G.-Oscar-Villeneuve Ecological Reserve

IUCN Category Ia - Strict Nature Reserve

BWf1

The Réserve écologique G. Oscar -Villeneuve is furnished on an area of ​​567 ha in 1989 protected area in the south of the Canadian province of Quebec in the MRC Le Fjord -du -Saguenay.

It lies on the north side of the Sainte -Marguerite, 5 km northeast of the town of Sainte - Rose -du-Nord and 3 km northwest of Lac Résimond. It represents and protects the typical for the ecoregion Contre forts des Laurentides, Saguenay and Laurentidengebirge the Rivière Jacques -Cartier forests where the paper and the yellow birch dominate.

The rugged protected area is 165-640 m above sea level. The base of the administrative region of Saguenay -Lac -Saint -Jean consists mainly of Precambrian migmatite, on the during and after the last glacial tillite deposited. From rock and rock interspersed Podsol emerged, which is very lean.

In the deeper zones of yellow birch, sugar maple, balsam fir and black ash predominate above next to yellow birch especially paper birch and black spruce.

The fauna is typical of the region, the most conspicuous species are snowshoe hare ( Lepus americanus), ruffed grouse, the American Red Squirrel ( Tamiasciurus hudsonicus ), various hawks and sparrow hawks, warblers, finches and woodpeckers. The largest mammals are moose and white-tailed deer.

The name of the area goes back to the botanist George Oscar Villeneuve (1914-1982), one of the most important and earliest meteorologists Québec. He was a member of the Société linnéenne de Québec and the Société zoologique du Québec. In 1943 he published a study on the Forest Meteorology of the Province, it dealt with the protection against fire and extended this question to various areas of.