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Save René-Levasseur Island
An old Growth Forest Arboring Exceptional Biodiversity
Ancient Forest
The Rene-Levasseur arbours an old growth forest. By itself, this is a
statement with deep meaning. Old Growth Forests are dissapearing at
an increasing rate. This; of course, is due to humanity's overexploitation
of it's natural ressources. This ecocide seems to occur unchallenged and
seems to be encouraged by industry and our respective governments. It
emperils biodiversity with the loss of thousands of species each year,
each one of them unique and irreplaceable. Habitat loss and degradation
is the leading cause of species'extinction.It is generally accepted by
most scientists as a direct threat to the continuation of life on earth.
Our life support systems are becoming more and more fragile, as we continue
to dismantle them through our Industrial activities.
We as members of humanity are directly responsible for the protection of
the few remaining Old Growth Forests. The Island, has been spared from
forest fires because of the waterways surrounding it. Ever since the Manic
5 reservoir flooded the lower forests, the island has sheltered a rich,
complex and diversified ecosystem. This ecosystem has not been studied
extensively and consequently is not well understood. The reservoir also
had the effect of rendering the island difficult of access, making logging
on the island economically unfeasible until very recently.
Many tree populations on the island reach some 300 years of age and have
several strata of vegetation, an abundance of stumps and ligneous debris
as well as many animal species unique to the northern ranges of the boreal
forest. In fact the near entirety of the surface of the island is populated
with old growth trees?, The third forest inventory Decenal indicates that
74% of the island's surface is covered with trees older than 100 years. Only
11% of the island's surface is comprised of exposed (dry and humid) surfaces.
Diversity of flora and fauna
Despite the rich ecological characteristics of the Island observed, there
is no complete inventory of the flora and fauna that inhabits the
island, exception beint in the case of species of "commercial interest"
such as the Moose. The particularities of ancient ecosystems are not well
understood even today. Because of the island's lack of a land bridge and of
it's considerable distance from shore, we can expect that the projected
logging of 80% of the island's surface will garantee the dissapearance
of most species found on the island.e.
(American Marten, Black Backed Woodpecker,Three Toed Woodpecker, Canadian Lynx, Woodland Caribou, Wolf, Black Bear, Moose, Fox, Treecreeper, Wolverine)
Sources:
Aires protégés des monts Groulx et de l'île René-Levasseur, SNAP
Jean-Francois Bergeron, MRNFP, 2003b
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