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Coordinates: 47°41′N 70°51′W / 47.683°N 70.850°W / 47.683; -70.850
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Due to the diversity of habitats found within the national park, several species frequent the latter, including three species that are classified as vulnerable, namely the [[woodland caribou]] of the forest ecotype, the [[Bicknell's thrush]] and [[Barrow's Goldeneye|Barrow's Goldeneye]].<ref name="mfpp"/> These species have the most serious status under the Quebec Act on threatened or vulnerable species. There are also seven species likely to be designated threatened or vulnerable, namely [[arctic char]], [[golden eagle]], [[peregrine falcon]], [[Common nighthawk America|nightjar of America]]<nowiki/>, [[chimney swift]], [[rock vole]], [[cougar]] and [[Cooper vole-lemming]].<ref name="mfpp"/>{{,}}<ref>{{Article|langue=French|author1=Lepage, M.|title=Threatened or vulnerable vertebrate fauna in the boreal forest|periodical=Canadian naturalist|date=Fall 2001, volume 125, number 3|issn =|read online=|pages= 131-137}}</ref> The park is obviously home to several species of mammals, birds, amphibians, fish and insects.
Due to the diversity of habitats found within the national park, several species frequent the latter, including three species that are classified as vulnerable, namely the [[woodland caribou]] of the forest ecotype, the [[Bicknell's thrush]] and [[Barrow's Goldeneye|Barrow's Goldeneye]].<ref name="mfpp"/> These species have the most serious status under the Quebec Act on threatened or vulnerable species. There are also seven species likely to be designated threatened or vulnerable, namely [[arctic char]], [[golden eagle]], [[peregrine falcon]], [[Common nighthawk America|nightjar of America]]<nowiki/>, [[chimney swift]], [[rock vole]], [[cougar]] and [[Cooper vole-lemming]].<ref name="mfpp"/>{{,}}<ref>{{Article|langue=French|author1=Lepage, M.|title=Threatened or vulnerable vertebrate fauna in the boreal forest|periodical=Canadian naturalist|date=Fall 2001, volume 125, number 3|issn =|read online=|pages= 131-137}}</ref> The park is obviously home to several species of mammals, birds, amphibians, fish and insects.

==== Mammals ====

The mammal category includes as many large mammals as small rodents, moving from moose to bear and porcupine. We thus find the following mammals: several species of shrews (the great shrew, the common shrew, sooty, palustrine and pygmy), the condylure with a star nose, the snowshoe hare, the red squirrel, the large polatouche, the marmot common, Canada beaver, several species of voles (red-backed Gapper, fields, rocks, Cooper's lemming), phenacomys, muskrat, some species of mouse (deer, wood jumping and field jumping ), American porcupine, coyote, gray wolf, red fox, black bear, raccoon, long-tailed weasel, stoat, river otter, woodland caribou, white-tailed deer, moose, American marten, American mink, striped skunk, cougar and Canadian lynx.<ref> {{cite web|language=French|title=List of species - mammals|url=https://www.sepaq.com/dotAsset/27312.pdf|website=sepaq.com|date=|access-date= 2 decembre 2016}}</ref>. This is explained by the varied habitats offered by the vast territory of the Grands-Jardins National Park.

[[File: Snowshoe Hare, Shirleys Bay.jpg|thumbnail|[[Snowshoe hare]].]]

The [[Snowshoe hare|snowshoe hare]] is one of the most important species in the park (and even in Canada) from an ecological point of view<ref>{{cite web|title=Faune et flora of the country - The snowshoe hare|url=http://www.hww.ca/fr/faune/mammiferes/le-lievre-d-amerique.html|site=www.hww.ca|access-date=2016-12-05}}</ref>, because it represents a food source for a good number of predators which frequent the national park and the boreal forest in general such as the Canada lynx, the red fox and the coyote. In addition, it feeds on several plants and shrubs in the boreal forest.

The woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) is a mammal very sensitive to the presence of humans. Too large a presence on its territory can disturb the species and modify its behavior and lead it to frequent places less favorable for the species, making the caribou more vulnerable to its predators such as the wolf and the black bear. The territory of the Grands-Jardins Park is an important environment for the calving, rutting and winter feeding of the woodland caribou and plays a decisive role in the conservation of the species.<ref> {{Article|langue=French|author1=Courtois, R., Ouellet, JP, Gingras, A., Dussault, C., Banville D.|title=The situation of forest caribou in Quebec|periodical=The Canadian naturalist|date=Fall 2001 Volume 125 num. ro 3|issn=|read online=|pages=53-63}}</ref> It lives in particular in mature coniferous forests where arboreal lichens are very present.

The [[black bear]], an omnivorous animal whose diet consists mainly of plants, is [http://www.parcparcours.com/grands-jardins/fiches/ours.html abundant in the national park]. However, it also feeds on fawns that are easy prey for bears when they venture out of the dense forest. The bear prefers open and semi-open sites where the vegetation constituting a good part of its diet is more abundant and rarely ventures into the dense forest of the park.

The [[Canadian lynx]] (Lynx canadensis) is a wild feline from the boreal forest that lives in varied habitats dominated by mature stand forests. It is one of the three wild felines that live in Canada with the bobcat to which it resembles much and the cougar<ref>{{cite web|title=Fauna and flora of the country - The lynx of Canada|url=http://www.hww.ca/fr/faune/mammiferes/le-lynx-du-canada.html|site=www.hww.ca|access-date=2016-12-05}}</ref>. This carnivore feeds mainly on snowshoe hares that are found in the park. Thus the Grands-Jardins National Park is a suitable habitat for this species. On the other hand, it is a shy and secretive feline since it is rarely observed.

The [[Cooper's vole-lemming|Cooper's lemming vole]] (Synaptomys cooperi) is a small rodent that frequents wetlands.<ref>DESROSIERS, N., R. MORIN and J. JUTRAS. 2002. [http://www.cdpnq.gouv.qc.ca/pdf/atlas/micromammiferes.pdf Atlas of micromammals of Quebec]. Quebec Wildlife and Parks Society. Wildlife Development Directorate. Quebec. 92 p.</ref> It lives in burrows in peat bogs and grassy marshes. It is a rare species in Canada that has been very little studied to date.<ref>{{cite web|title=MFFP - Threatened or vulnerable wildlife species in Quebec -
 Cooper's Vole-lemming|url=http://www3.mffp.gouv.qc.ca/faune/especes/menacees/fiche.asp?NoEsp=51|website=www3.mffp.gouv.qc.ca|access-date=2016-12-05}}</ref>


=== Hydrography ===
=== Hydrography ===

Revision as of 12:47, 11 April 2020

Grands-Jardins National Park
Map
LocationLac-Pikauba, Charlevoix Regional County Municipality, Quebec, Canada
Nearest cityBaie-Saint-Paul
Coordinates47°41′N 70°51′W / 47.683°N 70.850°W / 47.683; -70.850

Grands-Jardins National Park is a provincial park, located in the Unorganized Territory of Lac-Pikauba, in the Charlevoix Regional County Municipality, in administrative region of Capitale-Nationale, in Quebec, Canada.[1]

The Grands-Jardins National Park is a protected area for the conservation of the natural heritage of the Charlevoix region in which certain human activities are permitted. It is one of the central areas of the Charlevoix World Biosphere Reserve, status granted by the UNESCO in 1988[2], just 7 years after the park was created. The park is managed by the Quebec government thanks to the Société des établissements de plein air du Québec (SÉPAQ).

File:Logo-Sépaq Parc national des Grands-Jardins.svg
Logo

This Charlevoix park covers an area of 318.9 kilometres (198.16 mi) accessible by Saint-Urbain in the region of Capitale-Nationale. The closest town to the park is Baie-Saint-Paul.

Main attractions and activities

File:Logo-Sépaq Parc national des Grands-Jardins.svg
Logo

It offers several activities to park visitors in both summer and winter. Among the activities offered, we find, among other things, camping, canoeing, kayaking, hiking, fishing, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing.[3] SÉPAQ also offers discovery workshops to learn more about the flora and fauna that frequent the park and to raise awareness of the fragility of ecosystems and the services they provide to us.

History

1991 forest fire in the Thomas-Fortin sector

Before the park was created on November 25, 1981, the site was used for logging. From 1939 to 1981, this activity had affected 39% of the area of the current national park. The park also has its own cultural heritage. Its history as an English resort, hunting and fishing with the Murray River fishing Club, also called Club La Roche, a former private fishing club adds to the history of logging and dredging that took place in the park before its creation.[4].

Grands-Jardins National Park protects an environment that is highly representative of the natural region of the Jacques-Cartier Lake Massif.[5] The natural environment of the park is dominated by forests and approximately 30% of the park was ravaged by a forest fire in 1991 then in 1999. Although the landscape of these fires is not very attractive for the human eye, they are essential for the renewal of the forest and for the creation of refuges for certain species. Indeed, dead wood trunks on the ground or standing still have shelters ideal for species of birds, rodents, insects and fungi. A few years later, the forest already begins to regain its rights and slowly resumes its cycle of natural succession.

On September 13, 2017, the Grands-Jardins National Park was enlarged by 8.9 kilometres (5.53 mi) to reach an area of 318.9 kilometres (198.16 mi)[6].

Geography

Topography

Mont du Lac à Moïse

The topography of the park is varied due to the mountain ranges that characterize the park. The climatic conditions of the park can easily vary from place to place. The territory is part of the Canadian Shield and its rock base is mainly composed of granite rocks such as igneous rock. In addition, part of the territory is composed of anorthosite, a type of igneous rock.

Fauna

The park offers a privileged habitat for several animals. Three distinct habitat types can be observed in the park: young forests which were created by natural fires and logging, mature forests composed of black spruce and balsam fir with closed cover and taiga reminiscent of the Great Northern Quebec. Taiga environments similar to that of Grands-Jardins National Park are normally found more than 500 kilometres (310 mi) further north, above the 52th parallel. These different habitats make it possible to shelter a variety of animals, some of which have threatened or vulnerable status. We find in particular populations of moose, woodland caribou, black bear, red fox, pig-spicy, common loon, Canada grouse, wolves, several lynx and several other species.

Due to the diversity of habitats found within the national park, several species frequent the latter, including three species that are classified as vulnerable, namely the woodland caribou of the forest ecotype, the Bicknell's thrush and Barrow's Goldeneye.[5] These species have the most serious status under the Quebec Act on threatened or vulnerable species. There are also seven species likely to be designated threatened or vulnerable, namely arctic char, golden eagle, peregrine falcon, nightjar of America, chimney swift, rock vole, cougar and Cooper vole-lemming.[5] · [7] The park is obviously home to several species of mammals, birds, amphibians, fish and insects.

Mammals

The mammal category includes as many large mammals as small rodents, moving from moose to bear and porcupine. We thus find the following mammals: several species of shrews (the great shrew, the common shrew, sooty, palustrine and pygmy), the condylure with a star nose, the snowshoe hare, the red squirrel, the large polatouche, the marmot common, Canada beaver, several species of voles (red-backed Gapper, fields, rocks, Cooper's lemming), phenacomys, muskrat, some species of mouse (deer, wood jumping and field jumping ), American porcupine, coyote, gray wolf, red fox, black bear, raccoon, long-tailed weasel, stoat, river otter, woodland caribou, white-tailed deer, moose, American marten, American mink, striped skunk, cougar and Canadian lynx.[8]. This is explained by the varied habitats offered by the vast territory of the Grands-Jardins National Park.

Snowshoe hare.

The snowshoe hare is one of the most important species in the park (and even in Canada) from an ecological point of view[9], because it represents a food source for a good number of predators which frequent the national park and the boreal forest in general such as the Canada lynx, the red fox and the coyote. In addition, it feeds on several plants and shrubs in the boreal forest.

The woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) is a mammal very sensitive to the presence of humans. Too large a presence on its territory can disturb the species and modify its behavior and lead it to frequent places less favorable for the species, making the caribou more vulnerable to its predators such as the wolf and the black bear. The territory of the Grands-Jardins Park is an important environment for the calving, rutting and winter feeding of the woodland caribou and plays a decisive role in the conservation of the species.[10] It lives in particular in mature coniferous forests where arboreal lichens are very present.

The black bear, an omnivorous animal whose diet consists mainly of plants, is abundant in the national park. However, it also feeds on fawns that are easy prey for bears when they venture out of the dense forest. The bear prefers open and semi-open sites where the vegetation constituting a good part of its diet is more abundant and rarely ventures into the dense forest of the park.

The Canadian lynx (Lynx canadensis) is a wild feline from the boreal forest that lives in varied habitats dominated by mature stand forests. It is one of the three wild felines that live in Canada with the bobcat to which it resembles much and the cougar[11]. This carnivore feeds mainly on snowshoe hares that are found in the park. Thus the Grands-Jardins National Park is a suitable habitat for this species. On the other hand, it is a shy and secretive feline since it is rarely observed.

The Cooper's lemming vole (Synaptomys cooperi) is a small rodent that frequents wetlands.[12] It lives in burrows in peat bogs and grassy marshes. It is a rare species in Canada that has been very little studied to date.[13]

Hydrography

Lac des Cygnes

The park includes more than 120 bodies of water as well as several mountains that are part of the mountain range of Laurentian Mountains.[14] The summits of these mountains are protected because of the fragility of the ecosystems present at the summits which are sensitive to the trampling of hikers. These summits are still accessible to hikers by marked and landscaped trails. The water bodies make up 3.6% of the park area and the two most important watersheds are the Malbaie River and the Sainte-Anne-du-Nord River.[15]

Research and conservation project

Some research projects are currently taking place in the park and focus mainly on the many lakes present in Parc.[16] The first is the restoration of tributaries and outlets from lakes to improve the quality of the spawning grounds, which is carried out in partnership with the Quebec Wildlife Foundation. The second is that of characterizing the emergence of insects on lakes. The third is the restoration of borrow pits abandoned since 2007, led by the team of Line Rochefort of the Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciences at Laval University. The goal of the project is to accelerate the vegetal restoration of the borrow pits of the park created by the extraction of sand and gravel which have been abandoned for 40 years. The park is also the subject of a project to modify the park boundary[17] in order to enlarge it and incorporate an interesting area for the conservation of five new peaks, six lakes and the habitat of the woodland caribou[5]. The park team has also been carrying out a monitoring of the loon's nesting since 2007 and invites visitors to share their observations of the bird via observation sheets.

One of the main goals of the national park is the conservation of the natural environments of the Charlevoix region and the species that inhabit it. The protection of aquatic environments and peaks are major issues for Grands-Jardins National Park. Rigorous monitoring of fishing quotas, identification of spawning grounds and characterization of numerous water bodies allow the park to minimize the pressure on the aquatic ecosystem and promote a favorable environment for the populations of Arctic char and d brook trout that depend on it. Marked trails and awareness of hikers reduce the anthropogenic impact on the fragile ecosystems of mountain peaks.

References

This article was initially translated from the French Wikipedia.
  1. ^ Registre des aires protégées du Québec Archived 2013-12-12 at the Wayback Machine, Ministère du Développement durable, de l’Environnement et des Parcs. (in French)
  2. ^ "Portrait of the park". sepaq.com. Retrieved December 2, 2016. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |langue= (help)
  3. ^ SÉPAQ. 2016. Visitor's guide. Grands-Jardins National Park. 16 p.
  4. ^ "Portrait of the park". sepaq.com. Retrieved December 4, 2016. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |langue= (help)
  5. ^ a b c d "Grands Jardins National Park - Ministère des Forests, Wildlife and Parks". mffp.gouv.qc.ca. Retrieved 2016-12-05.
  6. ^ "Parc national des Grands-Jardins". Ministère des Forests, Wildlife and Parks. Retrieved September 24, 2017..
  7. ^ Article ([[Special:EditPage/{{{1}}}|edit]] | [[Talk:{{{1}}}|talk]] | [[Special:PageHistory/{{{1}}}|history]] | [[Special:ProtectPage/{{{1}}}|protect]] | [[Special:DeletePage/{{{1}}}|delete]] | [{{fullurl:Special:WhatLinksHere/{{{1}}}|limit=999}} links] | [{{fullurl:{{{1}}}|action=watch}} watch] | logs | views)
  8. ^ "List of species - mammals" (PDF). sepaq.com (in French). Retrieved 2 decembre 2016. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  9. ^ "Faune et flora of the country - The snowshoe hare". Retrieved 2016-12-05. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |site= ignored (help)
  10. ^ Article ([[Special:EditPage/{{{1}}}|edit]] | [[Talk:{{{1}}}|talk]] | [[Special:PageHistory/{{{1}}}|history]] | [[Special:ProtectPage/{{{1}}}|protect]] | [[Special:DeletePage/{{{1}}}|delete]] | [{{fullurl:Special:WhatLinksHere/{{{1}}}|limit=999}} links] | [{{fullurl:{{{1}}}|action=watch}} watch] | logs | views)
  11. ^ "Fauna and flora of the country - The lynx of Canada". Retrieved 2016-12-05. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |site= ignored (help)
  12. ^ DESROSIERS, N., R. MORIN and J. JUTRAS. 2002. Atlas of micromammals of Quebec. Quebec Wildlife and Parks Society. Wildlife Development Directorate. Quebec. 92 p.
  13. ^ "MFFP - Threatened or vulnerable wildlife species in Quebec -  Cooper's Vole-lemming". www3.mffp.gouv.qc.ca. Retrieved 2016-12-05. {{cite web}}: line feed character in |title= at position 61 (help)
  14. ^ "Portrait - Parc national des Grands-Jardins - Ecological integrity monitoring program - Parcs Québec - Sépaq". www.sepaq.com. Retrieved 2016-12-05.
  15. ^ "Portrait of the park - Parc national des Grands-Jardins - Parcs Québec - Sépaq". www.sepaq.com. Retrieved 2016-12-05.
  16. ^ Parc Québec. Undated. Scientific research in Quebec's national parks. 27 p.
  17. ^ Ministry of Forests, Wildlife and Parks, National Parks Directorate. Undated. Information document, Project to modify the boundary of Grands-Jardins National Park. [pdf] 28 p.

See also

Media related to Parc national des Grands-Jardins at Wikimedia Commons

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