Montreal has closed off an urban forest in Notre Dame de Grace, but locals are fighting to keep it open.
In November, the city of Montreal announced it would be closing a portion of the Falaise escarpment in the N.D.G. neighbourhood of St-Raymond, saying it was unsafe. It’s a stretch of forest running by the railway tracks along Highway 20.
The area is not part of the official Falaise Grand Park, which surrounds the area and was created in 2018, but local residents and volunteers have been maintaining paths, clearing garbage, and using this unofficial bit of urban green space 2015. These citizens believe management of this area should stay within the community, and that closing it off is an overreach of the city. They have been campaigning for the area to open back up.
