It’s already fall, a perfect time to appreciate the beauty of the watershed’s forest landscapes. They’re just waiting to shine. Although the days are getting shorter, the sunsets have never been more enchanting. Samuel Gray’s drone photos from last weekend give us new perspectives on the region. The normally green landscape lights up in a thousand vibrant hues.

“It’s our gift to you says Mathieu Régnier, warm colors before cold weather comes”. This transformation of the forest cover is as beautiful as ever—a vast painting—and a reminder from the entire Ruisseau Jackson team of the need to protect this precious land.

Acer saccharum fiat lux

Several hardwood stands and sugar maple-dominated mixed stands grow in the region, covering over 250 hectares around the watershed. One of the most representative sugar maple (Acer saccharum) stands is at the western edge of the site in the southwest hills along Log Village Road in Morin-Heights. The composition of the plant community in the stands is also found in other areas along the basin, including the mountainous areas south of Jackson Road in Morin-Heights and northwest of Kilpatrick Road in Saint-Sauveur. Another choice location for Acer saccharum is the sector at the top of the hills west of Côte Saint-Gabriel Road in Saint-Sauveur.

There are also many treed swamps and wooded bogs across the territory. The communities are specific to wetlands and have very different structures from dry stands. In fact, the region teems with shade-intolerant hardwood stands, magnificent hemlock forests and pine-dominated stands.

Certain stands are rarely found in the region’s bioclimatic zone. Without revealing their exact locations, some of these exceptional sites include:

• An old spruce stand with red spruce and balsam fir;
• An old balsam fir stand with red spruce;
• A black ash woodland with poplar and balsam fir;
• An old larch stand with red spruce and balsam fir;
• A cedar grove with red spruce and balsam fir.

Photo credits: Samuel Gray – sgrayphotos

And a few more…