Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean | Protected areas threatened by chainsaws

The Quebec Ministry of Forests plans logging in duly constituted protected areas, which is however prohibited, discovered Nature Quebec, which deplores “a nonsense”.

About twenty “exceptional forest ecosystems” and “biological refuges” are thus threatened by chainsaws, counted the organization, in particular in the sector of the Mistassibi river, north of Lake Saint-Jean.

These cuts appear in the Ministry’s 2023-2028 planning – called “operational integrated forest management plans” (PAFIO) in government jargon –, which was the subject of public consultations during the winter.

Biological refuges are small forest protected areas of around 200 hectares created for the benefit of the fauna or flora species found there, indicates the website of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests (MRNF).

Exceptional forest ecosystems are “of particular interest” because they are rare or ancient forests or because they are home to one or more threatened or vulnerable plant species, explains the MRNF, which is responsible for their management.

In both cases, “forest management activities” are prohibited; exceptions are provided for, but any cutting must be authorized by the Ministry of the Environment, provides for the Sustainable Forest Development Act.

“And if there are logging operations, these are cuts in the service of biodiversity, such as developments to favor wildlife, it is not forestry business as usual explains Alice-Anne Simard, Executive Director of Nature Québec.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests has not explained why it is planning logging in protected areas or whether logging permits have already been granted, saying in an anonymous email that it would take several days to make these checks.

The public consultation report on the 2023-2028 planning for the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region has not yet been published by the Department.

Other affected forests

The Quebec Ministry of Forests is also “rushing” to plan logging in key areas for caribou before the Ministry of the Environment adopts the recovery strategy for the species in June, accuses Nature Quebec.

Cuts planned by the Ministry for the period 2023-2028 “directly affect” at least seven protected area projects in Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, the organization discovered after the publication of an article by The Press evoking a similar situation on the North Shore, in February.

Nature Quebec has also noted that cuts are planned in forests that the Independent Commission on Woodland and Mountain Caribou, set up by the Ministry of Forests itself, recommended protecting in its report published in August.

“While the left hand of the government is trying to provide protection for the territory, in particular to protect the caribou, the right hand is planning logging”, illustrates Alice-Anne Simard, who deplores this “lack of coherence within the apparatus governmental”.

The eventual cutting of these forests will make them “areas that are no longer relevant for caribou,” she worries.

Nature Québec considers it abnormal that the industry continues its activities in forests that are critical for caribou, while conservationists are asked to show patience while waiting for the tabling of the government strategy for the recovery of the species. , repeatedly postponed.

The office of the Minister of the Environment, the Fight Against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks, Benoit Charette, had not yet reacted at the time of publishing these lines.

The tip of the iceberg?

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests refuses to indicate whether other cuts are planned in protected area projects or forests of interest for caribou elsewhere in Quebec.

The MRNF has prepared a map that superimposes the cuts planned for 2023-2028 on the protected area projects under study, but it has refused since the beginning of the month to send it to The Pressaffirming that questions concerning protected areas should be addressed to the Ministry of the Environment, the Fight against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks.

The MRNF press relations service also refuses to call back The Presslimiting himself to terse emails.

The MRNF also refused to transmit to The Press cartographic computer files of planned forest cuts, although these files are transmitted to interested parties during public consultations on forest planning and the Department draws maps from them and posts them on its website, stating that The Press had to resort to the mechanism of Act respecting access to documents held by public bodies and the protection of personal information to get them.

The Press had not received a response to this request at the time of this writing.