Quebec Ecoforest Map with Annual Disturbance Updates

A 1:250,000 scale map covering nearly all territory south of Quebec's 52nd parallel, derived from aerial photo interpretation and field control points. It integrates annual updates for disturbances like fires and harvesting, with a minimum mapping area of 4 hectares for forest stands and 0.1 hectares for disturbances. The fifth mapping cycle has been ongoing since 2015.

Use Cases

• Analyze spatial patterns of forest stands and recent disturbances like fires or harvesting across southern Quebec.
• Model forest change over time by integrating annual disturbance layers for interventions, epidemics, and windfalls.
• Assess forest territory characteristics and ecological features at a 1:250,000 scale for regional planning.
• Track the chronology of disturbance events, prioritizing the most recent original or partial disturbance per area.

Strengths

• Annual integration of disturbance outlines for fires, harvesting, epidemics, and other events.
• Covers nearly all public and private forest territory south of Quebec's 52nd parallel.
• Minimum mapping area of 4 hectares for stands and 0.1 hectares for disturbances provides detailed granularity.
• Multi-format availability including GEOJSON, GPKG, and CSV for flexible analysis.

Limitations

• Mapping cycle is approximately 10 years, so base forest portrait data may be dated relative to the latest aerial photograph.
• Only the most recent disturbance is kept in the main map; full historical disturbance data requires accessing separate annual layers.
• Specific row counts, column schemas, and total dataset size are unknown from the provided metadata.

Provenance

Source

Government and Municipalities of Québec

Collection Method

Interpretation of aerial photographs and field control points as part of the ecoforest inventory.

Time Range

Fifth mapping cycle ongoing since 2015; annual disturbance updates.

Freshness

Updated annually with disturbance layers; metadata indicates a last update date of 2026-03-25.

Geography

Nearly all territory south of the 52nd parallel in Quebec's public and private forest.