Irénée-Marie Ecological Reserve

IUCN Category Ia - Strict Nature Reserve

Lac Arcand

The Réserve écologique Irenee -Marie is an ecological reserve in the south of the Canadian province of Quebec.

It was established in 1985 on an area of ​​189.36 hectares and is located in the County Municipality on the Rivière Matawin Mekinac, about halfway between the towns of Saint- Michel-des -Saints and Rivière- Matawin.

It protects for the province unusual pine forests, especially Weymouth pine (Pinus strobus ), American Red pine ( Pinus resinosa ) and jack pine (Pinus banksiana ). The Weymouth is mostly in Quebec or simply pin blanc d' Amérique pin blanc, so white pine, the bank usually pine pin gris, so gray pine. Their presence, along with white and red pine is extremely rare in Québec. This type of mixed forest covers the entire reserve.

In addition to a rocky escarpment is the area that rises 290-490 m above sea level, especially from a covered by thin layers of sand level, which go back to the last ice age, or the time after that. The very ancient formation of Mekinac consists of metamorphic rocks and melt rock. The steep slope is characterized by the alternation of tillite and rock. During the runoff is moderate at the level he is very strong on the steep wall.

Banks and red pine prefer the steeper layers, all three pine species can be found on the more level areas. Forest fires have the field to suffer significant harm, so that recently reinforced black spruce (Picea mariana ) settle.

The name of the protected area refers to brother Irenee -Marie (Joseph Caron, 1889-1960 ), a nature lover from Grand- Mère. He worked closely with Brother Marie - Victorin, one of the greatest botanist of Quebec and founder of the botanical garden of Montreal. According to him, several varieties of plants are named as Staurastrum arctiscon v. truncatum Irenee -Marie.