June 2010

Some of the new measures ensue from a recommendation stemming from the Coulombe Report in 2004, in the effect "that the ecosystem-based management is in the heart of the management of the public forests" (Bergeron Y., S. Gauthier, M.-A. Vaillancourt, on 2008). This renewal calls up to a perceptible mobilization at the scale of the country.

The ecosystem-based management is inspired by natural processes to assure the viability of the forest ecosystems as well as the preservation of their integrity and their biodiversity. Through the strategy of forest management, this approach aims at reproducing the natural processes such as the cycle of fires, that of the epidemics of insects and chablis. The adoption of practices inspired by the natural processes to which the botanical and animal species are adapted, has to allow to minimize the losses to the biodiversity plan. Concretely, the ecosystem-based management rests on the adoption of adapted silvicultural practices, on the preservation of constituents of the residual forests and the network of protected areas.

The ecosystem-based management base its geographical characterization by isolating on the inventoried territory, the surfaces where prevail similar ecological conditions. In Quebec, these surfaces correspond to the homogeneous units. The map of the homogeneous grouped together units (Grondin and al., on 2010) at the right, give a reference for the boreal forest in Quebec. The grouping concerned 43 homogeneous units and allowed to isolate 14 different groups.

At first, we have to establish the current distances between the natural forest and that actualy managed by man, compared to its structure and to its composition. The preindustrial forest is the reference landscape held to establish the attributes of the natural forest. A historical pageant of this last one allows to inform the elements of the ecological dynamics of the various homogeneous territorial units met in Quebec. The moderate distances will allow to inform the following ecological stakes : The proportion of mature and outmoded forests;the presence of died wood under various forms, the inner structure of forests, the vegetable composition of forests, the spatial organization of forests, the housing environment of the fauna and vegetable species sensitive to the forest interventions.

Two types of disturbances are in distinguished ; those that drag a renovation of the forest such as the fire and the cuttings, and those who accompany its ageing such as the epidemics and chablis. The attributes appropriate for the mature and outmoded forests include the presence of died wood on the ground or in the form of stubs, an irregular internal structure and a particular vegetable composition. The proportion of mature and outmoded forests conditions thus directly some some of the other ecological stakes named higher and indirectly, the housing environment of certain fauna and vegetable species.

The small proportion of mature and outmoded forests been a part of the distinctive characteristics of the fitted out forests. The too short cycles of harvest in these last ones, do not generally allow to reach the stage of absolute maturity or senesence. So, forests overtake only rarely on the 100 years of age as it is observed more frequently in natural forest. The graph at the right gives a comparable between a forest evolving according to a cycle of fires of 100 years and the other one according to a cycle of fires of 300 years.

The ecosystem-based management of boreal forest in Quebec still rests only on very recent knowledge. Already, these last ones reveal the very complex character of the natural ecosystems. The development of ecosystem-based type has to lean on silvicultural strategies the diverse interventions of which get organized to answer most adequately possible for the diverse objectives held further to a prioritisation of the ecological stakes. It is also necessary to establish a program of environmental follow-up within the framework of such projects. It is essential in pursuit of the objectives of ecosystem-based management.

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The ecosystem-based management of boreal forest in Quebec

The ecosystem-based management concept is relatively recent in Quebec. Its gradual setting-up joins in the renewal of the forest practices to answer more adequately the ecological concerns inherent to the concept of sustainable forest development, which contains legal fondations in the law on forests.

Homogeneous units grouped together of the boreal forest in Quebec

Source of the cartographic data :

Comparaison des paysages forestiers naturels du sud de la forêt boréale du Québec à des fins d’aménagement écosystémique (MRNF, 2010)

Description of the grouped together homogeneous units

Here is a summary description of the grouped together homogeneous units. For more details, refer to the report no 158 of the forest research direction (DRF) at the Ministry of natural resources and the fauna (MRNF).

• ROE-t7 : Black spruce forests on sphagnum moss of Abitibi
• ROE-t5 : Black spruce forests with poplar forgery-aspen of Abitibi
• ROE-t3 : Black spruce forests on mosses of Reservoir Gouin
• ROE-t6 : Western grey Pine forests of the lake Mistassini
• RCE-t : Black spruce forests and moors of the Reservoir Manicouagan
• MOB-t : White birch forests of the lake Saint-Jean and of Abitibi
• MOB-s : Fir plantations with black spruce of the northwest of the lake Saint-Jean
• REE-m : Black spruce forests with fir and moors of North-Coast
• REE-t : Black spruce forests with fir of North-Coast
• MES-s : Fir forests with black spruce of the north bank of the Saint-Lawrence
• MES-t4 : Fir forests of high height of the fauna reserves of the Laurentian and the Gaspesie
• MES-t6 : Fir forests of the Anticosti Island
• MES-m2 : Fir forests with low-lying white birch of the Gaspesie
• MES-m3 : Fir forests with low-lying white birch of the fauna reserve of the Laurentian and of Charlevoix

Population structure according to the cycle of fire

Source :

Les recettes de Dame Nature (Lecomte, 2008)

References

Aménagement écosystémique en forêt boréale (PUL, 2008) Comparaison des paysages forestiers naturels du sud de la forêt boréale du Québec à des fins d’aménagement écosystémique (MRNF, 2010) Les recettes de Dame Nature (Lecomte, 2008)