The cohabitation between the different forest users is not always easy. When there is disagreement, outdoor enthusiasts can suffer. This is what happens to Mount Gosford, the highest peak in southern Quebec.
A conflict between local players led to the closure of shelters used by hikers, in addition to removing the website that provided all the necessary information on the trails. The territory’s consultation body, Gestion Mont Gosford, is in the process of being dissolved.
“It’s sad because for the municipality, Mount Gosford has always been our jewel,” commented the mayor of Woburn, Guy Brousseau.
The conflict is complex. Basically, it is based on a different vision of the territory: do we give priority to hunting and fishing or to hiking?
Mont Gosford is located on public land. There were previously private hunting and fishing clubs there, which were replaced in 1978 by the zec Louise-Gosford, managed by the Association Louise-Gosford.
For its part, the municipality of Woburn has been involved in Mount Gosford since 1995. Under the Inhabited Forest program, the Ministry of Forests has entrusted it with the management of forest resources in the area. In exchange, the municipality must invest the profits to make the territory accessible and develop its recreational tourism potential.
PHOTO DAVID BOILY, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Mount Gosford is the highest peak in southern Quebec with an altitude of 1193 meters.
In 1998, an organization, Gestion Mont Gosford, was created to harmonize the management of the territory. There are representatives of the zec and the municipality, but also of the small organization responsible for the development of hiking trails, Sentiers frontaliers.
I am the president of Gestion Mont Gosford, as have been the previous mayors. They are unanimous in saying that there was an incompatibility between hunting and fishing activities and hiking. It’s always been a quibble.
Guy Brousseau, Mayor of Woburn
Monique Scholz, president of Sentiers frontaliers, agrees. « The Louise-Gosford Association [la zec] behaves like a 2.0 hunting club that wants to retain as much control as possible over the territory,” she laments.
The latent conflict erupted a few months ago about the tasks of zec employees who affected hiking, including the maintenance of refuges for hikers. These belong to the municipality.
The president of the Association Louise-Gosford, Mario Lacasse, explains that the employees of the zec spent a lot of time maintaining these refuges and answering questions from hikers. By comparison, hunters and anglers did not require as much time and effort from them.
“These come once, then after that, they know the territory and then they leave,” says Mr. Lacasse. It doesn’t take long to do business with them. »
He affirms that Gestion Mont Gosford refused to increase its contribution for the remuneration of the employees of the zec. The Association Louise-Gosford has therefore decided to no longer do the maintenance of the refuges and to keep the right of access for hikers of $5, which it previously transferred to Gestion Mont Gosford.
PHOTO DAVID BOILY, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The Rose-Délima pavilion is one of the shelters that we closed recently.
They decided to cut us off. We approached the various departments to see if there was a way to settle this, but no agreement was possible.
Guy Brousseau, Mayor of Woburn
The municipality therefore closed the shelters.
“We can sell the shelters on site or sell them to someone who could move them,” says Mr. Brousseau. And we are in the process of dissolving Gestion Mont Gosford. »
Monique Scholz, of the Sentiers frontaliers, is saddened. “We don’t have the backbone strong enough to make an offer to buy shelters. »
Sentiers Frontiers’ only income comes from the sale of topographical maps and membership cards.
For the municipality, there is no question of transferring the refuges to the zec. “The chicanery went so far that no, there won’t be a penny from the municipality, that’s for sure,” says Mr. Brousseau.
Mario Lacasse indicates that the zec has started to install another type of accommodation near the trails, namely ready-to-camp. “We are going to make agreements with the Sentiers frontaliers,” he says.
On the side of the Sentiers frontaliers and the municipality, the dream is more of the creation of a regional park. However, it is a long and complicated process. “A few years ago, I inquired with the various ministries,” underlines Mr. Brousseau. I was discouraged by being told that it took 12 to 15 years to have a regional park and that it wasn’t easy. We said that the population had to agree with that. However, the hunters, of course they will not be there. »
Suggested video
Ode to winter
Young Quebec filmmaker Alexa Fay writes a love letter to winter. Here is a very short excerpt.
digit of the week
3:28 a.m.
Poland’s Valerjan Romanovski broke a record by spending 3 hours and 28 seconds in an ice bath.