nine years ago Whitcher and RLB joined forces when their initial partnership involved stabilizing certain sections of the Quilliams Brook plain. “This effort led the way to a major three-year undertaking from 2015 to 2017. “
The year 2015 was particularly busy with the planting of several thousand shrubs on Whitcher land. At this point Eddy agreed to enlarge the shore bank strip to between 5 and 8 metres, even though the bylaw demanded only 3 metres. Eddy was present throughout the entire re-naturalization and bank stabilization process. He accompanied contractors and took an active part in the soil preparation work himself.
On behalf of RLB and the entire TBL community Richards along with president of RLB, Hélène Drouin, thanked Witcher for his involvement in improving “our” living environment and for being so enthusiastically available with whole-hearted support of the partnership that made the shoreline restoration project of Quilliams’ Creek possible.