A contract to cut down burned trees that never burned

Believing he was going to a completely burned forest, an entrepreneur from Abitibi-Témiscamingue, who did not wish to be identified to avoid losing future contracts, was surprised to see that a large part of the trees were in good health in the area. Senneterre sector.

He had just obtained the contract to cut these trees from the Rexforêt organization, which is mandated by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests of Quebec, in particular to distribute contracts for silvicultural work in public forests.

The contract stipulates that this involves felling burnt wood, but the contractor notes on site that several sectors were spared by the forest fires of June 2023 which ravaged more than 20,000 hectares in the sector.

Some blocks are completely green while in other cases he estimates that more than 30% of the trees are still healthy.

He then informs Rexforêt that it is probably an error. He claims to have received the response to go ahead with the contract anyway, because no one was available to go on site.

The contract in question provides to eliminate the residual burned stems that remained standing after the fire has passed and leaving them on the ground in a windrow, a technique which consists of leaving space between the rows of trees on the ground.

On site, - noted that part of the targeted sector was indeed destroyed by the forest fires, but in certain places, the trees are in good health, one year after the fire.

We see these cases regularly. Files like that, I could send you tons of copies, as they say.

Fabien Simard, general director of the Association of Silvicultural Work Contractors of Quebec (AETSQ), believes that the Ministry has no idea of ​​what is on site, because they don’t have time to come to the field.

You have poor management of public funds. There, we are compromising work for future generations and what’s more, there are Abitibi industrialists who are going to run out of wood and there, we are taking some and throwing it on the ground. On all axes, you cannot have worse management than the case you showed mehe adds, specifying that all this wood could eventually be used in the forestry industry. An industry that is experiencing a lot of difficulties at the moment while many factories are temporarily closed. Another example, according to him, of the urgency of reviewing Quebec’s forestry regime.

Among the trees present on the site, a few mature conifers, a relatively healthy young plantation and also several deciduous trees such as birches.

This isn’t really good news in itself. We understood that the wood burned in the summer of 2023 cannot all be recovered. We understood that very well. But if there is mature wood, green wood in the forest that could go into factories, we will definitely ask for explanations.says Nathalie-Ann Pelchat, mayor of Senneterre.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests (MRNF) specifies that it contacted Rexforêt following -’s interview request.

Rexforêt has confirmed that the contractor is currently delimiting on the ground the sectors to be treated, excluding healthy wood as listed in the operational directive.specifies for its part the Ministry by email.

In the call for tenders for work in the sector, we can read a short sentence which mentions thatin order to promote natural regeneration, healthy/green mature PIG (jack pine) or EPN (black spruce) clumps/islands must be left on site.

The AESTQ specifies that this paragraph is always included in calls for tenders. The contractor who received the contract in question recalls that in certain cases, the entire lot to be cut was green, proof, according to him, that the MRNF had no idea of ​​what was on site.

There are thousands of acres of completely burned woods here and the Department is choosing to start with blocks of several healthy trees. For me it’s a big problemspecifies the entrepreneur who had the contract.

- also noted the presence of numerous healthy hardwood trees on site. While the conifers will ultimately be spared, the deciduous trees will all be cut down and left on the ground. The Association of Silvicultural Contractors believes that these trees would have been cut without the intervention of this contractor.

The Ministry of Natural Resources adds that the work began on Monday, November 4. Procedures are in place to allow the Ministry and Rexforêt to monitor, on a regular basis, the progress of the work and the performance of Rexforêt so that adjustments or corrections can be made if required.he adds by email.

An unnecessary expense

The Association of Silvicultural Contractors of Quebec also denounces, in this case, a misuse of public funds. The contract for felling the trees cost nearly $800 per hectare for a total of more than $300,000. Most of the trees burned were relatively small, and the contract could have cost much less, according to the association.

It is a plantation that does not need to be destroyed. We could just take a harrow or a TTS [une machine pour créer des sillons] and scarify, then we would save $700 per hectare, but here we are taking a much more expensive method because we have not been in the fieldexplains Fabien Simard, who mentions that $160,000 could have been saved in this case.

He adds that the technique recommended by Rexforêt also provides that the trees will be left on the ground, which reduces the surface area by 20% to be able to replant trees. The one that Fabien Simard cites would have made it possible to recover 100% of the surface.

The choice they made is not the right one, but to know that, you have to be on the groundadds Fabien Simard.