Report - Agence canadienne d'évaluation environnementale

Impacts on the natural environment
terminal area, the proponent plans to reforest 10 ha and to reseed 18 ha of the
territory, for a total compensation of 28 ha. Once this area is subtracted from the
deforested area, i.e. 49.2 ha, the net loss of the wooded area will be 21.2 ha.
Furthermore, the agreement, concluded between the proponent and City of Lévis,
specifies that large-size seedlings of indigenous species will serve in the reforestation
of concealment berms (DM315, p. 50). The proponent plans to follow-up on the
reforested or reseeded areas during the first two years and, where the planted tree
survival rate would be less than 90 percent, the areas would be reforested or
reseeded with appropriate seedlings. The MRNF also suggests the reforestation of
the banks of the two creeks 1 , which run north of Hydro-Québec’s power lines (DB30).
Spanning a minimal width of 30 m across the creeks, this reforestation would cover
7.7 ha. The strip width should also take into account the agricultural environment’s
value (DQ62.1).
♦ Recommendation 15 — In order to avoid a net loss of wildlife habitats, the Panel
recommends that the proponent prepare a compensation plan for deforested areas
located in the terminal area and in areas of similar value, to the satisfaction of the
ministère du Développement durable, de l’Environnement et des Parcs (MDDEP) and
the ministère des Ressources naturelles et de la Faune.
As shown in Table 16, the project would entail the loss of 26 ha of plantations on
some 50 ha of deforested areas. These plantations were developed since 1994 with
the support of the Quebec government’s Programme d’aide à la mise en valeur des
forêts privées., The MRNF considers them to be productive woodlands since most of
these plantations are ten years old or more. The ministry is of the opinion that the size
of trees in some conifer and maple plantations slated for deforestation would enable
them to be transplanted along the creeks whose banks have been suggested for
reforestation (DQ62.1, p. 2).
♦ Opinion 18 — Considering the biological quality of the plantations affected by the
project and the fact that they benefited from public funding, the Panel believes that the
proponent should find ways to compensate the public funds invested in these
plantations, subsequent to an agreement with the ministère des Ressources naturelles
et de la Faune.
1. These unidentified creeks are mentioned in document PR3.3.1, p. 2-22 and appear on map 1 of document
PR3.3.2, appendix C-2. They are identified as R-01 and R-02 in document DB31.
200 Rabaska Project – Implementation of an LNG Terminal and Related Infrastructure