Sainte-Anne-du-Sault road stop | Wetlands destroyed for parking

Transports et Mobilité durable Québec was authorized to destroy wetlands to build parking for heavy goods vehicles as part of the modernization work at the Sainte-Anne-du-Sault rest area, in Center-du-Québec, learned The Press.

The stop in question, located between kilometers 223 and 224 of the Jean-Lesage highway (A20), towards Quebec, will see its reception building rebuilt and its grounds completely redeveloped, with the addition of a park canine and a children’s play area, among others.

This is the development of parking lots for “heavy vehicles” and “large road trains” which will be done in part on the wetlands of the site, show the plans included in the current call for tenders aimed at finding a company to carry out the work.

The Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility “paid a contribution of $105,318.87 as compensation” for the permanent destruction of 7,876 m^⁠2 of wetlands, in addition to 61 m^⁠2 of shore, indicated to The Press Frédéric Fournier, spokesperson for the Ministry of the Environment, the Fight against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks.

“It is deplorable that taxpayers’ money will be used in 2024 for the destruction of wetlands,” reacted lawyer Camille Cloutier, of the Quebec Environmental Law Center (CQDE).

There Environmental Quality Act states that we must first seek to avoid the destruction of wetlands, then minimize it if avoiding it is not possible, and finally compensate for any destruction, she recalls.

“The development of the site was done to avoid permanent encroachment into wetlands as much as possible,” says the Ministry of the Environment.

Ecological value

Tree felling has already been carried out on the site, with permission to do so having been issued on January 18 by the Ministry of the Environment.

The Ministry of Transport had not transmitted to The Press the characterization of wetlands, i.e. the description of the vegetation and hydrology of the site allowing its ecological value to be determined, at the time of writing these lines.

This information can be found in the authorization granted by the Ministry of the Environment, a document which should be accessible in an online public register under the reform of the Environmental Quality Act of 2017, but Quebec has still not put this register in place.

“This is yet another example that the register would greatly facilitate transparency and access to information for the population […]whereas there, we have to make requests for access to information which can take weeks or months, and even, when it is contested, years,” lamented M^e Cloutier.

Bad signal

The ecological impact of the destruction of these environments is “all in all limited” due to the presence of other wetlands on the outskirts, estimates biologist Alain Branchaud, general director of the Quebec section of the Society for Nature and Parks. (SNAP Quebec).

“But it is not a good idea for the government to send this signal,” that it is enough to compensate for the destruction of wetlands with money, he adds, recalling that the pressure on wetlands humidity is high in Centre-du-Québec, particularly due to the strong presence of the cranberry industry.

Quebec should take advantage of this modernization to “protect the surrounding area to ensure that there is no further increase in disturbance” in the future, suggests Mr. Branchaud, who mentions the creation of a small protected area and its development for the benefit of users of the stop.

“It can absolutely be useful for wildlife, not the big ones, but the amphibians, the birds,” he said. We need protected areas that act as connectivity points. »

The Legault government has planned investments of $150 million between 2022 and 2027 in its Road Park Modernization Plan, intended to renovate the “brown cabins” which serve as rest stops along the province’s roads and highways.