The André-Michaux Ecological Reserve, or Réserve écologique André-Michaux, is an
ecological reserve in
Quebec
Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
, Canada. It protects a variety of vegetation types typically of the Canadian Shield.
Location
The Réserve écologique André-Michaux is at , with an average elevation of .
It is south of Île du Plomb, west of
Denholm
Denholm is a small village located between Jedburgh and Hawick in the Scottish Borders region of Scotland, UK. The estimated population of Denholm is 600. There is a village green in the centre. It lies in the valley of the River Teviot. Denho ...
and east of Martindale.
It is about northeast of the municipality of
Low, in
La Vallée-de-la-Gatineau Regional County Municipality
La Vallée-de-la-Gatineau (, ''The Valley of the Gatineau'') is a regional county municipality in the Outaouais region of western Quebec, Canada. The seat is in Gracefield. It was incorporated on January 1, 1983 and was named for its location str ...
.
It covers beside the
Gatineau River.
It is named in honour of the botanist and horticulturist
André Michaux
André Michaux (' → ahn- mee-; sometimes Anglicisation, anglicised as Andrew Michaud; 8 March 174611 October 1802) was a French botanist and explorer. He is most noted for his study of North American flora. In addition Michaux collected specime ...
(1746-1803) who worked and published in Quebec and Europe.
Terrain
The site is typical of the
Canadian Shield
The Canadian Shield ( ), also called the Laurentian Shield or the Laurentian Plateau, is a geologic shield, a large area of exposed Precambrian igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks. It forms the North American Craton (or Laurentia), th ...
highlands, with elevations ranging from .
Rocks are
paragneiss,
amphibolite
Amphibolite () is a metamorphic rock that contains amphibole, especially hornblende and actinolite, as well as plagioclase feldspar, but with little or no quartz. It is typically dark-colored and dense, with a weakly foliated or schistose ...
s and
granite
Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...
s.
Surface deposits are mainly
till
image:Geschiebemergel.JPG, Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains (pebbles and gravel) in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material (silt and sand), and this characteristic, known as ''matrix support'', is d ...
s.
Soils include
Dystric Brunisols,
Humo-Ferric podzols and
lithosols on the rocky ridges.
Ecology
The reserve protects representative ecosystems of the Lower Gatineau ecological region, including stands of maple-basswood and maple-yellow birch.
Depending its location on the slopes the vegetation may be
xeric
Deserts and xeric shrublands are a biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Deserts and xeric (Ancient Greek 'dry') shrublands form the largest terrestrial biome, covering 19% of Earth's land surface area. Ecoregions in this habita ...
, swampy, or a range of intermediate groups.
Xeric vegetation on the upper slopes with convex forms includes
white pine and
red pine
''Pinus resinosa'', known as red pine (also Norway pine in Minnesota), is a pine native to Eastern North America.
Description
Red pine is a coniferous evergreen tree characterized by tall, straight growth. It usually ranges from in heigh ...
, with
red oak in the driest places, and stunted red oak in extremely arid places.
On poorly drained flat land there is
fir
Firs are evergreen coniferous trees belonging to the genus ''Abies'' () in the family Pinaceae. There are approximately 48–65 extant species, found on mountains throughout much of North and Central America, Eurasia, and North Africa. The genu ...
/
white spruce White spruce is a common name for several species of spruce (''Picea'') and may refer to:
* '' Picea engelmannii'', native to the Rocky Mountains and Cascade Mountains of the United States and Canada
* ''Picea glauca
''Picea glauca'', the whi ...
,
sphagnum
''Sphagnum'' is a genus of approximately 380 accepted species of mosses, commonly known as sphagnum moss, also bog moss and quacker moss (although that term is also sometimes used for peat). Accumulations of ''Sphagnum'' can store water, since ...
and
black ash /
grey alder.
There are grasses and swamp shrubs along the edges of lakes.
In the intermediate areas of moderate drainage there are
maple
''Acer'' is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the soapberry family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated si ...
/
basswood groves, and some drier varieties such as red oak or
bur oak
''Quercus macrocarpa'', the bur oak or burr oak, is a species of oak tree native to eastern North America. It is in the white oak section, ''Quercus'' sect. ''Quercus'', and is also called mossycup oak, mossycup white oak, blue oak, or scrub ...
, maple /
yellow birch
''Betula alleghaniensis'', the yellow birch, golden birch, or swamp birch, is a large tree and an important lumber species of birch native to northeastern North America. Its vernacular names refer to the golden color of the tree's bark. In the p ...
, and
hemlock.
Galearis spectabilis may also be found.
Fauna include
white-tailed deer
The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known Common name, commonly as the whitetail and the Virginia deer, is a medium-sized species of deer native to North America, North, Central America, Central and South America. It is the ...
,
beaver
Beavers (genus ''Castor'') are large, semiaquatic rodents of the Northern Hemisphere. There are two existing species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers are the second-large ...
,
heron
Herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 75 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genus ''Botaurus'' are referred to as bi ...
,
ruffed grouse
The ruffed grouse (''Bonasa umbellus'') is a medium-sized grouse occurring in forests from the Appalachian Mountains across Canada to Alaska. It is the most widely distributed game bird in North America. It is non-migratory. It is the only spe ...
and
black duck.
Notes
Sources
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Andre-Michaux Ecological Reserve
Nature reserves in Outaouais
Protected areas established in 1993
1993 establishments in Quebec