Matapédia is a regional Municipalité of county (MRC) of the province of Quebec, in the administrative area of the Low-Saint-Laurent, created on January 1st, 1982. Its chief town is the town of Amqui. It is made up of 25 municipalities: 2 cities, 7 municipalities, 1 village, 8 not organized parishes and 7 territories. Its current prefect (2007) is Georges Guénard (St-Vianney).

• Population: 19.199 inhabitants (2006)

• Surface: 5375 km ²

Physical portrait

The relief of the territory of the MRC of Matapédia is characterized by a broad valley which extends perpendicular to the Fleuve the St. Lawrence, starting from the Lac Matapédia until Causapscal where it is tightened between sides precipice. The Appalachian landscapes that one finds there translate the very great complexity of the basement made up of laminated very folded and split up sedimentary rocks. The upper part of the valley, located in the north-western sector of the MRC, proves generally plane and is bordered of multiples small slopes of altitude lower than 400 meters. Close to Saint-Cléophas and Holy-Irene however a mountainous solid mass of importance is, the Monts Notre-Dame, of which the highest points culminate around 800 meters of altitude. On both sides with the principal valley, other small valleys, corrugated plates and upper faces of terraces intersect with the hills of irregular slopes. In addition, the southern and south-eastern parts of the MRC offer a relief even more broken where intersect with the steepsided valleys wedged between round mountains and more or less wide plates located at an altitude generally varying between 400 and 600 meters.

Hydrography

The basin of the Matapédia river drains a surface of more than 3.900 square kilometers. This river takes its source in the Lac Matapédia, crosses the lake to Salmon and will be thrown frankly southern in the Ristigouche river which itself is thrown in the Baie of Heats. The other basins, much smaller, drain, on the one hand, the north-western section of the territory towards the St. Lawrence river by the means of the rivers Mitis, Tartigou, Blanche and Matane, and, other share, the south-eastern section which runs out towards bay of Heats via the rivers Nouvelle and Cascapédia. The territory is also strewn with beyond 200 lakes with multiple dimensions. Most important is the Lac Matapédia, of rectangular form, with its 36,8 square kilometers and which extends over a 18 km length between Sayabec and Amqui.

Flora and fauna

The forest territory of the MRC of Matapédia covers 4.944 square kilometers is 91% of the total surface area. This forest is made up of resinous settlements for 45% of the forest surface, of leafy trees on 12% of the surface and epuplements mixed on nearly 30% of the surface. The not regenerated settlements represent the remainder. The Fir tree and the virginal constitute the dominant gasolines (four trees out of ten in private forest and seven trees out of ten in public forest), followed Peuplier, Cèdre, white Bouleau and yellow Bouleau.

The territory of the MRC is characterized by an abundance of habitats favourable with several fish species and mammals: spawning grounds with salmon, devastations of stags of Virginia, mudholes for the moose, etc the animal species best represented, and indirectly most coveted for hunting and fishing, are the moose, the Cerf of Virginia, the black bear, the Lièvre of America, the crested Gélinotte and the woodcock of America in terrestrial environment, the Saumon of the Atlantic, the Omble of fountain and the Touladi in aquatic environment, the black duck, the garrot and the Bernache of Canada in moist environment.

Demography

History of the settlement

The permanent settlement of Matapédia initially touched, in the middle of the XIXe century, the two ends of the valley, which then constituted a bond between the St. Lawrence and bay of Heats. Matapédia was opened with interior colonization after the construction of the Kempt way in 1832, just as after that of the railroad the Intercolonial one, spread out of 1867 to 1876. The settlement took however its true rise at the end of this century, that is to say about 1890, with the installation of the forest companies and the sawmills. From 1.700 hearts in 1880, the valley passed to 8.000 inhabitants at the dawn of the XXe century.

After a constant rise of the population until 1961, Matapédia starts a demographic decline in a brutal way with uine falls of 22,6% of the population in 10 years, between 1961 and 1971. Since, the decline is slower, but constant. Today, the population of Matapédia is not any more but of 19.199 inhabitants, which represents a fall of 39,5% of the population since the top reaches in 1961. For the same period, the share of the population of the MRC in Quebec passed from 0,6% to 0,25%.

Pattern of the settlement

The population of Matapédia counts more than 19.000 divided people in a very dispersed and rather unequal way on the territory. Along the lake and Matapédia river the load factor average is approximately 12 inhabitants per square kilometer. On the peripheral plates dispersion is much more obvious, with a density lower than 5 inhabitants with the square kilometer. Not municipalized spaces remain practically unoccupied since they count less than one about thirty permanent residents.

The main city, Amqui, largely dominate the whole of the MRC. It counts 6.261 inhabitants and thus accounts for 32,6% of the population of the MRC. Being located at the center of the MRC and profiting from a good accessibility, Amqui radiates on the whole of the valley. Its area of influence results in a concentration of equipment and services addressing itself to the whole of the regional population: hospital, offices of the ministries, Safety of Quebec, CEGEP, etc the two other centers of services which are Causapscal and Sayabec exert as for them a certain influence on the neighbouring populations located respectively at the ends is and western municipalized territory of the MRC. Their commercial structure and the presence of equipment and sous-régionaux services (C.L.S.C, general-purpose school, arenas) confers this statute to them.

Economy

Agriculture

The MRC counts only 20.000 hectares of grounds in culture and this surface tends to regress. The restrictive independent factors with agriculture are broken topography and a vegetative season of short duration. The most productive grounds are found in the narrow corridors corresponding to the valleys of Matapédia and the River Humqui, the most agricultural municipalities being Amqui, Causapscal, Saint-Damask, Saint-Leon-the-Large and Valley-Brilliance.

In 1995, Matapédia counted 281 agricultural producers producing 11,3% of the whole of the production of the Low-Saint-Laurent. The dairy production largely dominates the agricultural activity with its 138 producers. The bovine production comes behind, followed productions porcine, ovine, cereal and different, which remain rather negligible.

The forest

The forest constitutes the main resource of the territory matapédien, thanks to its extent (nearly 500.000 hectares) but also because of its quality (abundant resinous matter). The tenure of the grounds is divided into about equal shares between the private forest and the public forest.

Installation, the exploitation and the transformation of the woody matter constitute one of the pillars of the economy matapédienne. The MRC counts many factories connected to the forest, those producing mainly sawlog, particle boards, chips, slats, sawdusts and shavings. It is generally about a first transformation of wood, the remainder of the woody resource and the successive transformations being carried out very often outside.

The recreation and tourism

The abundance of the lakes and rivers just as the prevalence of forest cover make MRC of Matapédia a territory favourable with the practice of activities connected to fishing, hunting, holiday and the outdoor in general. The entertaining and tourist potential appears mainly by the presence of the rivers Matapédia, Patapédia and Causapscal, internationally famous for the fishing with salmon, and of the lake Matapédia for the activities of fishing to the touladi and the omble of fountain like for the nautical activities and of holiday. The Z.E.C. Casault is for its part recognized at the same time for hunting and fishing, the lake Casault being one of most productive in Quebec on the level of the fishing resource.

A geographical location on the course of the tower of Gaspésie, as well as a relative distribution over several seasons of the tourist offer (bicycle, ski, motoneige, fishing, drive out, nautical activities) constitute elements particularly interesting for tourism industry matapédienne. One counts more than 300.000 voyages/anybody per years which ravel in the valley of Matapédia, which proves to be a significant potential for the tourist development

Municipalities composing the MRC of Matapédia

Cities

• Amqui
• Causapscal

Municipalities

• Albertville
• Lake-with-Salmon
• Holy-Florence
• Holy-Marguerite
• Saint-Vianney
• Sayabec
• Valley-Brilliance

Village

• Saint-Christmas

Parishes

• Saint-Alexandre-of-Lakes
• Saint-Cléophas
• Saint-Leon-the-Large Saint-Damask
• Holy-Irene
• Saint-Brace
• Saint-Tharcisius
• Saint-Zénon-of-Lake-Humqui

Not organized territories

• Lake-Alfred
• Lake-Casault
• Lake-Matapédia
• River-Patapédia-Is
• River-Muddy
• Routhierville
• Brook-of-Minors

External bond

• Official site Matapédia