Marie-Jean-Eudes Ecological Reserve Voyage Tips and guide

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The Marie-Jean-Eudes Ecological Reserve constitutes a public conservation, education and research. Its territory is located in the township of Desaulniers, in the unorganized territory of the regional county municipality of Maskinongé, in the administrative region of Mauricie, in Quebec, Canada. This ecological reserve is enclosed in the eastern part of the Mastigouche Wildlife Reserve.

Its raison d'être of the Marie-Jean-Eudes Ecological Reserve is to ensure the protection of ecosystems representative of the ecological region of the Middle Laurentians of Mauricie, which belongs to the sugar maple-yellow birch domain.

This small reserve of 8.32 km² (3.21 sq mi) is administered by the Quebec Ministry of the Environment.

This ecological reserve was created in 1992. It was named after Sister Marie-Jean-Eudes (née Marie-Bernadette-Eugénie Tellier) (1897-1978), a botanist. Tellier is considered a pioneer in the study of natural sciences in Quebec. In particular, she worked for more than 30 years in the field of scientific popularization within the Circle of Young Naturalists. Several articles in biology, geology and especially botany, have been published under his pen.

On the south side, its territory is delimited by Lake Gauthier and Lake Shawinigan; on the east side, by Lac Brodeur. This territory includes the Girard, Bellemare, Hector, Gélinas, Cresson and Merle lakes. In short, this territory is at the eastern limit of the Mastigouche wildlife reserve, therefore very close to the western limit of La Mauricie National Park.

The relief of this reserve in the middle Laurentians is hilly. Topographically, the altitude of this reserve varies between 335 m, near Lake Shawinigan, about 489 m to the northwest. According to specialists from the Ministry, the source rock of the reserve is mainly composed of gneiss, original rocks formed in the Precambrian period. On the surface of these rocks, the last glaciation left sand-textured tills, thick on the slopes and thinner towards the summits. The territory of the reserve also includes fluvio-glacial sands and gravels in the valley bottoms, as well as recent peat deposits in poorly drained basins. While the soils mainly contain Dystric Brunisols and Humo-Ferric Podzols.

Stands dominated by deciduous trees and those dominated by coniferous trees are approximately equivalent. Among the deciduous group, the sugar maple-yellow birch grove occupies the slopes facing south and west. The sugar bush, yellow birch and large-leaved beech colonize areas of altitude above 400 m. On the other hand, the conifer group is divided into four stable stands: pure black spruce, balsam fir-black spruce, black spruce-white pine, and balsam fir-yellow birch.

From the reception stations of Pins Rouges of the Mastigouche Wildlife Reserve, the trip by the forest road is 36.4 km (22.6 mi) to the bridge over the outlet of Lac Gauthier. In the Mastigouche wildlife reserve, all you have to do is take the forest road along the Loup river, then the forest road passing near Lac Jouet, Lac du Pimbina, to Lac Shawinigan; then take the branch leading to the west shore of Lac Brodeur. A segment of the forest road passing on the north side of Shawinigan Lake more or less constitutes the southern limit of this reserve; this forest road leads to a small resort hamlet on a peninsula (attached to the north shore) between Lake Shawinigan and Petit lac Shawinigan.

• From Montreal (169 km (105 mi). Time: 2 hr 34 min. Take highway 40 (north shore) heading east; take Chemin Caron (northbound); take route 138 (eastbound) to the village of Louiseville; take Rang Barthélemy (northbound), and cross the villages of Sainte-Angèle-de-Prémont and Saint-Alexis-des-Monts; take the rang des Pins Rouge (direction nod), up to the Reserve reception station.
• From Quebec (city) (221 km (137 mi). Time: 2 hr 43 min. Take highway 40 (westbound) and cross Trois-Rivières; take highway 55 (northbound) to Saint-Étienne-des-Grès; take Chemin des Dalles (westbound); take the chemin du 2e rang (northbound) to the village of Charrette; take route 350 (westbound) to the village of Saint-Paulin; take the 349 (westbound) to the village of Saint-Alexis-des-Monts; take the rang des Pins Rouge (direction nod), up to the Reserve reception station.

• Observation of flora and fauna. The ecological reserve has no marked hiking trails. Access to the reserve requires special authorization to preserve the natural integrity of the site. (updated Dec 2021)

• 46.6114-73.19461 Réserve faunique Mastigouche – A wildlife reserve in Quebec dedicated to the conservation, development and use of wildlife as well as the practice of recreational activities. This reserve is north of Saint-Alexis-des-Monts, Saint-Paulin and Saint-Mathieu-du-Parc.
• 46.7963-72.96682 Saint-Maurice Wildlife Reserve (Réserve faunique du Saint-Maurice) – Park administered by Sépaq on the west bank of the Saint-Maurice river and north of the Matawin river. This park offers chalet rental, small game hunting, fishing, camping and ready-to-camp services. The main entrance is the Mékinac bridge which spans the Saint-Maurice river.
• 47.4587-72.96683 La Mauricie National Park – National park offering several recreational and tourism activities: sport fishing, hiking (160 km of trails), cycling, canoeing, kayaking, swimming, interpretation trails, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, camping (both in summer and in winter), canoe-camping, long hike in complete autonomy. A promenade road crosses the park right through. This park is bounded by the Matawin River to the north and the St-Maurice River to the east. It has two entrances: Saint-Mathieu and Saint-Jean-des-Piles.
• 46.90579-72.93374 ZEC du Chapeau-de-Paille – Controlled exploitation zone (ZEC) created in 1978 in the MRC de Mékinac, in Mauricie. This zec covers 1,270 km² (490 sq mi), covering the townships of Badeaux, Arcand, Seigneurie du Cap-de-la-Madeleine, Brehault, Livernois and Normand.
• 46.5129-73.655 ZEC des Nymphes – Controlled exploitation zone (ZEC) created in 1979. Its territory covers 171 km² (66 sq mi) in the municipalities of Mandeville, Saint-Damien and east of Saint-Zénon.
• 46.3071-73.35166 Mandeville – A municipality of Lanaudière focused on recreational tourism and forestry.
• 46.4076-73.13467 Saint-Alexis-des-Monts Locality whose economy is focused on recreational tourism activities (vacationing, hunting & fishing, swimming, snowmobiling, mountain biking, etc.) and forestry.
• 47.0144-72.73148 Trois-Rives – The municipality of Trois-Rives has five hamlets or villages: Saint-Joseph-de-Mékinac, Rivière-Matawin, Olscamps, Grande-Anse and part of Rivière-aux-Rats. Its economy is focused on forestry, agriculture and recreational tourism activities (vacationing, hunting & fishing, swimming, snowmobiling, mountain biking, etc.). The bridge erected at Matawin (over the Saint-Maurice river) gives privileged access to the ZEC du Chapeau- de-Paille and the Saint-Maurice wildlife reserve.
• 46.5078-72.91769 Saint-Mathieu-du-Parc Located in the northern suburbs of Shawinigan, this municipality is centred on a residential vocation and on recreational tourism activities thanks to the Saint-Mathieu recreation park and the Mauricie National Park reception centre.