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Protected area plant and wildlife inventory
To date, some 30 sites have been inventoried, more than 350 species observed, including more than 50 rare species, and thousands of data items have been compiled and recorded in various electronic databases. In a word, the plant and wildlife inventory program of protected areas in southern Quebec is well under way. And it’s not over yet: field work is expected to continue until 2014.
Here are some photos taken when the species were being inventoried.
Click on the photos to enlarge them
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Blanding's Turtle (Emydoidea blandingii) |
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Eastern Ribbonsnake (Thamnophis sauritus) |
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Northern Map Turtle |
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Spotted Salamander (Ambystoma maculatum) Photo: Stéphanie Gagnon |
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Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina) |
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Four-toed Salamander (Hemidactylium scutatum) |
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Fragrant Sumac |
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Silver lamprey (Ichthyomyzon unicuspis) |
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* Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) |
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This joint federal-provincial program has a two-fold objective: first, to identify species at risk in the protected areas and, second, to expand and update our knowledge about biological diversity in these areas. The project is being carried out under the aegis of the St. Lawrence Plan for Sustainable Development; it is part of the Ecological Integrity component, which aims to “assess, consolidate and improve the network of protected and developed areas and territories along the St. Lawrence.”
Inventories have been carried out since 2004 by Environment Canada’s Canadian Wildlife Service, the Ministère des Ressources naturelles et de la Faune du Québec and the Ministère du Développement durable, de l'Environnement et des Parcs du Québec, as well as by various non-governmental organizations that occasionally collaborate in the project. “In theory, all living species should be included in a biodiversity inventory,” explained Sylvain Giguère, program head for Environment Canada. “But since this is a tremendous undertaking relative to the available resources, we have agreed to focus our efforts on vertebrate fauna.” However, plants may also be included in the case of species at risk.
The known sites surveyed to date include the Cap Tourmente National Wildlife Area, as well as the Lac Saint-François, Pointe-au-Père and Baie de l’Isle-Verte National Wildlife Areas. The Mont Saint-Hilaire Migratory Bird Sanctuary has also been partially surveyed. However, some less well-known territories that do not enjoy legally protected status have also been included in the project. This is the case for about a dozen islands in the St. Lawrence located between Lake Saint-Louis and Lake Saint-Pierre owned by the federal government that are still in their natural state.
In 2007, detailed inventories were also conducted of two protected areas in the Magdalen Islands: the Pointe de l’Est National Wildlife Area and the Pointe de l’Est Wildlife Sanctuary, two interlinked territories that cover an area of approximately 50 km2. No fewer than 149 bird species were spotted, some in large numbers, such as the savannah sparrow and the black-legged kittiwake, and others in smaller numbers, such as the rusty blackbird, although this is still a satisfactory finding since this is a species at risk in Canada. However, there was no trace of amphibians or reptiles, although a few bats were observed, as well as the meadow vole and the deer mouse.Three other sites were also partially surveyed: the Îles de l’Estuaire National Wildlife Area, where a peregrine falcon (vulnerable species in Quebec) nest was located; the proposed Parc National du Lac-Témiscouata, where no wood turtles, a target species, were found, although five specimens were observed just outside the proposed park boundaries; the Lac Saint-François National Wildlife Area, where one of the largest populations of the Quebec eastern sand darter, a threatened fish species, was found.
The 2006 inventories identified nearly 20 rare species, including one endangered species in Canada (the butternut tree on an island in the St. Lawrence River corridor) as well as several “first records” for a territory, including the least bittern in the marsh of the Bristol wildlife sanctuary, in the Outaouais, the rock vole and the southern bog lemming in the Claude-Melançon Ecological Reserve (Bellechasse), the southern flying squirrel, the woodland vole and the northern dusky salamander in the Philipsburg Migratory Bird Sanctuary, and the four-toed salamander in the Lac Saint-François NWA. These are all species at risk in Canada or are on the list of species likely to be designated threatened or vulnerable in Quebec.
Every year since 2004, a number of rare plants have also been identified, including the green dragon (a threatened herbaceous plant in Quebec), on three islands in the river corridor. One of the highlights of the 2004 and 2005 seasons was the sighting of 23 rare plants in the Lac Saint-François NWA alone.
Another noteworthy finding, the hoary bat, a species likely to designated threatened or vulnerable in Quebec, was found in nearly all of the territories inventoried, through the use of an acoustic monitoring technique that relies on the characteristics of the sound pulses emitted by hunting bats. “This would suggest that this species is more common than previously thought,” noted Sylvain Giguère.
In 2008, biologists and technicians will be returning to several sites, including the Îles de l’Estuaire NWA, to complete the inventory of songbirds and shorebirds. Then, in 2009, they hope to begin a new five-year plan (in preparation) with emphasis on migratory bird sanctuaries and proposed ecological reserves.
For more information:
Sylvain Giguère, Biologist, Ecosystem Conservation
Environment Canada
Tel.: 418-648‑4554
E-mail: sylvain.giguere@ec.gc.ca.
Date modified: 2008/06/19 – Important Notices
