Les milieu d’eau profonde, humides et forestiers riverains de la Forêt d’enseignement et de recherché du lac Duparquet

Since the 80’s, a great number of studies have been conducted and more than 200 documents have been published about forest ecology at the Lake Duparquet Research and Teaching Forest (FERLD). Nevertheless, except for the riparian ecosystems, no study has been done on the ecology and management of deepwater and wetland ecosystems, even if the FERLD is located in one of the regions where wetlands are the most abundant in the province of Quebec. In 2007, when the FERLD started to elaborate its new ecosystem management plan, the idea to include a zoning of deepwater, wetland and riparian ecosystems came up in order to consider these habitats in forest operations and to integrate them in high conservation value forests for the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification. The required activities for this project included: (i) the mapping and classification of the deepwater, wetland, riparian ecosystems of the FERLD using aerial photos and a recently developed classification system; (ii) the identification of ecological and socio-economic issues associated with these ecosystems, and (iii) the elaboration of a framework for the protection and enhancement of these ecosystems considering the pre-existing conservation zone at the FERLD and its enlargement project. Our results show that deepwater, wetland and riparian ecosystems are important components of this forested landscape, covering 40.1 % of the FERLD (93 km2). Deepwater and conifer swamps are the most well represented ecosystems. The beaver (Castor canadensis) is abundant in the study area. The 458 beaver dams found (active/inactive) modified nearly the two thirds of the stream ecosystems. However, the modified areas are relatively small with an average of 0.64 ha. The project provided us an occasion to document the presence of the longest beaver dam ever found in Quebec (437 meters long), located in an area highly claimed for mining activities.

Meunier, G., M.C. LeBlanc, M. Darveau, C.M. Bouchard et L. Imbeau. 2009. Les milieu d’eau profonde, humides et forestiers riverains de la Forêt d’enseignement et de recherché du lac Duparquet. Rapport technique no Q16, Canards Illimités Canada – Québec, Québec. 84 p.