When the historic Lake Tamaracouta Scout Camp was put up for sale in 2021 without giving the first right of refusal to the nearby City of Mille-Isles, members of the local Association du Lac Tamaracouta immediately became concerned that the lake’s next owner wouldn’t have its environmental well-being, or its essential role connecting youth to nature, at heart. Thanks to their quick response, and with the Legacy Fund for the Environment’s assistance, these citizens engaged in a five-year battle that culminated in the sale of the lake property — not to a tourism entrepreneur, but to the Nature Conservancy of Canada.
Working side-by-side with the Green Coalition, the Legacy Fund for the Environment helped finance legal research into the opposition of an unregulated sale. The Legacy Fund also helped establish a non-profit organization in January 2021: Les Partenaires du Lac Tamaracouta et de ses environs, which then joined forces with the Association du Lac Tamaracouta to advocate for the ongoing preservation of the land.
In the summer of 2025, this difficult struggle culminated in an inspiring success. The Tamaracouta Lake Scout Park was sold—not to a cottage-building company, but to a developer who agreed to sell 82 % — 299 hectares — of the land to Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) and the local municipality of Mille-Îles.
NCC acquired 122 hectares of this historic site dedicated to conservation. The municipality acquired 177 hectares (under a conservation easement held by NCC), dedicated to outdoor education. Just over one hectare is set to become a tourist attraction managed by the entrepreneur who originally purchased the land. Éco-corridors Laurentiens is joining all stakeholders to assist in preparing a long-term master plan for the area.
This is a huge victory for environmental protection, for nature education, and for those exceptional citizens who fought for over six years to preserve the incredible Tamaracouta Lake Scout Camp.
In 2026, Charlie MacLeod, co-president of the Green Coalition, was awarded a prize for his work preserving Lake Tamaracouta for the sake of the plants, animals, and humans that call it home.
Les dons sont toujours les bienvenus pour financer nos cas et nous encourageons les bénévoles à nous rejoindre, quels que soient leur contribution et le temps qu’ils y consacrent.
