The Petite-Rivière-Godbout Old Forest (french: Forêt ancienne de la Petite-Rivière-Godbout) is a protected area of old-growth forest in the
Côte-Nord region of Quebec, classified as an
exceptional forest ecosystem.
Location
The Petite-Rivière-Godbout Old Forest is in the municipality of
Gobdbout in the
Manicouagan Regional County Municipality.
It is about northwest of the village of Godbout on the north shore of the
Estuary of Saint Lawrence
The estuary of the Saint Lawrence in Quebec, Canada, is one of the largest esturaries in the world.
Situation
The estuary of the St. Lawrence River is located downstream of the St. Lawrence River and upstream of the Gulf of St. Lawrence
...
.
The forest is administered by Quebecʻs Ministry of Natural Resources, Wildlife and Parks, Forest Environment Directorate.
It was designated old-growth forest in 2003, and has IUCN management category III.
The forest has an area of .
The terrain is moderately rugged, with tall hills covered by thin
glacial till and many rocky escarpments.
The forest is on the southern slope of a steep hill looking over the Rat Musqué Lake and the Little Godbout River (Petite rivière Godbout).
A map of the
Ecological regions of Quebec places the Gobout area in ecological region 5g Hautes collines de Baie-Comeau — Sept-Îles in the eastern fir/white birch domain of the boreal zone.
Flora
The Petite-Rivière-Godbout Old Forest is made up of a few stands dominated by
northern white-cedar
''Thuja occidentalis'', also known as northern white-cedar, eastern white-cedar, or arborvitae, is an evergreen coniferous tree, in the cypress family Cupressaceae, which is native plant, native to eastern Canada and much of the north-central and ...
(''Thuja occidentalis''), which is rare in the Côte-Nord.
Usually cedars are found in areas of deciduous and mixed forest.
Dry cedar groves growing on rock are even rarer.
Other trees are
balsam fir (''Abies balsamea''),
black spruce
''Picea mariana'', the black spruce, is a North American species of spruce tree in the pine family. It is widespread across Canada, found in all 10 provinces and all 3 territories. It is the official tree of the province of Newfoundland and Labra ...
(''Picea mariana'') and
white birch (''Betula papyrifera'').
The forest has never been developed or disturbed by human activities, and for a long time has not suffered from severe natural disturbances such as fire, high winds or insect infestations.
The older cedar trees are 300 to 400 years old.
The trunks of the dominant trees have an average diameter of and height of , while the mature fir stands surrounding the forest are no more than high.
The regeneration stratum of the forest contains a good proportion of cedars, balsam fir and white birch, so the cedars seem well established.
Due to their strength and longevity the cedars should continue to dominate the upper strata of the forest.
Shrubs include
mountain maple
''Acer spicatum'', the mountain maple, dwarf maple, moose maple, or white maple, is a species of maple native to northeastern North America from Saskatchewan to Newfoundland, and south to Pennsylvania. It also grows at high elevations in the sout ...
(''Acer spicatum'') and
Canada yew (''Taxus canadensis'').
In some places the yews are very abundant.
The herbaceous layer includes
mountain woodsorrel (''Oxalis montana''),
shining firmoss (''Huperzia lucidula''),
Canadian bunchberry (''Cornus canadensis''),
threeleaf goldthread (''Coptis trifolia''),
starflower (''Trientalis borealis''),
spinulose woodfern (''Dryopteris carthusiana'') and
blue-bead lily
''Clintonia borealis'' is a species of flowering plant in the lily family Liliaceae. The specific epithet ''borealis'' means "of the north," which alludes to the fact that the species tends to thrive in the boreal forests of eastern Canada and ...
(''Clintonia borealis'').
Groundcover includes several common species of mosses, usually sparse.
Notes
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Petite-Rivière-Godbout Old Forest
Exceptional forest ecosystems of Quebec
Protected areas of Côte-Nord