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Yves Claveau, Christian Messier, and Julie Poulin

Centre for Forest Research, Université du Québec à Montréal

Description

Location.—The province of Québec is located in the eastern part of Canada. It is flanked to the west by Ontario, to the east by the provinces of New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador and finally to the south by the states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York.

Climate.—Productive forests are found in two distinct broad climates. Forests above the 49th parallel support a subartic climate where summers are short and warm while winters are long and usually very cold. To the south, the humid continental climate results in hot and rainy summers and snowy winters (Encarta 2007).

Vegetation and forests zones.—Forests are abundant and cover the lower half of the province over nearly 750,300 km² (Québec Ministry of Natural Resources and Wildlife 2003a). Starting from the boreal zone we find the continuous boreal forest, which accounts for 73% of the entire province’s forests, further to the south, the boreal mixedwood forest (13%) and then close to the USA border, the temperate deciduous forest (14%) (Québec Ministry of Natural Resources and Wildlife 2003b).

The continuous boreal forest is composed of softwood species such as balsam fir[1],black and white spruce, tamarack, and jack pine. Hardwood species are typically found following disturbance and are limited to white birch, trembling aspen, and balsam poplar[2]-. The natural disturbance regime of this region is mostly dominated by wildfires and recurrent insect epidemic such as the spruce budworm.

The boreal mixedwood forest extends from 47° to 48° latitude and is a transitional zone between the continuous boreal and deciduous forests. Mixed stands composed of boreal forest species are commonly found with yellow birch and red maple. White and red pines are also present since these forests are at the northern part of their range while species typically found in southern Québec such as sugar and red maple grow on the slopes and summits of hills. Fire also plays an important role in the stand dynamic of these forests, but Eastern spruce budworm is considered the most important disturbance agent. Windthrow and forest tent caterpillar can also influence stand dynamic in this region.

Finally, the temperate deciduous forest is the richest in term of plant and animal species diversity. Hardwood forests are mainly composed of sugar maple, yellow birch and American beech, but black cherries, American basswoods as well as a few species of oak, ash, hickory and poplar species are present. Softwoods are also present on many particular sites and include red and white pine, eastern hemlock, red spruce and northern white-cedar. Single-tree and tree-group mortality are natural disturbances typically observed in these forests, although windstorms and ice storms may occasionally occur and thin the stand or create larger openings.

Impact of climate change.— The potential impacts of the rapid climate change on forest ecosystems will be more important in Québec and be caused by a rapid increase in temperature, changes in precipitation and changes in some biotic interactions. More global accounts on climate change have already been done in this encyclopedia (Vallejo 2007; McNulty 2007) and we will hence focus on expected impacts on the commercial forests of the province of Québec.

Mean seasonal temperature in these forests is expected to rise by 3 to 4 degrees Celsius (5 to 7 degrees Fahrenheit) (Forget et al. 2003). Under these conditions, plants would migrate to the north and to higher altitudes in the mountains. Such a pattern is already being observed at tree line, but the phenomenon has yet to be observed in the northern limit of the continuous boreal forest. In fact, this forest is receding in favor of the lichen woodlands due to the rapid re-occurrence of wildfires that killed trees before they can produce cones (Girard et al. 2007).

The increases in mean seasonal temperature presented above are likely to be accompanied by greater temperature fluctuations and higher ice storm frequency in the winter (Forget et al. 2003). Damages resulting from these storms will open the forest cover and could disadvantage some late-successional species (e.g., American beech, eastern hemlock) in favor of tree species that readily respond to canopy openings such as sugar maple. The presence of so called "late successional" forests could become less common as the severity and the frequency of these storms increases.

Climatic simulations predict that summer precipitation would increase by 5 to 10% (Forget et al. 2003). This change in precipitation is likely to have cascading effects on the disturbance regime of the boreal forest. Wetter conditions would lengthen fire frequency and in turn favor species not adapted to fire such as balsam fir. The resulting change in forest species composition could result in greater population or outbreak of insects affecting these species (e.g., Eastern spruce budworm). The greater mortality level resulting from these insect attacks could lead to forest species composition different than those estimated based in climatic change alone.

Forestry in the Province of Québec

Economic value.—Forests have an important impact on Québec's economy. According to the most recent figures (2001) (Québec Ministry of Natural Resources and Wildlife 2003c), the Québec forest industry reported $18.8 billion CDN worth of shipments where nearly two-thirds went for export. The balance of trade is $10 billion CDN for the forest products sector or 60% of the total surplus. The 3,000 establishments producing first, secondary and tertiary processing products create 90,000 direct jobs, or 13% of all manufacturing sector jobs, that are spread in early 250 municipalities across the province.

Other resources drawn from forest ecosystems represent a significant share in Québec's economy. Wildlife-related activities (e.g., hunting, wildlife-related travel) contribute for $2.9 billion CDN in expenditures and create 32,111 jobs, while sales of non-timber products such as maple syrup, blueberries and Christmas trees represent respectively $156.5, $38.1 and $49.8 million CDN in 2005 (Québec Ministry of Natural Resources and Wildlife 2007).

Land tenure.—Colonization pattern and harsher climatic conditions in northern latitudes result in Quebec population being concentrated mostly along the St-Lawrence River and in the southern part of the province. This results in a general pattern where private forests are present in the south of the province while crown lands are found in the northern part of the Québec's forest. In fact, almost 90 percent of forests are in public ownership.

Common forestry practices.—Forestry practices vary among forest types. In the boreal and mixedwood forests, the main harvesting method is clearcutting with protection of regeneration and soil. Planting is generally not required because most cutting sites are adequately restocked. Balsam fir typically dominates cutblocks and densities are usually so high that pre-commercial thinning needs to be done to favor the growth of the best trees. On the other hand, in temperate deciduous forests, selection and pre-selection thinning is largely used in order to create or maintain an uneven-age (irregular) stand structure. Overall, 38.6 millions m³ of wood are cut annually in Québec's public forest based on a potential area of 38.2 Mha (Québec Ministry of Natural Resources and Wildlife 2007)

Current issues in forest management.—Quebec has a long history of exploitation of forest resources. Before the arrival of European settlers, aboriginals used forests for subsistence (food, fuel, shelter) and their impacts, although locally severe (gardening, prescribed fire), were restricted to limited areas (Burton et al. 2003).

European settlers started to greatly impact local forest ecosystems starting in the 18^th century due to fur trading, larger scale clearing for subsistence farming and house building as well as harvest of oak and pine timber for ship building in Great Britain (Commission d’étude sur la gestion de la forêt publique québécoise 2004a). Forest concessions were created 150 years ago and concessionaires (large forest companies) had exclusive rights on timber. Use of horses and seasonal harvesting resulted in relatively low harvest rate, but rates accelerated from the 1960s due to technological improvements (e.g., chain-saw, skidders) and year around harvesting.

Forest management underwent a suite of reform since the 1960s (Québec Ministry of Natural Resources and Wildlife 2003d; Commission d’étude sur la gestion de la forêt publique québécoise 2004a). From a utilitarian and intensive management, forest management became more holistic where site specificity, utilitarian and non-utilitarian use of the forest, conservation biodiversity as well as public concerns are now considered. These reforms were accelerated in recent years due to a suite of events.

The general concern of the population on environmental and forest issues, the documentary Forest Alert (L'Erreur Boréale) in 1999 and an unfavorable report from the Québec Auditor General in 2001 led the Québec government to set up, in 2003, the Commission for the study of public forest management in Québec (hereafter called Commission). The aim of the Commission was to examine the management of public forests and present recommendations in the light of briefs, external studies, meetings as well as public consultations that were held across the province of Québec (Commission for the study of public forest management in Québec 2004). In their 307 pages report published in 2004, the Commission notably recommended to:

·         Manage the forest as a whole, based on an ecosystem approach, in order to integrate the environment, the preservation of biodiversity and the social values

·         Establish a supervised but decentralized forest system to enable communities to participate in the protection and development of the forest environment. According to the Commission, the creation of Chief forester position is a central element of these changes, as it would establish an institutional framework reflecting independence, neutrality and scientific integrity requirements

·         Allocate timber volume based on stand accessibility and tree quality

·         Decrease by 20% the allowable annual cut for softwood (fir-spruce-pine-tamarak) across the province until the accuracy of estimations of wood allocations is better known

Since these recommendations were issued, the Québec government (Ministère des ressources naturelles et de la faune 2006):

·         Made  the commitment to introduce progressively ecosystem management principles in all forest management units across the province of Québec

·         Created the position of Chief forester in 2006 with the mandate to supervise the calculation of the allowable annual cut and prepare the Forest Management Manual

·         Promised to Introduce spatially explicit allowable annual cut calculations from the next round of five-year plans (2013-2018) (Bureau du forestier en chef 2007a)

·         Decreased by 20% the allowable annual cut across the province in 2005 following the release of the report. The Chief forester confirmed this reduction in 2007 with a mean provincial reduction of 23.8% (Bureau du forestier en chef 2007b).

·         Promised to accelerate the protection of 8% of the total productive forest (from around 4% in 2005).

Aboriginal issues.—The relationship between forest management authorities and Aboriginals changed markedly over the last 30 years. Forest management activities on lands owned or claimed by Aboriginal communities lead to the recognition of ancestral rights by various tribunals (Commission d’étude sur la gestion de la forêt publique québécoise 2004b).

The Québec Forest Act, as well as court decisions, reiterate the obligation of holders of forest management units to consult and accommodate, if required, Aboriginal communities (St-Arnaud et al. 2006), while the Commission recommends Aboriginal authorities to meet their regional counterparts in order to improve communication and participation and also to establish concertation mechanisms (Commission for the study of public forest management in Québec 2004). Market forces are also among these agents of change, as some forest certification agencies (e.g., Forest Stewardship Council) require forest companies to consult and accommodate these communities in order to be certified.

The closer relationship with Aboriginal communities encourages various forms of agreements with Aboriginal authorities. Some communities merge their efforts with researchers and forest companies to develop forest management strategies that would fulfill their socio-economic as well as their cultural needs (e.g., St-Arnaud et al. 2006). Some agreements have a larger scope where partners joint their forces to ensure socio-economic development of their respective communities through the development of forest, mining and hydroelectricity resources (e.g., Paix des Braves Anonymous 2002). These nation-to-nation agreements also aim to give greater autonomy to Aboriginal communities for their development as well as to strengthen political, economic and social relations.

Trends in Forest Management

The current trend in forestry in Québec is toward developing practices that maintains as much as possible the ecological integrity of the forest:

·         The TRIAD approach is increasingly popular and the forestry community is currently exploring how this zoning approach can be implemented in real life settings (e.g., http://www.projettriade.ca/index.php?lang=en)

·         The commitment of the Québec government toward ecosystem management increased the interest of the forestry community to this management approach. Several pilot projects are underway to test the concept. Many workshops and conferences aimed at the forest practitioners are also held to introduce them to the specificities of this management approach

·         Variable retention and partial cuts are the two main ecosystem management approaches being experimented in the boreal and boreal mixedwood regions. Variable retention is believed to emulate somewhat wildfires and partial cuts, insect epidemics.
 
·         Dissatisfaction toward rigid and homogeneous regulations is increasing the interest toward a more objective based approach following the principle of adaptive management. Workshops are presented across the province to give further details on theses approaches and evaluate how they could be implemented in practice.

·         Certified forest areas have increased greatly over the last 5 years and this trend is likely to continue since the Minister of Natural Resources and Wildlife plan to introduce a bill that would require forest companies to certify their land (Ministère des ressources naturelles et de la faune du Québec 2007). It is estimated that almost 50% of the wood being harvested in Quebec is certified following FSC, CFI or CSA certification standards.

Literature and Web sites Cited

Anonymous. 2002 Agreement concerning a new relationship between le Gouvernement du Québec and the Crees of Québec. Available online at http://www.autochtones.gouv.qc.ca/relations_autochtones/ententes/cris/entente-020207_en.pdf; last accessed November 27, 2007

Bureau du forestier en chef. 2007a Dimension spatiale du calcul de possibilité forestière. Available online at http://www.forestierenchef.gouv.qc.ca/document/fiche-spatiale.pdf; last accessed November 13, 2007

Bureau du forestier en chef. 2007b Faits saillants possibilité forestière 2008 - 2013. Available online at http://www.forestierenchef.gouv.qc.ca/document/fiche-faits.pdf; last accessed November 13, 2007

Burton, P.J., C. Messier, G.F. Weetman, E.E. Prepas, W.L. Adamovicz , and R. Tittler. 2003. The current state of boreal forestry and the drive for change. In Towards sustainable management of the boreal forest, Burton, P. J., C. Messier, D. W. Smith , and W. L. Adamovicz (eds.). NRC Research Press, Ottawa, Ontario. P. 1-40.

Commission d’étude sur la gestion de la forêt publique québécoise. 2004a Chapitre 1 - Les forêts du Québec : perspective historique et regard vers l'avenir. Available online at http://www.commission-foret.qc.ca/rapportfinal/chapitre_1.pdf; last accessed November 15, 2007

Commission d’étude sur la gestion de la forêt publique québécoise. 2004b Chapitre 8 - Les Autochtones et la gestion forestière. Available online at http://www.commission-foret.qc.ca/rapportfinal/chapitre_8.pdf; last accessed November 27, 2007

Commission for the study of public forest management in Québec. 2004 Final report summary. Available online at http://www.commission-foret.qc.ca/rapportfinal/Report_Summary.pdf; last accessed November 12, 2007

Encarta. 2007 Québec. Available online at http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761551789_2/Quebec.html; last accessed November 12, 2007

Forget, E., C.R. Drever , and F. Lorenzetti. 2003 Changements climatiques : impacts sur les forêts québécoises - revue de littérature. Available online at http://www.ouranos.ca/doc/Rapports%20finaux/IQAFF.pdf; last accessed November 27, 2007

Girard, F., S. Payette , and R. Gagnon. 2007. Rapid expansion of lichen woodlands within the closed-crown boreal forest zone over the last 50 years caused by stand disturbances in eastern Canada. J. Biogeogr. In Press.

McNulty, S. 2007 Interactions Between Climate Change and Other Environmental Stresses on North American Forest and Rangeland Health. Available online at http://forestryencyclopedia.jot.com/WikiHome/Climate%20Change%20Effects%20on%20Forests%20in%20North%20America; last accessed November 28, 2007

Ministère des ressources naturelles et de la faune. 2006 Mise en oeuvre des recommandations du rapport de la Commission Coulombe : État de la situation par recommandation. Available online at http://www.mrnf.gouv.qc.ca/publications/forets/modernisation/etat-situation-2006-03-31.pdf; last accessed November 12, 2007

Ministère des ressources naturelles et de la faune du Québec. 2007 Présentation du projet de loi numéro 39 - Loi modifiant la Loi sur les forêts et d'autres dispositions législatives. Available online at http://communiques.gouv.qc.ca/gouvqc/communiques/GPQF/Novembre2007/06/c4888.html; last accessed November 14, 2007

Québec Ministry of Natural Resources and Wildlife. 2003a The Forest Environment. Available online at http://www.mrnf.gouv.qc.ca/english/forest/quebec/quebec-environment.jsp; last accessed November 14, 2007

Québec Ministry of Natural Resources and Wildlife. 2003b Vegetation Zones and Bioclimatics Domains. Available online at http://www.mrnf.gouv.qc.ca/english/forest/quebec/quebec-environment-zones.jsp; last accessed November 9, 2007

Québec Ministry of Natural Resources and Wildlife. 2003c The Forest Products Industry in Québec. Available online at http://www.mrnf.gouv.qc.ca/english/forest/quebec/quebec-system-management-development.jsp; last accessed November 14, 2007

Québec Ministry of Natural Resources and Wildlife. 2003d The Forest Act. Available online at http://www.mrnf.gouv.qc.ca/english/forest/quebec/quebec-system-management-act.jsp; last accessed November 14, 2007

Québec Ministry of Natural Resources and Wildlife. 2007 Québec's forest resources and industry a statistical report - 2007 edition. Available online at http://www.mrnf.gouv.qc.ca/english/publications/forest/publications/stat_edition_resumee/resumeanglais2007.pdf; last accessed November 14, 2007

St-Arnaud, M., L. Sauvé , and D.D. Kneeshaw. 2006. Forêt identitaire, forêt partagée : Trajectoire d'une recherche participative chez les Anicinapek de Kitcisakik. Vertigo 6(2 - http://www.vertigo.uqam.ca/vol6no2/framerevue.html):

Vallejo, Á. 2007 Climate Change, Global Warming, and Forests. Available online at http://forestryencyclopedia.jot.com/WikiHome/Climate%20Change%20and%20Forests; last accessed November 28, 2007

 

Latin name of species

Tree species[3]

American beech: Fagus grandifolia Ehrh.

Ash: Fraxinus spp.

Balsam fir: Abies balsamea (L.) Mill.

Balsam poplar: Populus balsamifera L.

Black cherry: Prunus serotina Ehrh.

Black spruce: Picea mariana (Mill.) B. S. P.

Eastern hemlock: Tsuga canadensis (L.) Carr.

Hickory: Carya spp.

Jack pine: Pinus banksiana Lamb.

American basswood: Tilia americana L.

Northern white-cedar: Thuja occidentalis L.

Oak: Quercus spp.

Poplar: Populus spp.

Red maple: Acer rubrum L.

Red pine: Pinus resinosa Ait.

Red spruce: Picea rubens Sarg.

Sugar maple: Acer saccharum Marsh.

Tamarack: Larix laricina (Du Roi) K. Koch

Trembling aspen: Populus tremuloides Michx.

White birch: Betula papyrifera Marsh.

White pine: Pinus strobus L.

White spruce: Picea glauca (Moench) Voss

Yellow birch: Betula alleghaniensis Britton

Insect species

Eastern spruce budworm: Choristoneura fumiferana (Clemens)

Forest tent caterpillar: Malacosoma disstria Hubner