The ZEC Capitachouane is a ''

zone d'exploitation contrôlée A ''zone d'exploitation contrôlée'' (in French language, French; acronym ZEC) is a "Controlled harvesting zone" located in public lands areas of Quebec, in Canada. ZECs are a system of territorial infrastructures set up in 1978 by the Government o ...

'' (Controlled Harvesting Zone) (ZEC), located in the municipality of

Senneterre Senneterre is a town in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region of northwestern Quebec, Canada. It is in the Vallée-de-l'Or Regional County Municipality. The town's territory includes a vast undeveloped area stretching from the Bell River to the Mau ...

in the RCM

La Vallée-de-l'Or Regional County Municipality La Vallée-de-l'Or ''(The Golden Valley)'' is a regional county municipality in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region in Northwestern Quebec, Canada. The seat is in Val-d'Or. It is named for its gold deposits in the Harricana River and Bell River v ...

, in the administrative region of

Abitibi-Témiscamingue Abitibi-Témiscamingue () is an administrative region located in western Québec, Canada, along the border with Ontario. It became part of the province in 1898. It has a land area of and its population was 146,717 people as of the 2016 Census. ...

and partially in the

Outaouais Outaouais (, ; also commonly called The Outaouais) is a region of western Quebec, Canada. It includes the city of Gatineau, the municipality of Val-des-Monts and the Papineau region. Geographically, it is located on the north side of the Ottaw ...

region,

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

. This ZEC is administered by the "Association de chasse et pêche Rousillon inc".

Geography

The ZEC covers a wild and completely forested area. It is located northeast of Cabonga Reservoir and southeast of the city of

Val d'Or Val-d'Or (, , ; "Golden Valley" or "Valley of Gold") is a city in Quebec, Canada with a population of 32,752 inhabitants according to the Canada 2021 Census. The city is located in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region near La Vérendrye Wildlife R ...

, north of the

Zec Petawaga The ZEC Petawaga is a " zone d'exploitation contrôlée" (controlled harvesting zone) located in the area of Mont-Laurier, in Antoine-Labelle Regional County Municipality, in the Laurentides, in Quebec, in Canada. Zec Petawaga straddles the munici ...

and directly adjacent to

Zec Festubert The ZEC Festubert is a " zone d'exploitation contrôlée" (controlled harvesting zone) (ZEC), located in the municipality of Senneterre, in the La Vallée-de-l'Or Regional County Municipality, in the administrative region of Abitibi-Témiscamingue ...

. The ZEC has 88 lakes (52 of which are operated for fishing) and 10 rivers (five used for fishing). The two largest lakes are Bouchette Lake () and Landron lake (). Other major lakes are: Aveluy, des Trois Baies (Three Bays), Bailleul, Bonaparte, Bimbo, Cather, Chip, Danin, Farrington, Fayolle, Fitzgerald, Fricourt, Graincourt Gregg, Griffith, Harris, Hopkins, Kâmakadewagamik, Kean, Kessler, Leask, Lindsay, Loucks, Martin, Maxwell, Proville, Rawlinson, Reynolds, Rock, Round, Simionescu, Thiepval, Weber and Young. The main rivers of the ZEC are: Berlinge, Festubert, Chochocouane and Capitachouane; lake head of the latter (flowing south-west) is the Capitachouane lake. Camping is allowed in the ZEC, as well as the installation of a trailer. Access to the area is via Route 117, connecting

Mont-Laurier Mont-Laurier () is a town and incorporated municipality in northwest Quebec, Canada, located on the banks of the Lièvre River (''Rivière du Lièvre''), a tributary of the Ottawa River. Known as the "Capital of the Haute-Laurentides", the motto ...

to Val d'Or. The main forest road is R0713. Secondary access roads are: R0715 and R0716.

Wildlife

Hunting quotas are regulated by the ZEC based on species, periods and the type of hunting gear. Species governed by hunting quotas are including the

moose The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult ma ...

American black bear The American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), also called simply a black bear or sometimes a baribal, is a medium-sized bear endemic to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most widely distributed bear species. American black bea ...

, gélinotte (grouse) and tétras (grouse). Lakes abound with several types of fish: brook trout,

lake trout The lake trout (''Salvelinus namaycush'') is a freshwater char living mainly in lakes in northern North America. Other names for it include mackinaw, namaycush, lake char (or charr), touladi, togue, and grey trout. In Lake Superior, it can als ...

perch Perch is a common name for fish of the genus ''Perca'', freshwater gamefish belonging to the family Percidae. The perch, of which three species occur in different geographical areas, lend their name to a large order of vertebrates: the Per ...

pike Pike, Pikes or The Pike may refer to: Fish * Blue pike or blue walleye, an extinct color morph of the yellow walleye ''Sander vitreus'' * Ctenoluciidae, the "pike characins", some species of which are commonly known as pikes * ''Esox'', genus o ...

and

walleye The walleye (''Sander vitreus'', synonym ''Stizostedion vitreum''), also called the yellow pike or yellow pickerel, is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the Northern United States. It is a North American close relat ...

Toponymy

This name of Amerindian origin of the Algonquin Nation means "long water course". Three names use the term "Capitachouane": the Zec, the lake and the river. The toponym "Zec Capitachouane" was formalized on August 5, 1982, by the

Commission de toponymie du Québec The Commission de toponymie du Québec (English: ''Toponymy Commission of Québec'') is the Government of Québec's public body responsible for cataloging, preserving, making official and publicize Québec's place names and their origins according ...

(Geographical Names Board of Québec)./ToposWeb/fiche.aspx?no_seq=120669 Commission de toponymie du Québec (Geographical Names Board of Québec) - Bank of place names - Toponym: "Zec Capitachouane"
/ref>

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Capitachouane, ZEC Protected areas of Outaouais Protected areas of Abitibi-Témiscamingue Protected areas established in 1978 1978 establishments in Quebec