The government of Quebec announced plans to create a biodiversity reserve around the Coulonge and Black rivers, along with the announcement of nine other protected areas across the province.

The proposed area will be 820 square kilometres and will bar heavy industry like . . .

forestry or mining activity in their vicinity, and therefore prevent pollution from compromising the river basins. However, the protected area will still allow rafting, hiking and other outdoor activities to take place.

The actual design and parameters of the protected area are still to be determined after consultation led in part by the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS), Conseil régional de l’environnement et du développement durable de l’Outaouais (CREDDO), and the Quebec Government.

“We want the community to be involved and the definition of protected area in terms of limits but also in terms of how it’s going to be managed,’’ said Geneviève Le Blanc, director of conservation at CPAWS. “It’s really great if there’s an opening from the government to do that.”

Le Blanc stressed that the project was about locals both managing the protected area and benefiting from it.

As of now CPAWS is focusing its consultation on recreation ecotourism industries and the MRC, but later they plan to open consultation to the public. The proposals that will be submitted to the Ministry of the Environment and the Fight Against Climate Change are still years off, but right now CPAWS is still in contact with the government and community about the project, according to Le Blanc.

Le blanc also stressed that the protected area will still ensure that people will still be able to do all the outdoor activities they are accustomed to around the rivers.

“This is going to be your playground, you’re still going to be able to do all your hunting, fishing, trapping, cottaging and white-water rafting,” said Le Blanc. “We just want to make these activities actually easier for you to do.”

“It’s just great news,” said Jane Toller, warden of the MRC Pontiac. “That the government saw the importance of protecting these rivers and the main reason why is because there are less and less rivers that are pristine, like the Black and Coulonge.”

Toller said that it would not impact the forestry industry in the Pontiac as most forestry operations are away from the immediate vicinity of the river.

“Our ecotourism that is being built and is attracting a lot of people, especially after covid. Because people are in search of wilderness experiences now. And 50 per cent of people are leaving cities to go to wilderness natural areas, and Pontiac offers that. So, it’s attracting tourists, it’s attracting permanent residents.”

“We still have a bit of work to do, because one part of the Coulonge that was not included is the east branch. That could have been because there was a bit of opposition from other regions, possibly because they think it could affect forestry,” said Toller.

“Gatineau park is becoming saturated and people are really seeking out new places to explore wilderness and to enjoy nature,’’ said Kari Richardson, environmental coordinator at the MRC. “I think this is going to be an asset.”

The biodiversity reservations around the Coulonge and Black rivers are joined by the one around the Dumoine River, is shared between the MRC Pontiac and Temiscaming, which was announced in 2008.

The helicopter that ran tours over Fort Coulonge during its recent Village en Fête. During the tour passengers got a birds eye view of the Coulonge River, the Ottawa River and Félix-Gabriel-Marchand Bridge, among other sites.

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