From the land of the Nishnabis… to a controlled harvesting
zone!
History
of ZEC Dumoine…
The
magnificent land that is now the ZEC Dumoine has a rich legacy of
adventure and discovery.
1.
Land of the Nishnabis1
The first inhabitants to travel the area that would
later become the ZEC Dumoine were the Otaguottouemins. This
Algonquin tribe led a nomadic life, fishing, hunting and
gathering wild berries. They lived here until 1918 when
they were completely decimated by sickness.
1Source:
SAINT-ARNAUD, H., Rivière Dumoine 04-19-00-00, Fédération
québécoise du canot-camping (1986), 27 pages.
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2.
The lumbering Era2
In 1850, two forestry companies (the ancestors of Consolidated
Bathurst and E. B. Eddy) discovered the immense white pine
forests in the southeastern part of the Temiskaming region.
At the time, pines of such size and beauty were unheard of!
After being transformed into boards, they were towed by small
steam-powered boats called Alligators to the river’s
mouth.
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The
Dumoine River was highly sought after for log drives. In order
to avoid logjams on the river’s falls, slides were built
and the perilous task of guiding the logs through these slides
fell to the drivers. Even today, vestiges of these slides
can be seen along the riverbanks.
At
the time, many camps had been established in the area by
logging companies. There were lumber camps, where workers
lived in very primitive conditions, depots, where provisions,
supplies and wood were stored, and forest farms, that year
in year out, produced a bit of grain, meat, and other farm
products. In order to supply these small towns in the bush,
trails were blazed from the camps to the closest navigable
waterway. These waterways were then used by horses pulling
metal-wheeled carts. Thanks to the compacting of the soil
from the repeated passing of those metal wheels, the vegetation
was unable to reclaim along the wagon trails. ZEC Dumoine
has been able to make use of them to revitalize the sectors
of the area that were relatively undisturbed by forestry
operations in order to make a fantastic 24-kilometre long
hiking trail.
Even today, there are companies harvesting the immense forests
that dot our territory. However, the means of harvesting
have changed a great deal since the days of drivers and
logslides.
2Ibid.
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3.
Private clubs
This section on-line soon! |
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4.
Creation of ZEC Dumoine
In 1978, the government of Québec launched Operation
Wildlife Management and, in so doing, ended the renewal of
leases for private fishing and hunting clubs. These immense
preserves, now known as zones d’exploitation contrôlée
(zec), became once again the property of the people of
Quebec. Non-profit organizations, managed by directors elected
from the members of each of the ZECs, were created and mandated
to ensure wildlife management and conservation in their territory.
That is how the Association des Chasseurs et Pêcheurs
de la rivière Dumoine came into being. The Association
performs the following functions:
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Oversees
the follow-up and verification of wildlife harvesting
in order to ensure balance between wildlife supply and
user demand. |
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Ensures
equal opportunity for access to the territory and recreational
use of the wildlife. |
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Offers
all users a chance to participate in decisions about
wildlife management. |
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Ensures
self-financing from the sale of membership cards and
access rights as well as the sale of hunting and fishing
packages or packages combining the two. |
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5. Birth of a competitive entity - AGZAT
In order to facilitate discourse between ZEC managers and
regional workers, regional assemblies were formed in each
of the regions of Québec. In Abitibi-Témiscamingue,
this association comprises the area’s six ZECs: Dumoine,
Kipawa, Restigo, Maganasipi, Capitachouane and Festubert.
6.
A Provincial Representative - FQGZ
The Fédération
québécoise des gestionnaires de zecs (FQGZ)
was created in 1983. It was given the mission of representing
the ZEC management organizations and defend their interests
on a provincial scale in a spirit of conservation and wildlife
promotion. Since then, the FQGZ has been recognized by the
government of Québec as the official representative
of the 62 organizations certified to manage hunting, fishing
and outdoor activity ZECs.
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