The federal government could require changes to the Des Neiges wind megaproject in order to protect the critical habitat of the Charlevoix caribou, in the context of the emergency decree that Ottawa will impose on Quebec to prevent the extinction of this isolated and captive deer population.
The Duty revealed in recent days that the promoters of the Des Neiges megaproject maintain their intention to build wind turbines and roads in a forested area that is part of the habitat of the Charlevoix caribou, despite numerous warnings from scientists about the risks for the deer.
Should developers Hydro-Québec, Énergir and Boralex completely avoid the range of these caribou? Although Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) is cautious in its response to this question, Dutythe federal ministry suggests that the project in its current form could conflict with the emergency decree in preparation.
“The Charlevoix sector of the project overlaps the essential habitat of the woodland caribou, boreal population, as designated in its recovery program,” first recalls the ministry responsible for developing the decree.
However, the objective of this decree is precisely to protect the essential habitat needed to try to save this caribou population reduced to a few dozen animals. The federal government has the power to protect this habitat, under the Species at Risk Act, if Quebec does not do so.
But it is too early to decide what will happen next, ECCC adds. “It is not possible at this time to indicate whether the project would overlap with the area of application of an order given that consultations on the proposed order are ongoing and the final potential area of application has not been finalized.”
According to what Boralex has already argued in an email in response to questions from the Dutythe project area would not overlap with the potential area of the decree. The consultations, which have been extended, end on September 15. The Legault government has decided not to participate.
Essential habitat
According to an opinion issued by the Quebec Ministry of the Environment as part of the wind project assessment process, the critical habitat of this population is high plateaus, “sought-after habitat” for the species. “In addition, with climate change, these high plateaus risk becoming important refuges for this species, and this, [en raison des] population changes linked to warming temperatures,” we can read in this notice.
In this context, ECCC emphasizes by email that the ongoing environmental assessment for the wind project, which will undergo a review by the Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement, has demonstrated that “measures to avoid and mitigate impacts on boreal woodland caribou are justified.”
After initially arguing that the project would have “no impact” on the Charlevoix caribou, the companies piloting this development have decided to remove six wind turbines from the distribution area, while choosing to keep others in this area, which would also require the construction of roads. This proposal, presented as an “optimization” of the project, was developed in order to preserve the economic viability of the project, according to the promoters. They argue the need to provide 400 megawatts to Hydro-Québec, but also regulatory constraints and the choice of optimal locations for the wind turbines.
These explanations were, however, deemed “brief, imprecise or erroneous” by experts from the Quebec Ministry of the Environment. They have already indicated that “the complete protection of the distribution area” of the threatened deer would involve moving all the wind turbines planned in this area, but also within a radius of four kilometres around it.
The last 16 caribou in Charlevoix were captured and placed in captivity in 2022. According to the most recent birth count, there are now 39 of them living in a 0.2 km enclosure.2 which could become too small to contain the entire herd.
The Legault government promised in the spring to implement measures to restore the habitat of the Charlevoix caribou, a process that could take several years, even decades, according to caribou specialists. These have not yet been announced.
According to government data, the territory “is heavily disturbed by various human activities, including forest management activities that have been ongoing since the 1940s.” The disturbance rate is now 90%, while a disturbance rate of more than 35% is considered unviable for the species.