The Minister of the Environment of Quebec, Benoit Charette, announced Wednesday his intention to set aside the territory of Mount Kaaikop. Protecting this territory located at the junction of the Laurentides and Lanaudière regions is the objective that a group of citizens has tirelessly pursued for a decade.
For Claude Samson, the government’s announcement is the culmination of several years of struggle to protect Mount Kaaikop.
“We enter our 12e year of activism to preserve this territory,” the president of the Mount Kaaikop Conservation Coalition told The Canadian Press.
In 2014, his group of citizens won their case in Superior Court when a judge ordered the Ministry of Natural Resources to suspend its authorization for logging.
Since this judgment, the coalition says it has invested more than $85,000, mainly in studies, to document the ecological value of the sector, in order to eventually turn it into a conservation project.
Mount Kaaikop is the second highest massif in the Laurentians after Mont Tremblant and “its territory represents 40.5 km2 old and ancient natural forests,” explained Claude Samson.
“Mount Kaaikop provides connectivity to several conservation areas and natural wildlife and flora corridors. »
Among the fauna that inhabits it, we find some of Quebec’s emblematic mammals, such as the moose, the black bear, the gray wolf and even the wolverine.
“Today, we have a thought for our dear silent inhabitants of Mount Kaaikop, this varied fauna for which areas of territory will be dedicated to them, so that they can take refuge, feed, reproduce and move freely” , indicated Claude Samson.
Commitment to protect 30% of the territory
Mount Kaaikop is “an area that is very popular with hikers and nature lovers,” explained Minister Charette in an interview with The Canadian Press.
He added “that by developing access to nature, we develop the feeling or the urgency to protect biodiversity”.
During the Conference of the Parties (COP15) on biodiversity in Montreal in 2022, the government announced an investment of $650 million to ensure the protection of 30% of its territory by 2030.
The network of protected areas currently covers approximately 17% of Quebec.
“Our government is firmly committed to achieving the global conservation target of 30% of our territory by 2030, in particular by improving the network of Quebec protected areas through initiatives like these,” added the minister. Cart.
“A conservation plan”
The government has not yet determined the precise boundaries of the territory that will be protected in the Mount Kaaikop sector.
“But what is important is that the territory is fixed. There will be no exploitation, neither forestry nor mining,” indicated Claude Samson.
The next step, he explained, consists of “developing a plan to preserve and enhance the ecosystems” of Mount Kaaikop.
“The government calls it a conservation plan, but we did not campaign for 12 years for humans to completely invade the territory,” he insisted.
His coalition therefore wants there to be “use zones planned for humans, for recreational tourism”, but also zones reserved “for wildlife and university research”.
Various academic research, notably on the importance of old forests for underground biodiversity and carbon sequestration in the soil, has taken place on Mount Kaaikop in recent years.
Eventually, indicated Claude Samson, “we aim to establish a research center or a research chair on ancient forests” at Mount Kaaikop.
In 2019, a study by the Department of Natural Sciences of the University of Quebec in Outaouais and the Department of Biological Sciences of the University of Quebec in Montreal concluded that “stopping logging in the territory studied would normally have little impact. economic impact on the forestry industry and would very likely significantly increase the value of ecosystem services linked to recreational tourism activities, habitats for biodiversity, aesthetic value and indigenous cultural services on the public territory surrounding Mount Kaaikop.