CHRIS LOWREY
PONTIAC Sept. 19, 2018
A survey being conducted by a McGill University PhD student wants to know how your life is improved by nature.
Dalal Hanna is an ecologist in McGill’s Department of Natural Resources Sciences and the study is her brainchild.
It aims to find out how people benefit from nature in the Municipality of Pontiac and Bristol.

Although the survey looks at those regions specifically, anyone who has spent time outside in those two municipalities can fill it out.
“I do research on freshwater ecosystem services,” Hanna said. “So that’s a fancy word [for] the different ways that people benefit from freshwater systems. So that’s everything from the fact that freshwater ecosystems provide us with water for drinking or it’s a place where a dam is put in place to produce hydro power or it’s a place where fish live.”
The Municipality of Pontiac and Bristol provide a unique snapshot in terms of land ownership. It contains a mix of land ownership that includes individuals, Hydro Quebec, both provincial and municipal governments, industries and the Nature Conservancy of Canada.
One major goal of the survey is to find ways to provide better access for people to freshwater ecosystems.
The survey will wrap up at the end of the month, but could be extended based on the responses.
You can fill out the survey at the following link: https://surveys.mcgill.ca/ls/survey/index/sid/793997/newtest/Y/lang/en