Two sections of the National Trail in Quebec are found in the territory of Duhamel, namely the trail Iroquois and the trail La Route des Zingues. Recently, the Quebec government released 2.7 million to connect and upgrade sections of the SN. In the 2000s, the national trail already existed between Val-des-Bois and Duhamel for the purpose of long-distance skiing and not for hiking. That is to say that it was designed to reach the refuges or chalets of the Papinau Labelle Reserve. In addition, as the ground and marshes are frozen in winter, certain sections became impassable for hiking in the summer. And for other sections, forest roads did the trick, which removed all interest. What could be �flatter� than a forest path, except for picking raspberries! And as there already existed a network of long-distance cross-country ski trails in refuges to the north of the Reserve, the southern one did not meet expectations and was abandoned. Logging has also caused a large part of this SN to the south to disappear. That's the story. Today, hiking is experiencing unprecedented growth. The release of funds by Quebec gives the chance to reconnect the sections of the trail. Thus, the municipalities of Duhamel, Val-des-Bois, Montpellier and also Lac Simon have decided to reconstitute the National Trail between Val des Bois and Duhamel, but this time, for hiking. Taking the example of La Route des Zingues, which is successful with its many points of interest. A development plan for the route (70 km~) is being prepared and will be presented to the government for subsidy purposes. The new route will include arrangements to allow rest areas for hikers (lean-to). And its route will run alongside several lakes and points of interest. Thus, the National Iroquois trail will be connected to the one coming from Val-des Bois.

For the Route des Zingues, which currently goes to Lake Marie-Lefranc at Minerve, equivalent work is being prepared to continue it to the H�ritage trail at Labelle. Let's hope that the two municipalities concerned get involved as other municipalities in the south do. Deadline for submitting projects: November 11. If everything comes to fruition for these National Trail connections, we too will have our Crossing like Charlebois has its own. Crossing the Outaouais, the Laurentians to reach Lanaudi�re, we could call it the Oulala Crossing!

Good hikes. R.C.

Click on the image to enlarge.

The APLG reminds you that the danger of fire is extreme, the recent heat has made the environment very dry. SOPFEU has also decreed a ban on open-air fires for the whole province.

We remind you that "La Loi sur l'am�nagement durable du territoire forestier (section 239) provides that anyone who contravenes a measure to reduce the risk of forest fires prescribed by the Minister under section 189 is liable to a fine of $500 to $50,000." (source MFFP), French only

Feeding white-tailed deer now prohibited in Quebec.

Article 7.6.1 du r�glement uniformis� en pr�vention d'incendie (French only)

An information sharing session abouut the Sentinelles project took place on July 17th, and it was a real success. More than thirty people from the Lake Gagnon, Dor�, Petit Poisson Blanc, Barri�re and Simon attended the event. A wonderfull example of collaboration.

There are 35 vonunteers that inspects the shores of the lake Gagnon to detect the presence of the Eurasian Watermilfoil.

It is a program where each volunteer is trained on the identification of the plant and an area is allocated to him.

Thank you to Paul St-Georges for sharing his expertise, to Elsa Dussault responsable of Lake Simon for her collaboration, to all the Sentinelles and to the municipality of Duhamel, who is a strategic partner against the Eurasian Watermilfoil since the beginning.

Don't hesitate to talk about this porject to your neighbors.The Lake Gagnon is huge and we need the collaboration of everyone!

For more information, go visit the Eurasian Watermilfoil section of the website.

Thanks and enjoy the summer!