As you can see from the map, Québec has a large portion of the Canadian boreal forest. An agreement has been reached to protect a vast area of that forest. The entire forest is a carbon sink and a source of fresh water and a breeding ground for millions of birds.

The Broadback Forest is one of the last large wilderness areas remaining in Quebec’s Boreal Forest. A thriving ecosystem of lakes, rivers and old growth spruce and pine forests, the Broadback watershed covers more than 21,000 km2 (5.1 million acres). Home to First Nations communities, threatened caribou herds and numerous forest-dependent species, the Broadback could be described as the last frontier of intact Boreal Forest in the province.

What makes the Broadback so rich, so valuable?
The cultural heritage of First Nations communities
Hunting, fishing and trapping remain at the core of the Cree way of life and are still supported by the health and abundance of the Broadback Forest ecosystem. To sustain these important cultural values, the Grand Council of the Crees are proposing both a new approach to forest management for the entire Broadback watershed, the traditional territory of several Cree First Nations, and legislated protection of an area totalling 13,000km2. Learn more about the Cree’s unified approach to conserve the Broadback.

Habitat for threatened species
The Broadback Forest is home to woodland caribou herds as well as other severely endangered species, such as Golden and Bald Eagles. To secure a future for Woodland caribou populations, large protected areas need to be created in Quebec’s Boreal. Currently there are none. A joint study by Quebec’s Ministry of Natural Resources and the Cree Regional Authority confirmed two caribou herds in the region are no longer self-sustaining. This means they are on the brink of extirpation. Action now to conserve the Broadback would secure the best quality habitat in the commercial forestry zone and ensure connectivity between local caribou populations – a factor essential to their long-term survival.

A significant carbon storehouse
The old growth trees, bogs and soil in the Broadback’s intact landscape absorb tonnes of greenhouse gases, help mitigate climate change and serve as a critical carbon storehouse. Scientific studies indicate soil disturbance resulting from road-building and logging can release stored carbon into the atmosphere, adding to the burden of greenhouse gases.

Intact forest are becoming rare
Intact old growth and virgin forests are rapidly vanishing in Québec’s Boreal Forest. Only 5.1% of the territory south of the 52nd parallel (the current northern limit of economically valuable forests) is protected and over 90% of the province’s commercially viable and ecologically rich forests have already been logged. This makes the remaining 10% of intact (virgin) forests left in the province’s commercial forest region rare and of tremendous ecological value. Protecting significant tracts of these intact forests that remain is of critical importance for the species that rely on them and ecological services they provide.

Much of Vast Quebec Forest Now Protected
A Quebec boreal forest will see about 1.3 million acres – more than a third of its land – protected from logging, the provincial government and the Grand Council of the Crees announced Monday.
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An important aspect of the announcement is the decision to preserve intact areas rather than areas already fragmented by logging, said Justina Ray, the executive director of the Wildlife Conservation Society Canada. Boreal woodland caribou need intact areas in order to thrive, she explained.

“They really require large intact pieces of forest. Experience suggests – and there’s a lot of good evidence for this – that the more development takes place in their ranges, the more likelihood there is that they cannot persist,” she said, adding that caribou have been in decline in Southern Ontario regions that have been fragmented by logging.