Forestry potential would decrease by 1.4 million cubic metres of wood per year in the three zones where a decree would be imposed.
Quebec’s forestry potential would decrease by 1.4 million cubic metres of wood per year in the three zones where an emergency decree would be imposed to protect the caribou, according to Quebec’s chief forester.
At the provincial level, the decree would cause a drop of 4.1 per cent in the allowable area.
As part of this analysis, the mandate of the chief forester did not include making recommendations, but was limited to informing the ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry.
Nor did Pelletier have the mandate to estimate the consequences on jobs in the forestry industry.
Ottawa plans to impose a decree on Quebec to force the province to protect three populations of caribou, namely those of Val-d’Or, Charlevoix and Pipmuacan.
Logging companies that cut trees in caribou habitat in the Pipmuacan area would suffer the greatest impact if the decree comes to fruition.
The Pipmuacan habitat zone is located in the Côte-Nord and Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean regions.
According to the analysis of the chief forester, the forestry potential would decrease by 790,400 cubic metres of wood per year in this zone, which represents nearly 57 per cent of the impact of the draft decree.
The estimated impact for the area associated with the Charlevoix caribou population corresponds to a reduction of 357,000 cubic metres of wood per year, while it is 245,900 cubic metres of wood in the area associated with the Val-d’Or caribou population.