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Natural resource management on the territory of Réserve faunique Mastigouche is a responsibility of the government, more specifically of the Ministère de la Forêt, de la Faune et des Parcs (ministry of forests, wildlife, and parks, or MFFP) and the Ministère de l’Énergie et des ressources naturelles (ministry of energy and natural resources, or MERN). Given the specific nature of wildlife reserves, they were given a “multiple modulated" vocation under the government’s Plans d’affectation du territoire public régionaux (regional public land use plans, or RPLUP), a vocation defined as the “multipurpose use of land and resources, with procedures or rules adapted to specific environmental, landscape, cultural, social, or economic conditions” (our translation). In other words, the management and use of natural resources, including forests and wildlife, must be carried out in an integrated manner by the government, i.e. taking into account all resources on the territory as well as the legal vocation of conserving and showcasing the fauna of the wildlife reserve.
In this regard, the forest of Réserve faunique Mastigouche is exploited by designated holders of timber supply guarantees (DHTSG), i.e. forestry companies having a harvest agreement with the MFFP, based on forestry planning under the auspices of the MFFP since April 1, 2013. The Ministère is now in charge of developing tactical and operational integrated forest management plans (IFMP) at the scale of each management unit, taking into consideration, in particular, the allowable cut calculation carried out by the Chief Forester, work from local integrated resources tables and territory management tables (LIRTMT), the orientations and objectives pursued by the Government to the Regional Public Land Use Plans (PATP), the objectives of sustainable forest management as set out in the Law Sustainable Forest Management (LADTF), as well as the sustainable forest development objectives stipulated in the Sustainable Forest Development Act (SFDA). In the wake of this exercise, discussions are underway involving Sépaq, the MFFP, and representatives of forestry companies (DHTSG) aimed at integrating into forestry planning and interventions various measures or procedures designed to minimize conflicts of use and impacts on the wildlife and landscape, as well as on the environment in which recreational and wildlife-related activities are carried out in wildlife reserves.
In order to equip wildlife reserve managers in terms of integrated wildlife-forest-recreation forestry management and to guide the MFFP in harmonizing forestry planning for these unique territories so that the different types of forestry interventions are more predictable, better adapted, and more likely to help fulfil the particular vocation of wildlife reserves, Sépaq has carried out a number of so-called IRM (integrated resource management) projects.
Consult the list of completed projects (in French only)
Two sites have been developed for waterfowl by Ducks Unlimited on Lac Jimmy and Lac Bourassa. The original biodiversity of several bodies of water has been restored. This action was made necessary by the presence of species competing with speckled trout. Spectacular gains in fishing attest to the success of these projects.
As well, spawning grounds have been developed or cleaned in about ten bodies of water and a moose inventory was carried out in 2005. There was a total population of 818 animals for a density of 5.2 animals/10 km2.
This research forest is just at the entrance to Réserve faunique Mastigouche, at km 1 of Route 1 by the Pins-Rouges Registration Centre. It covers 136.2 hectares and is mainly used to improve forest trees.
A research forest is a portion of public land reserved exclusively for research and experimental purposes. It is an ideal site for research and experimentation because its experimental facilities are legally protected. With a land area of at most 500 hectares, a research forest is set aside from forest reserves or forest management units under section 107 of the Forest Act. The only forest management activities that are permitted are those relating to research or experimental purposes. If a research forest is located in a forest area that belongs to a forest management unit, the minister must obtain consent from the beneficiary of the timber supply and forest management agreement (CAAF) or the forest management agreement (CtAF) for the management unit in question. Each research forest is reserved at the Register of the domain of the State (RDS). The network encompasses over 600 research forests.
Réserve faunique Mastigouche has two types of protected areas on its territory: an ecological reserve, Marie-Jean-Eudes, the strictest category of protected areas, and also a planned biodiversity reserve, Basses-Collines-du-Lac-au-Sorcier, which is much more extensive in its level of protection.
Category Ia: A protected area administered mainly for science and the protection of nature.
A land or sea area that has ecosystems, geological or physiographic features, or remarkable or representative species and is administered for scientific research purposes and continuous monitoring of the environment.
About 30 kilometres northwest of Saint-Gérard-des-Laurentides, in the unorganized territory of Maskinongé regional county municipality, the Marie-Jean-Eudes ecological reserve covers an area of 845 hectares north of Lac Shawinigan.
This ecological reserve ensures the protection of ecosystems that are representative of the Middle Laurentians ecological region in the Mauricie area. This region falls within the range of sugar maple - yellow birch forests.
The sector has a hilly relief. Its altitude rises from 335 metres, near Lac Shawinigan, to around 425 metres, in the northwest portion. The territory belongs to the Middle Laurentians. Its bedrock is composed mainly of gneiss, these being rocks of Precambrian origin. On these rocks, the last ice age left a layer of sandy till that is thick on the slopes and thinner toward the summits. There is also fluvioglacial sand and gravel in the valley bottoms and recent peat bog deposits in poorly drained depressions. The soils are mainly dystric brunisols and humoferric podzols.
On the territory of the Marie-Jean-Eudes ecological reserve, there are almost equal areas of mainly deciduous and mainly coniferous stands. The first group includes sugar maple - yellow birch forests that occupy the exposed southern and western slopes. Maple - yellow birch - beech stands have colonized zones above 400 metres in altitude. The second group includes four stable forest stands: black spruce; balsam fir - black spruce; black spruce - white pine; and balsam fir - yellow birch.
The ecological reserve was named in honour of Sister Marie-Jean-Eudes (Marie-Bernadette Tellier) (1897-1978). She was a botanist and considered to have pioneered study of the natural sciences in Québec. For over 30 years, she strove to popularize science through the Cercle des jeunes naturalistes. She also published several articles in biology, geology, and especially botany.
Category III: A protected area administered mainly for the purpose of preserving specific natural features.
An area containing one or more special natural or natural/cultural features that are unique or exceptionally important and that deserve to be protected because of their rarity, representativeness, aesthetic qualities, or intrinsic cultural importance.
The planned biodiversity reserve of Basses-Collines-du-Lac-au-Sorcier is partly in the Lanaudière administrative region and partly in the Mauricie administrative region. It is located around 30 km east of the municipality of Saint-Michel-des-Saints. The Attikamekw community of Manawan is around 80 km from the planned biodiversity reserve. The reserve covers an area of 191.1 km². Its western portion is in the Baie-de-la-Bouteille unorganized territory of Matawinie regional county municipality. Its eastern portion is on the territory of Saint-Alexis-des-Monts parish of Maskinongé regional county municipality.
In this planned protected area, we will still be able to engage in hunting, fishing, and trapping activities. It will be prohibited, however, to engage in mining, gas, or oil development, as well as forest management as defined by section 3 of the Forest Act (R.S.Q., c. F-4.1), waterpower, or commercial or industrial energy production.
Source: Department of Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks
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