Green Mountains and Appalachian Corridor

The Green Mountains physiographical unit, part of the Northern Appalachians and Acadia Ecoregion, extends over 11,500 km2. It links up with the Green Mountains of Vermont, and is one of the last regions of southern Quebec where extensive wilderness tracks remain relatively intact.

The area’s large forested blocks that are still unfragmented support an incredible biological diversity. The region provides valuable habitats for almost a hundred species at risk; it is also treasured for its concentration of lakes, unrivalled anywhere in the Canadian portion of Appalachian range, and its important wetlands. Its jagged topography gave rise to rocky cliffs and outcrops, caves, gorges, waterfalls and a multitude of permanent or intermittent streams, all of which contribute significantly to the natural area’s enrichment.

Geography
The Quebec part of the Green Mountains physiographical unit extends over 726 km2 from the Canada-US border in the south to the municipality of St-Étienne-de-Bolton in the north; from Mount Pinnacle (Frelighsburg) in the east to the Missisquoi North River in the west. This territory is made of a quasi-continuous forested corridor (only partially fragmented by half-a-dozen main roads) with a backbone of forested peaks.

Geology The bedrock of the region is essentially composed of folded sedimentary and metamorphic rocks resulting from to the various collisions, intrusions of magma and volcanic activities that occurred following the closing of the Iapetus Ocean. These are mainly clays, sandstones, conglomerates and limestone appearing more or less in strips oriented southwest-northeast.

Ecology
The Quebec part of the Green Mountains is covered at 70% by forests. These forest communities are mostly deciduous (50 %). They belong to the northern temperate bioclimatic sub-zone and, more specifically, to the eastern sub-domain of the Maple-Basswood domain where, at altitudes above 400 m, forest communities are found to be similar to that of more northern zones such as the Maple-Yellow Birch and Balsam Fir-White Birch domains.

Maple-Yellow birch stands are the most widely represented in the Quebec part of the Green Mountains and are centered in the Sutton Mountains. This vegetation can be found on dry to wet sites, where deposits vary from thin to thick, and sometimes also on higher slopes. Maple-Basswood stands can be found in periphery on dry to wet sites. Yellow birch-Balsam fir-Sugar maple stands are scattered throughout the territory, and can be found on thin to thick deposits, on dry to wet sites. Maple-Hornbeam stands are only found in small areas.

A vast quantity of wetlands can be found in the Green Mountains natural area. Studies led by Appalachian Corridor characterised and delimited precisely a number of these wetlands within specific watersheds of the region. Represented wetland types include ombrotrophic and minerotrophic bogs, marshes, forested swamps and shrubby swamps (mainly red maple and alder swamps).

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