Forêt-la-Blanche Ecological Reserve

IUCN Category Ia - Strict Nature Reserve

Lac aux Hérons

The Réserve écologique de la Forêt- la -Blanche is an ecological reserve in the extreme south of the Canadian province of Quebec.

It was established in 2003 on an area of ​​20.52 km ² and is located in the MRC Papineau in the area of ​​three municipalities Mulgrave -et- Derry, Mayo and Saint- sixte. It is located on the territory of the former town of Buckingham, now part of the Ville de Gatineau.

It protects one of the last remnants of the original forests of Québec south, where you will also find some of the endangered or threatened plants in the province.

In the reserve there are accordingly sugar maple forests that are interspersed with houses, but also with yellow birch and lime trees, as old stocks of hemlock or hemlock trees ( Tsuga ) with a species of the genus hop hornbeam, the Virginian hop hornbeam ( Ostrya virginiana (Mill.) K. Koch ).

The entire forest has been taken either by logging off fire and forms from the pre-colonial situation of the regional forests.

Among the endangered or threatened species, the American ginseng find (Panax quinquefolius; French: ginseng or ginseng américain à cinq folioles ), Forest garlic (. Tricoccum Allium, fran: Ail des bois ), then Carex Carex platyphylla backii and from the kind of sedges, Proserpinaca palustris from the family of milfoil plants, Galearis spectabilis, a species of orchid in the genus Ceratophyllum echinatum horn sheet.

The reserve lives beyond a large number of birds, including here as Paruline Azuree designated poplar Warbler ( Dendroica cerulea ), which is critically endangered. There are also some species of herons.

A right to access the reserve can only issue the association Les Amis de la Forêt La Blanche, who also offers a relevant curriculum.