Station Quality Index Maps for Spruce and Pine Plantations in Québec

The Government and Municipalities of Québec provides Station Quality Index (IQS) maps for monospecific plantations of white spruce, black spruce, and jack pine. These maps offer a 25-year IQS value at the scale of individual forest polygons, estimated using decision-making tree forest models parameterized with climate, ecological, and edaphic data. The data, updated in 2022 and last modified on the platform in 2026, is available in GeoPackage and CSV formats under a CC-BY-4.0 license.

Use Cases

• Predicting plantation growth potential based on station quality indices.
• Modeling forest productivity using spatially explicit climate and soil variables.
• Planning sustainable forestry management based on estimated 25-year site quality.
• Comparing site suitability for different conifer species (white spruce, black spruce, jack pine).

Strengths

• Provides a 25-year Station Quality Index value for each forest polygon.
• Models are based on multiple spatially explicit data sources, including climate, ecology, and soil characteristics.
• Data is available in both geospatial (GeoPackage) and tabular (CSV) formats for flexibility.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The IQS values are based on the current climate period and do not include future climate projections.

Provenance

Source

Government and Municipalities of Québec

Collection Method

Estimated with non-parametric decision-making tree forest models parameterized from spatial variables.

Time Range

Based on current climate period (no specific years given).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-22 19:04:15.132205; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Québec, Canada, at the scale of forest polygons from the 2022 ecoforest map.