Le Nichoir Executive Director Susan Wylie, (left) Vaudreuil-Soulanges MP Peter Schiefke, Vaudreuil MNA Marie-Claude Nichols and Vaudreuil-Soulanges Prefect Jean Lalonde cut the ribbon on Le Nichoir’s new wild bird conservation centre last week. (Photo: Kristina Edson)
Centuries old barn a thing of the past
Le Nichoir’s new $980,000 wild bird conservation centre officially opened its doors Friday during a well attended ribbon cutting ceremony. The open, bright state-of-the-art 560 square metre building that features a bird clinic, a nursery, a wet room that can house aquatic birds, as well as a specially designed kitchen where foods like crickets, blueberries and worms will be prepared, was open for guests to explore during the Nov. 4 event. Le Nichoir Executive Director Susan Wylie said the opening brings to a close a total $1.2 million three-phase project that included the building of a multi-chamber bird aviary, the creation and implementation of educational programming, as well as the new main building. With everything complete, staff and team of volunteers will be able to get back to doing what they do best, she noted. “This now allows us to operate year-round,” Wylie said, referencing Le Nichoir’s dated former structure that saw the non-profit housed in an unheated centuries old barn. Le Nichoir helps an average 1,600 sick or injured birds each year, releasing them back into the wild. As many as 3,000 people visit the centre annually. Many credit a strong base of supporters for the fact that $650,000 of the building’s total $980,000 price tag came from private donations. Rounding things out was provincial funding, something Vaudreuil MNA Marie-Claude Nichols said she worked very hard to secure. “We were able to get $245,000 in joint funding,” Nichols noting, adding, “this is a really important facility in Canada.” The Vaudreuil-Soulanges MRC donated $30,000. Le Nichoir was started in 1994 by Lynn Miller, PhD, Lise Sylvestre, Denise Paquette and Janette Fauque.
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