Nelson Sergerie, LJI Journalist
International Appalachian Trail (SIA) on the Côte-de-Gaspé would like to obtain a recurring program for its maintenance after spending $30,000 over the last two years to clear the trail following severe wind events.
Jean-Marc Hardy, a member of the SIA board of directors, would like the Quebec government to create a program like the one set up to maintain the Route verte for cyclists.
The December 2023 storm cost the local committee $10,000, thanks in part to volunteer contributions. Without this support, expenses might have reached nearly $20,000. This figure excludes other Gaspé sectors of the trail.
Fortunately, the MRC de la Côte-de-Gaspé, the Town of Gaspé and Desjardins assisted due to the storm’s exceptional impact.
“Usually, for regular trail maintenance, there is never anyone who wants to help us,” notes Mr. Hardy.
A similar storm in December 2022 cost $20,000. “The fact that it happens two years in a row when the recurrence is perhaps two to three times in 100 years, that it happens two years in a row, we can be tempted to link it with climate change and the future does not look any rosier,” says Mr. Hardy.
After two large storms in two years, the trail managers hope that the forest around the trail has been adequately cleared. “With climate change and the spruce budworm, and what doesn’t help us, logging changes the dynamics of the winds around the trail. All that put together, we’re not sure we’ll get a break, but we still hope so,” he says.
To address these challenges, trail managers have requested recurring funding from the Ministry of Transportation.
“Based on the principle of the Route verte, long hikes are one of the sustainable means of transportation that should be encouraged but, to encourage them, we still have to support the organizations that manage the trails. We are asking to try to have a budget that could work like the Route verte. We would be sure to get a helping hand every year,” says Mr. Hardy.
Such recurring funding would allow for preventive measures along the trails.
Following last December’s windstorms, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests reported that 5,408 hectares of forest were devastated in Haute-Gaspésie, the only place where windthrow was observed.
This summer the ministry recalculated these figures using satellite images.
Of the total, 3,186 hectares of forest on public lands and 582 hectares on private lands were devastated by more than 75%.
Additionally, 1,329 hectares of public lands and 311 hectares of private land experienced partial windthrow, where 25 to 75% of trees were affected. Areas with less than 25% tree loss were not counted.