Following the appointment of the new Cabinet, the Forest Sector now reports to the ministère des Ressources naturelles et des Forêts, while the Wildlife and Parks Sectors report to the ministère de l'Environnement, de la Lutte aux changements climatiques, de la Faune et des Parcs. Adjustments will be made to the website over time.
This user’s guide presents how to view or modify LiDAR derived products in both ArcGIS and QGIS. Basic and advanced features are shown, for example changing a symbology, combining a hillshade and transparent DTM, creating a new hillshade or slope model, assembling or clipping rasters, creating contour lines, reclassifying a raster, converting a raster to vector format and creating a focal CHM or a topographic wetness index.
The vegetation map of northern Québec provides information on forest and non-forest ecosystems for the entire territory located north of the 53rd parallel (680 000 km²). This map is based on the application of rigorous criteria for stratifying the vegetation and the physical environment. To facilitate the use and understanding of the map, this document presents the land cover stratification criteria as well as the different classes of vegetation and surficial deposits used.
The photo-interpretation of the different species that can be found over their full range of possible growing conditions proves to be of great complexity. This guide provides criteria for the identification of commercial coniferous and deciduous tree species based on characteristic shapes, textures and colors that are visible when photo-interpreting digital 3D aerial photos. The task of photo-interpreters, novices or experienced, is thus facilitated. The identification criteria provided in this guide are based on “frame by frame” 20 cm resolution digital aerial photographs.
This report presents the results and recommendations of an analysis of the economic benefits for the gouvernement du Québec and the forest industry relating to LiDAR data acquisition. The sections present, in order, the source and nature of the information as well as the method used for the impact analysis. The results of the analysis and their interpretation follow, leading to some recommendations regarding LiDAR data acquisition.
Published in For. Ecol. Manage. 489: 119062. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2021.119062
Wood ash as soil amendment is increasingly being used globally to counter forest soil acidity, increase base cation availability, especially Ca, and correct foliar nutritional deficiencies/imbalances. Knowledge remains limited regarding the effects of wood ash in temperate hardwood forests dominated by sugar maple and supported by acidic soils with low availability of base cations. The main objective of this study was to determine short-term effects of wood ash application on the soil’s acid base-status and nutrient availability, foliar nutrition, and growth of seedlings and mature sugar maple trees. A first experiment was established in 15 stands across southeastern Quebec, which included an unamended control and a 20 Mg ha−1 treatment. A layer of naturally regenerated sugar maple seedlings was present in these stands. A second experiment was conducted on four other sites, which included an unamended control and three ash treatments (5 Mg ha−1, 10 Mg ha−1, 20 Mg ha−1); sugar maple seedlings were then planted at high density (50 × 50 cm). In Experiment 1, ash application resulted in increased pH and concentrations of P, Ca and Mg in the forest floor after 3 years. Only marginal treatment effect was detected in the upper mineral soil, where pH and Ca and Mg concentrations tended to be higher under the ash treatment. Nutritional diagnoses using the DRIS approach revealed that the different ash treatments were associated with a decrease in Ca deficiency and N excess in sugar maple (seedlings and mature trees). Using dendrochronological data from 288 trees, we measured a positive effect of the 20 Mg ha−1 ash treatment on the basal area increment (BAI) of mature sugar maple from the first year after application. Within 3 years following ash application, mean annual BAI of sugar maple in the ash treatment was 20% higher (+1.9 cm2 y−1) than that of the control. The ash treatments exerted no effect on sugar maple seedling growth. Varying wood ash doses had weak effects on seedling nutrition in Experiment 2. Our results indicate that ash application may exert positive short-term effects on the soil acid-base status, foliar nutrition, and diameter growth of mature sugar maple trees.
