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 Mission Statement
Covering both shores of the St. Lawrence River from the Outaouais, its main tributary, up to the Québec City area, the St. Lawrence Lowlands natural region is unquestionably the most populated of all the major natural areas of Québec and the one that has undergone the most transformations. Paradoxically, it is also perhaps the least well-known natural region. Located 50 km east of Hull in the Outaouais region, Parc national de Plaisance offers a privileged view of the serene, yet animated,
landscapes of these little known Lowlands, whose bays, marshes, islands and peninsulas are teeming with life. In spring, the park's territory also serves as one of Québec's most spectacular staging grounds for Canada Geese and ducks.
 Natural Environment
Bordered to the south by Rivière des Outaouais, whose indented shores it closely follows, to the north by the narrow strip of the Outaouais plain, Parc national de Plaisance presents a gently rolling landscape which extends from west to east along the big river. Like vast terraces with elongated levels, the lands of the park, occupied by fields that are fallow or that contain crops, discreetly blend in with the aquatic environment, which takes on a multitude of forms: islands, peninsulas, bays,
marshes, wetlands. While its channel lies outside the limits of the Park, Rivière des Outaouais is at the heart of the park's landscapes. The main tributary of the St. Lawrence River, whose source is in Abitibi, reaches Plaisance at an impressive width of between 300 and 1,500 m.
Three main geological episodes have left their marks on the landscape. The grooves and furrows cut in the rock testify to the passage of the glaciers some 11,000 years ago; the clayey deposits which carpet the soil were left in days of old by Champlain Sea, which covered the current St. Lawrence River. For their part, the three terraces that descend towards the Outaouais correspond to the marks of the ancient river levels, at the time when the watercourse was a powerful river swollen by the meltwater of the
glaciers.
 Behind the discreet beauty of the landscapes of Plaisance, lie the remarkably rich flora and fauna of its wetlands. The international scientific community has unanimously recognized the importance and the ecological wealth of the wetland habitats, not only for the preservation of biological diversity, but also for the role that they play in several environmental processes (the filtration
of water, for example.) A canoe outing on one of the park's bays is enough to convince you of this point. Each paddle stroke in the moving carpet of irises and water lilies reveals the manifestations of an environment teeming with life. The park's waters are home to numerous fish: 33 species have been surveyed, including the walleye and the large-mouth bass. In the bays, at the moving border between water and land, attentive visitors will be able to observe muskrats feeding on aquatic plants or beavers maintaining
their lodge. Discreet, albeit very present on the territory, three species of turtles - the snapping turtle, the map turtle and the painted turtle - have been observed at the park. In the vicinity of Petite Presqu'île, a piercing sound occasionally breaks the silence early in the morning and the evening: it's the cry of the marmot - or the groundhog, as it is commonly known. The park has a large colony of marmots. The southern flying squirrel and the smoky shrew, much more discreet, are among the fragile or rare
species that find shelter in the park. In spring the evening concert given by frogs testifies to the abundance of this class of animals at Plaisance.
 In late April, the chorus of frogs may be drowned out by the cries of thousands of geese and ducks congregated on the shores. Indeed, Parc national de Plaisance is at the heart of the biggest spring staging area of these birds in Québec. It is estimated that from the end of March to mid-May, over 100,000 Canada Geese and several thousand ducks, on their way north, stop over in the park,
in particular in Baie Noire Ouest, at the mouth of Rivière de la Petite Nation and in Baie de la Pentecôte. During their spring and fall migrations, several species of ducks also frequent the park's wetlands; a large number of these ducks remain there to nest and raise their young including the Blue-winged Teal duck, the Mallard and the Wood Duck. These species, which hunters call waterfowl, live together with many other families of birds common to wetlands (Herons, Mergansers, ducks, grebes, Common Snipe), birds of
prey such as the Osprey, as well as two species that are liable to be designated as threatened or vulnerable: the Least Bittern and the Sedge Wren.
The park's floristic resources are strongly influenced by the presence of fresh water. Its marshes and wetlands are home to underwater or floating grass beds that form a multicolored tapestry characterized by a multitude of forms. Other wetlands include shrubs or trees such as the silver maple and the red ash. On the fallow lands of Petite Presqu'île, one finds remnant plants that are typical of farming operations (grasses, legumes); others that have small shrubs such as raspberry bushes, dogwood or alder reveal a
more advanced stage of reforestation. Finally, a few tracts of the park have escaped logging, in particular at the mouth of Rivière de la Petite Nation, where visitors will find one of the nicest mature hardwood stands characteristic of the sugar maple hickory forest.
Research
Nearly 20 research projects and follow-ups take place on the territory each year. A number of these projects allow us to become more familiar with and to better protect the park's natural resources. Others help us keep track of the park's ecological integrity.
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