Created out of the eagerness to cooperate toward the diversification of the region's forest based economy, the Lac-Saint-Jean Model Forest unites three communities from the Lac-St-Jean region: two of jeannoise culture, the Maria-Chapdelaine and Domaine-du-Roy MRC's, and the aboriginal community of the Pekuakamiulnuatsh from Mashteuiatsh, better known as Ilnu or Montagnais.
The Model Forest covers nearly 1.3 million hectares of boreal forest northwest of Quebec's Lac Saint-Jean, an area where aboriginal trappers, forest industry users, sustainable forest management corporations or cooperatives, and outfitters as well as other stakeholders such as vacationers and fruit pickers share the use of the territory.
The Model Forest was created to put into practice the integrated forest management principles on the forested land in an effort to optimize the benefits for our three forest communities. The approach we developed is based on consensus by the users and their participation, as well as respect of the rights granted on the lands and gathering of collective knowledge within a development agency whose mandate seeks to carry out innovative selective actions, within a training and integrative framework.
Among the projects of interest, many aim at improving sustainable forest management techniques, experimenting with methodology to identify degraded or unproductive forested sites and restore their productivity, developing a model of collective commercialization of forest mushrooms from the region, initiating the concept of an Ilnu parc as a reserve with a high conservation, enhancement and development potential, carrying out surveys of traditional knowledge about medicinal plants, developing an action plan for species at risk... and many more!
The Lac-Saint-Jean Model Forest is a research and experimentation tool which serves to consistently improve the planning and the enhancement our region's natural resources. It is an instrument at the service of a region historically anchored and involved in its thriving forest environment.
General Manager: Serge Harvey
T : (418)-275-0222 ext. 102
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1423 rue Ouiatchouan
Mashteuiatsh, Quebec
G0W 2H0
