The Quebec caribou protection strategy, scheduled for June, will include new protected area projects, and the Pipmuacan reservoir sector is targeted. This is an important change of course for the government of François Legault.
Minister Benoit Charette confirmed the news on Tuesday, as part of the study of the budget appropriations of the Ministry of the Environment, the Fight against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks (MELCCFP), in Quebec. “There will be confirmed protected areas in the coming weeks. I won’t begin to name them, […] but there will also be protective measures on the Pipmuacan side, ”he said, in response to questions from Québec solidaire MP Alejandra Zaga Mendez.
The decision to intervene in the Pipmuacan constitutes a 180-degree turn for the Quebec government, which in the past had ruled out four protected area projects in the reservoir located northeast of Lac-Saint-Jean. “It’s a must. At this time, I cannot talk to you about the route or the area exactly, but yes, there will be protection on this territory, ”said Mr. Charette on Tuesday.
The Innus Council of Pessamit has been asking since 2020 that Quebec intervene in the Pipmuacan in order to preserve 2761 km2 of forest land conducive to the survival of woodland caribou. In 2022, after a few refusals from the Legault government, he filed a formal notice to force him to establish protected areas there.
The aerial inventory carried out in 2020 over 28,000 km2 for the Pipmuacan population made it possible to count the presence of 225 animals. Throughout Quebec, whether on the North Shore, in Northern Quebec or in Gaspésie, the population of woodland and mountain caribou is in decline.
Quebec intends to table its caribou protection strategy next June. Minister Charette confirmed on Tuesday that the new protected area projects selected by his department will apply as soon as the document is presented. “If we designate territories, that means that, from June, there will be a significance of interest in these territories. And we will no longer be able to carry out a certain number of practices or interventions, ”he said.
Last August, the Independent Commission on Woodland and Mountain Caribou raised in a report the “urgency to act” in the file. In particular, it recommended the creation of new protected areas.
Further details will follow.