Search

To minimize wetland losses, many jurisdictions have adopted a 'mitigation sequence' that requires compliance for permit delivery. This study evaluated the outcome of this sequence in the province of Quebec, Canada, during the 3 years following its adoption in 2006. A case study was then conducted in the St. Lawrence Lowlands (29,096 km) to compare statistics on delivered permits with losses detected by detailed mapping of disturbances from two periods: 1990 to 2011 and 2006 to 2011. A total of 558 permits were issued, most of which (550) represented 2870 ha of disturbed wetlands; the remaining (8) corresponding to restoration projects. The mitigation sequence was applied for 323 of the permits, mainly with compensations. The type of action undertaken was registered for only 63 % of the compensations with a minimal fraction dedicated to wetland restoration (1 ha) and creation (14 ha), resulting in a net loss of 99 % of the impacted wetland areas. In the case study, 56,681 ha (19 %) of wetlands had been disturbed in the last two decades, of which 22,535 ha were disturbed between 2006 and 2011, mainly by agricultural and forestry activities. No permit was delivered for these two activities according to our compilation. The area disturbed following permit deliverance was about 17-30 times smaller than losses estimated by our detailed mapping, depending on the period considered. Preserving wetlands will require not only mandatory compliance with the mitigation sequence but also efforts to subscribe all types of industries to the process of permit delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ecoscience (Ecoscience) is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Ecoscience (Ecoscience) is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this study, we reconstructed the long-term fire history of a set of ombrotrophic peatlands (bogs) located in a temperate region of southern Quebec (Bas-Saint-Laurent). Past and recent fire-free intervals (time interval between two consecutive fires) were compared using macrofossil analyses. During most of the Holocene epoch, fires were relatively rare events in bogs of the Bas-Saint-Laurent region. The fire-free intervals were approximately ten times longer (all sites considered) before the beginning of agricultural activities in the region (1800 AD) than after. This strongly suggests an anthropogenic influence on the fire regime prevailing in the bogs over the last 200 years. However, the shortening of the fire-free intervals was mainly the result of the ignition of one or two fires in almost every site during a relatively short period (200 years), rather than a higher fire frequency in each of the bogs. In some cases, fires had an influence on the vegetation structure of bogs, but it is more likely that a combination of several disturbances (fire, drainage, and drier than average summers) favoured the establishment of dense stands of pine and spruce, a forest expansion phenomenon that is now widespread in temperate bogs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Journal of Ecology (2003) 91, 1008–1021 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]