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Conservation of the natural heritage of the St. Lawrence Valley and Lake Champlain
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It is the ambitious goal of the Conservation plan for the St. Lawrence Valley and Lake Champlain to assign a conservation status to some five hundred natural sites in order to protect, for all time, the range plant, animal and ecosystem diversity in Quebec’s most ecologically rich region. The plan is to be made public in the Spring of 2008 by the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC), Quebec Region, one of the partners of the St. Lawrence Plan for a Sustainable Development (SLP). The goal seems all the more audacious given that this “ecoregion” coincides with the most densely inhabited part of Quebec, where private property occupies most of the land, where the forest is most fragmented and biodiversity most threatened.
Nevertheless, “it is possible,” says Louise Gratton, Director of Science and Stewardship for the NCC and member of the SLP Ecological Integrity Coordination Committee. In fact, one of the objectives of this committee is to promote the development and implementation of conservation plans for the banks, shore, floodplains, wetlands and aquatic habitats of the St. Lawrence.
To implement the Conservation plan for the St. Lawrence Valley and Lake Champlain, of which she is the principal architect, Ms. Gratton is relying on the expertise acquired by the NCC in the protection of privately held land, as well as on the range of conservation tools (purchase, donations, easements, etc.) that the organization has developed over the years. “But we clearly cannot carry the ball for all the conservation projects that will be implemented as part of this plan,” she adds. “Other agencies will have to take over and many partners will have to become involved.”
Some have already been financially involved since the plan was first prepared, with most of the work having been carried out between 2003 and 2006. The Canadian Wildlife Service of Environment Canada, the Ministère du Développement durable, de l'Environnement et des Parcs du Québec, the Ministère des Ressources naturelles et de la Faune and four private foundations have supported the organization, and the Nature Conservancy of the United States has also contributed.
Range of biodiversity
Step one was the preparation of an inventory of the range of biodiversity found in this enormous region, which stretches from the Ontario border to the freshwater estuary of the St. Lawrence. The next step was to identify rare species and community types as well as forests and wetlands that are representative of the full range. On the basis of an analysis of each of these elements, a full range of sites was to be identified in order to complete the current protected areas network (2.5% of the region), thereby ensuring that the overall biodiversity of the region will be maintained for all time.
The inventory was prepared from existing data: ecoforestry maps, list of exceptional forest ecosystems, atlas of wetlands, lists of species whose status is precarious, etc. “With all this information, we have been able to identify over 3,000 forest tracts larger than 40 ha, representing the 122 forest types found in the region,” reports Louise Gratton. “We have also identified close to 2,000 wetlands of over 5 ha belonging to the eight wetland types in the region (marshes, swamps, bogs, etc.).” Also identified were close to 300 exceptional forest ecosystems, 45 vertebrate animals, 75 vascular plants and 21 alvars. Alvars are rock outcrops of limestone or marble, found along the Ottawa River, that are home to a host of rare plants.
To be sure not to overlook any component of the regional biodiversity, the authors of the plan used a method (the coarse-fine-filter strategy) developed some fifteen years ago by The Nature Conservancy in the United States. An initial analysis first targets environments to be conserved that are representative of the regional diversity, including the more common elements (coarse filter). Then, in a second step, all the rare and threatened species and the rare plant communities and ecosystems in the region not found in the previous step are sought out (fine filter).
This second search level makes it possible to include elements that would not be found exclusively in forests of over 40 ha and wetlands larger than 5 ha. Examples include the Loggerhead Shrike, a bird that is endangered throughout its range and found in thorny shrubs in fallow fields rather than in either forests or wetlands; the Copper Redhorse, an endangered fish that lives and spawns in the Richelieu River, and nowhere else in the world, and that is also found in the St. Lawrence River; the Western Chorus Frog, a tiny frog considered vulnerable in Quebec and found mainly in ponds in the middle of Longueuil and agricultural ditches in the Outaouais.
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Through this analysis, the NCC was able to identify close to five hundred sites, “which, if protected or managed for conservation purposes, would ensure the long-term survival of viable populations of native species considered of high priority, and the maintenance of all natural community types represented in the region.” The following three main criteria were used to select sites: 1) presence of species or ecosystems in a precarious situation; 2) proximity of a protected area, increasing the chances for successful conservation; 3) degree of fragmentation of the site and the surrounding environment, given that the long-term viability of sites and species is better in less fragmented settings.
Priority sites
To validate certain items of information gathered from maps and databases, the NCC organized six regional workshops with local groups and representatives of government departments to take advantage of their intimate knowledge of the area.
Through this exercise, it was possible to attach a “priority” label to several of the five hundred sites identified. With the exception of Mount Royal, the label was assigned to all the Monteregian Hills in the St. Lawrence Valley. “Mount Saint-Bruno is already protected by a provincial park,” notes Ms. Gratton, “but the lands adjacent to the park, which are owned by the Department of National Defence, could benefit from a status that would guarantee their conservation over the long term.”
The black soils of Lake Champlain also received a priority rating, specifically six sites that form a complex of bogs and wetlands on peat around Missisquoi Bay. Another priority site is the forest of the Lotbinière seigneury. One of the largest continuous forests in the St. Lawrence Valley, it is under public ownership and its use for any other purpose would be an outright loss in terms of the conservation of regional biodiversity.
All the islands of the Montmagny Archipelago are also priority sites, among other reasons because of the presence in the intertidal marshes of several plants found only in this stretch of the St. Lawrence (endemic), including Victorin’s Gentian and the Spotted Water Hemlock, two threatened species. Île aux Grues is also an important nesting site for the Yellow Rail, a bird that is on the Quebec list of species likely to be designated as threatened or vulnerable.
Follow-up
Identification of all these sites and publication of the conservation plan is only the first step in the organization’s effort to ensure the protection of the natural heritage of the St. Lawrence Valley. Conservation strategies for each site must still be proposed, projects involving various partners introduced and the purchase of properties negotiated with owners—all of which could take five to ten years, according to an estimate by Louise Gratton, who is even looking ahead to the possibility of restoring sites over the long term. “One thing is certain,” she says, “the first steps are coming soon.”
A pilot project is already under way in the estuary, where a committee of research scientists and representatives of various agencies and departments has gone into full gear, setting realistic goals for the creation of several protected areas. This part of the St. Lawrence Valley, where 42 sites were initially identified, could become one of the six priority natural areas of the ecoregion that the NCC is in the process of identifying for purposes of several projects.
In the fall of 2008, the committee should be in a position to reveal its first achievements as a means of helping other stakeholders interested in participating in the implementation of the plan elsewhere in the region.
The participants in the six regional workshops held during the development of the plan will also meet in the fall of 2008, and every two years thereafter, to assess progress on conservation in their respective areas. It is at their request that these follow-ups will be held, reports Louise Gratton, pointing out that “through their participation in this project, they have become aware of the importance to the global conservation challenge of what they can do on the scale of their own small area.”
This is only one of the many benefits of the Conservation plan for the St. Lawrence Valley and Lake Champlain, the first and foremost being a better understanding of the natural heritage and conservation priorities of one of the twenty most richly biodiverse ecoregions of North America.
The Appalachians (the ecoregion that straddles the northeastern United States, the Atlantic provinces and Quebec) has also had a conservation plan since 2006, and the southern Laurentian Mountans will have one in 2009.
For more information:
Louise Gratton, Director of Science and Stewardship
Nature Conservancy of Canada, Quebec Region
Tel.: 514 876-1606 or 1 877-876-5444 (toll free)
Email: louise.gratton@conservationdelanature.ca
Date modified: 2008/06/19 – Important Notices
