Caribou Protection | Waiting before acting is proposed again

The idea of ​​waiting even longer before adopting caribou protection measures is resurfacing in Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, to the chagrin of experts on the species.

The region’s sawmill owners are reportedly asking the Legault government to “freeze current timber supplies” for five years “in the hope of avoiding the implementation of the strategy. [de rétablissement du] caribou,” the newspaper reported. The Daily de Saguenay in its Monday issue.

This claim would be justified by a desire to further document the reasons for the decline of the caribou, according to The Dailydespite the conclusion of the Independent Commission on Woodland and Mountain Caribou, which ruled last August that knowledge on the subject is sufficient and the solutions known.

The Commission’s finding is “not true” in the eyes of forest engineer Caroline Lavoie, of the Lac-Saint-Jean Scierie, for whom it is “certain” that the information on the situation of the caribou is insufficient. , she told The Press.

This speech made Quebec caribou experts jump, “one of the most studied species in Canada”, underlines Martin-Hugues St-Laurent, professor of animal ecology at the University of Quebec in Rimouski (UQAR).

“It’s a tactic used by the industry to try to slow down the conservation process as much as possible,” adds Daniel Fortin, professor of biology at Laval University.

Questioning knowledge about caribou is the same strategy that oil and tobacco companies have used to deny the harmful effects of their products, Quebec caribou experts lament.

Waiting five years could be fatal for several caribou herds, says Fanie Pelletier, professor in the biology department at the University of Sherbrooke.

“In the Gaspésie park, we went from about 180 animals in 2007 to 85 in 2011, she illustrates. All these delays can therefore, unfortunately, compromise the chances of success of future conservation strategies. »

Meeting with Minister Laforest

The request for a “moratorium” is not, however, shared by all the players in the industry, show the testimonies collected by The Press.

A dozen forestry companies met Monday morning with the Minister of Municipal Affairs, Andrée Laforest, who is responsible for the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region, and the regional deputies – all CAQ members – to share their grievances.

The multinational Resolute Forest Products, which took part, is calling for the volumes of wood allocated to it to be maintained for the next five years, but claims not to have asked for the postponement of the caribou recovery strategy, indicated to The Press Louis Bouchard, Senior Director of Corporate Government Affairs.

Mr. Bouchard called for an overhaul of the forest regime.

The meeting was a “discussion on the future of the forest industry in the region”, explained to The Press Jean-François Samray, President and CEO of the Quebec Forest Industry Council, who also denies having “reiterated the request for a moratorium [qui avait été] put forward by certain industrialists during the Caribou Commission”.

“It was a much broader discussion” about the constraints and “lack of predictability” affecting the industry, Samray said.

The regional county municipalities (MRC), whose prefects also attended the meeting, also criticize Quebec for not having a plan for the forest industry, declared to The Press that of the MRC du Domaine-du-Roy, Yanick Baillargeon.

He also claims not to have asked for a moratorium on the implementation of caribou protection measures.

Deficient logging

The forest industry has “many problems” and uses caribou as a “scapegoat”, says Marco Festa-Bianchet, director of the biology department at the University of Sherbrooke.

The increase in forest fires that will come with climate change will reduce the volume of wood available, a factor neglected in Quebec forest planning, illustrates Martin-Hugues St-Laurent.

He also mentions the decrease in global demand for newsprint, which will lead to mill closures, or the need to preserve old forests “for all the other ecological functions that have nothing to do with caribou”.

“Caribou, not caribou, our way of exploiting the forest cannot continue like this,” he says. As long as we’re dangling to factory workers that there’s a doubt [sur les véritables causes], we are going to slow down the moment when we are going to initiate a transition of this economy to make these people work. »