The **portrait of forest cover in Québec** is an assembly made from the up-to-date ecoforest map of the inventory of southern Quebec and vegetation maps from the northern ecoforest inventory and Northern Quebec. Administrative divisions, forest boundaries and territories where forest management responsibilities and obligations are under the responsibility of the municipal environment are also added. Then, an update is carried out for areas that have a predominant use other than forest, including the road and rail network, energy transmission lines, cultivated land and built environments. The portrait makes it easy to calculate the rate of land use by forests in the territory of a municipality, an unorganized territory, an indigenous territory, an MRC or an administrative region, then to draw up a summary of some main characteristics of the forest. Annually, the portrait is reproduced with the most recent version of the data sources and then published on the Data Québec portal in December.**This third party metadata element was translated using an automated translation tool (Amazon Translate).**

__The link: *Access the data directory* is available in the section*Dataset Description Sheets; Additional Information*__. **Change in forest cover detected by satellite imagery** is a provincial polygonal vector database produced using automated analysis of Sentinel-2 satellite imagery. This analysis aims to detect changes in forest cover throughout southern Quebec. The database includes disturbances of anthropogenic or natural origin, identified from images acquired during the summer period and analyzed at a resolution of 10 m × 10 m. It only contains detectable disturbances for which **no official information** was available at the time of the analysis. To determine if a disturbance is already known, the analysis compares the detected changes to the following official databases: + Harvesting and other silvicultural interventions + Forest fires + Epidemic, wind and ice storm + Forest infrastructures Polygons remain in the product as long as no official source confirms the nature or origin of the disturbance. As soon as official information becomes available, the element is removed from the diaper during the next release of the product. The analysis of the detected change is carried out once a year, during the months of October and November, using Sentinel-2 satellite imagery captured between June and September.**This third party metadata element was translated using an automated translation tool (Amazon Translate).**

__The link: *Access the data directory* is available in the section*Dataset Description Sheets; Additional Information*__. The **Harvest and other silvicultural interventions** mapping is produced as part of the ecoforestry inventory of southern Quebec in order to maintain an up-to-date portrait of the forest. Several stakeholders related to forest operations participate in maintaining this forest portrait, including the Regional Operations Sector of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests (MRNF), private forest development agencies and major landowners. This map contains information on forest interventions carried out on the territory (e.g. harvesting, thinning, reforestation) as well as the year of work. The period of work begins at the beginning of the 20th century (when information is available) to the present day. The associated information is presented as a series of overlays of interventions. This map covers the commercial territory of public forests and private forests in Quebec. **The minimum mapping area is 0.1 ha. ** __ ⚠️ Note that__ when there is more than one intervention on the same territory during the same year, priority is given to the one that changes the forest cover in a sustainable way (e.g. planting). To have access to all the interventions for the same year (in public forests only), please consult the technical and financial activity reports (RATF) distributed by the Ministry's Regional Operations Sector on the government website of Data Québec. **This third party metadata element was translated using an automated translation tool (Amazon Translate).**

__The link: *Access the data directory* is available in the section*Dataset Description Sheets; Additional Information*__. The layer of **ecological planning units (UPE) ** constitutes the territorial base at the base of the ecoforest inventory process in southern Quebec (IEQM). It was created and then integrated as part of the current inventory (fifth IEQM). It integrates concepts that are both administrative (forest region) and ecological (ecological region). More precisely, the division is done on an ecological basis within each of the forest regions. It is on this basis that the activities of the IEQM are planned. Each of the layers included in the IEQM monitoring datasets reports on what has been achieved as part of the current inventory. We are talking here about aerial photography, mapping, terrestrial sampling of temporary sample plots, and compilation activities. Each year, new territories are added to each layer to reflect the progress of the work. **This third party metadata element was translated using an automated translation tool (Amazon Translate).**

__The link: *Access the data directory* is available in the section*Dataset Description Sheets; Additional Information*__. The forest maps from the first inventory are available at a scale of 1/20,000. They cover almost all of the territory south of the 52nd parallel. Each file covers an area of approximately 250 km2. These digital maps correspond to black and white paper maps with a dimension of 125 cm X 75 cm that have been **digitized and georeferenced**. They illustrate forest stands. They were prepared from the photo-interpretation of aerial photos on a scale of 1/15,000. Main components: * outline of forest stands; * type of vegetation (forest species, density, height and stage of development, origin); * disturbances; * nature of the land (peatlands, gravel, etc.); * territorial subdivisions; * hydrography (lakes, rivers, streams, swamps, etc.); * transport network and bridges; * topography (level curves). __Note that__ the units of measurement shown on the maps in the first inventory are those of the English imperial system of measurement. **This third party metadata element was translated using an automated translation tool (Amazon Translate).**

__The link: *Access the data directory* is available in the section*Dataset Description Sheets; Additional Information*__. The original ecoforest map of the third inventory is made from aerial photographs as well as several other products to inform the photointerpreter (forest interventions, information concerning natural disturbances, data from previous inventories, etc.). This map shows the various forest and ecological characteristics of the forest territory and corresponds to the forest profile up to the year in which the aerial photograph was taken. To learn more about ecoforest stratification parameters, simply consult Chapter 3 of the document [*Ecoforest Mapping Standards — Third Ecoforest Inventory (MRNF, 2009) *] (https://mrnf.gouv.qc.ca/documents/forets/inventaire/norme-cartographie-ecoforestiere.pdf). __Note that__ the original ecoforest map of the third inventory has been complete since 2003 and that no new cartographic information has been added since then. Note, however, that improvements were made to the dataset format in 2025.**This third party metadata element was translated using an automated translation tool (Amazon Translate).**

This data layer contains individual forest stand level information for the Kemptville District, including: * working group (meaning a grouping of stands with the same predominant species composition. These are generally labelled based on the tree species that occupies the greatest canopy closure or amount of basal area in the stand) * species ID and percentage * height * age * stocking (meaning a qualitative measurement of the density of tree cover in a forest stand. This is generally based on the species with the most basal area, expressed as a percentage value ranging from zero to a maximum of 4. A stocking of 0 is empty, 1 is fully stocked, more than 1 is overstocked) * crown closure * soil moisture * stand modifier (meaning the subdivision of productive forest areas based on the presence or absence of physical or biological factors that will limit the ability to practice timber management) * site index * stand area (m²) This data was digitized in 1998 from 1978 hardcopy mylars through the Ice Storm Recovery Funding Program.

__The link: *Access the data directory* is available in the section*Dataset Description Sheets; Additional Information*__. **The forest maps in the second inventory** are available at a scale of 1/20,000. They cover almost all of the territory south of the 52nd parallel. Each file covers an area of approximately 250 km2. These digital cards correspond to the black and white paper cards with a dimension of 125 cm X 75 cm that have been scanned. They illustrate forest stands. They were prepared from the photo-interpretation of aerial photos on a scale of 1/15,000. Main components: * outline of forest stands; * sub-groupings of species in all stands; * type of vegetation (forest species, density, height and stage of development, origin); * age class; * disturbances; * nature of the land (peatlands, gravel, etc.); * territorial subdivisions; * hydrography; * transport network and bridges; * topography (level curves); * slope classes; * defoliation class.**This third party metadata element was translated using an automated translation tool (Amazon Translate).**

__The link: *Access the data directory* is available in the section*Dataset Description Sheets; Additional Information*__. Ecoforest maps have been produced at a scale of 1/10,000 since 2025 (previously, they were distributed at a scale of 1/20,000) and illustrate forest information for Quebec territory up to approximately the 52nd parallel. They offer an up-to-date image of the ecoforest map for the year of production. The maps represent the result of the photo-interpretation of aerial photographs taken during the most recent ecoforestry inventory of southern Quebec to which were added natural disturbances (fires, epidemics, windfalls, etc.) and forest interventions (harvesting, thinning and reforestation) carried out in the public forest following the year in which they were taken. Vegetation information specific to each stand is expressed in detailed species (AIPF) when information is available for a complete sheet. Otherwise, vegetation is expressed as a group of species. Each map at a scale of **1/10,000** covers an average area of approximately **62.5 km²** and presents forest information for the target territory. Its accuracy is approximately ± 5 m. Each map at a scale of **1/20,000** covers an average area of approximately **250 km²** and presents forest information for the target territory. Its accuracy is approximately ± 10 m. ## Descriptions of maps and components ### 2025 maps: + Scale (1/10,000); + Replacing the BDTQ level curves with those from the lidar; + Characterization of vegetation by detailed species (AIPF) or by grouping of species, depending on the availability of information; + Maps based on up-to-date ecoforest maps from the 4th and 5th inventories. ### Maps 2021 to 2024: + Scale (1/20,000); + Characterization of vegetation by detailed species (AIPF) or by grouping of species, depending on the availability of information; + Maps based on up-to-date ecoforest maps from the 4th and 5th inventories. ### 2019 and 2020 maps: + Scale (1/20,000); + Characterization of vegetation by grouping of species; + Maps based on up-to-date ecoforest maps from the 4th and 5th inventories. ### 2015 maps: + Scale (1/20,000); + Characterization of vegetation by grouping of species; + Maps based on up-to-date ecoforest maps from the 3rd and 4th inventories. ## ⚠️ Notes: + Forest codes vary depending on the inventory; **consult the legend** of the map. + The maps are **georeferenced** and optimized for printing. + **AIPF**: The AIPF (**forest stand inventory approach**) is a method used in Quebec for ecoforest stratification to classify forests according to their populations and including updates compared to previous inventories.**This third party metadata element was translated using an automated translation tool (Amazon Translate).**

__The link: *Access the data directory* is available in the section*Dataset Description Sheets; Additional Information*__. The Directorate of Forest Inventories (DIF) carries out assessments of tree biomass and their carbon content at the scale of ecoforest stands to deepen knowledge on the contribution of forests in the global carbon cycle. This information can be useful in the context of climate change to document the mitigating role played by forests. The resulting product, a database containing a single table entitled “BIOMASSE_CARBONE_PEE_ORI_PROV”, shows the biomass and carbon values of living trees above ground for all productive ecoforest stands 7 m or more in height. The exploitation of the database requires the data from [the original ecoforest map] (https://www.donneesquebec.ca/recherche/dataset/resultats-d-inventaire-et-carte-ecoforestiere) and the establishment of a connection with the information of the polygonal entity class of settlements. The database includes biomass variables converted to carbon stocks, detailing the biomass of wood, bark, branches, and foliage. For a thorough understanding, you can consult the Read Me associated with this product and the publication [“Biomass and carbon forests in southern Quebec - Method and use”] (https://mrnf.gouv.qc.ca/nos-publications/biomasse-carbone-forestiers-quebec-meridional/) (MRNF, 2023) which offers additional methodological information. **This third party metadata element was translated using an automated translation tool (Amazon Translate).**