Apprendre le Québec – EN

Quebec’s forests, the main wealth of its people

Made up of a majority of public lands (1,550,531 km2) and private lands (117,191 km2), the province of Quebec has nearly 2% of the world’s forests. 46% of its territory is occupied by forests: with a total area of ​​761,000 km2, the Quebec forest covers an area larger than the territory of France (675,417 km2). Forestry, support for logging, the manufacture of paper, furniture and other related products provide more than 80,000 jobs for Quebecers.

The layout of the various forest stands in Quebec is largely related to climatic factors, the other factors being altitude, soil type, relief and natural disturbances. Since Quebec is a northern region, most of its territory is located in the boreal and arctic zones: it is therefore in its southern part that most of its territory exploitable by the forest industry is located. This portion of the territory, called the northern temperate zone, has two sub-zones: the deciduous forest and the mixed forest.

The deciduous forest is made up of noble and northern hardwoods dominated by sugar maple. The bioclimatic domains associated with it are the maple-bitternut hickory stand (14,500 km2), the maple-basswood stand (31,000 km2) and, further north, the maple-yellow birch stand (65,600 km2). Most hardwood comes from this type of forest: this type of wood is used to make furniture, floors and other finishing works. The transformation of this wood will be done by sawing, to obtain boards, or by peeling: once the logs are soaked in hot water for a certain time to soften them, the peeling process makes it possible to obtain thin sheets of wood that will be used to make plywood, furniture, doors and frames.

As for the mixed forest, it is made up of a mixture of hardwood and coniferous trees. A large part of the wood harvested in this territory will be used to make lumber: composed of 98% conifers such as fir, spruce, cedar and pine, this type of wood is used in the construction of house frames and in the manufacture of products intended for residential construction or renovation. Boards, beams and paneling are considered lumber.

Highly diverse, the mixed forest includes both boreal species such as balsam fir and spruce, as well as southern species such as yellow birch, so named because of its characteristic golden bark. An emblematic tree of Quebec, this tree whose wood has a very tight grain, as well as remarkable hardness and flexibility, is used for the manufacture of floors, cabinets and baseball bats. Declining individuals often carry white spongy rot (innonotus obliquus): this pathology produces a fungus similar to charcoal called Chaga. Well known to the First Nations of the Northern Hemisphere, it has been used in decoction for thousands of years to treat intestinal disorders thanks to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

The bioclimatic domains associated with the mixed forest are, in the northern temperate zone, the yellow birch fir forest (98,600 km2), while in the boreal zone, it is the white birch fir forest (139,000 km2) and the moss-spruce forest (412,400 km2). The processing of wood harvested in this zone will mainly be used to produce paper pulp: the latter is used to make paper towels, tissues, printing and packaging paper, while specialty pulp is used to make fiber-rich, therefore more resistant, materials such as food packaging, decorative materials and electrical insulating paper.

The southern boreal zone is called the continuous boreal forest: it includes dense stands of conifers and a few pioneer deciduous species such as white birch, chokecherry and some willows. Further north, we find ourselves in the taiga: the latter is characterized by coniferous forests growing on lichen mats and whose bioclimatic domain is precisely called spruce-lichen forest (299,900 km2), spruce forest referring to a dominance of spruce in this environment. This domain extends from the 52nd to the 55th parallel. At this latitude, balsam fir and jack pine are represented, but they reach the northern limit of their distribution area.

Located between the 55th parallel and the 58th parallel, the bioclimatic domain of the northern part of the boreal zone is called the forest tundra (217,000 km2). The few trees found there are stunted black spruce oppressed by the hostility of the climate: the northern limit of this territory therefore coincides with that of the trees. Beyond the 58th parallel, in the Arctic zone, the bioclimatic domains are shrub tundra (197,800 km2) and grassy tundra (38,200 km2). Considering that this entire territory is covered with permafrost, and that the rock and mineral soil are often bare, only mosses and lichens remain there, in addition to some cyperaceae and grasses.