This is the first part of a series written by Cynthia Dow and published in SPEC in 1995 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Forillon National Park. The series is dedicated to the memory of the late Elwood Dow and his wife Gerty Gavey, uncle and aunt of the author, whose Indian Cove home was expropriated to make way for the Park.
Check this website on a regular basis as we add other parts of the series, photographs and information of interest on Forillon.
Part I: An incredibly diverse natural history
Although it is often acknowledged to be the northeastern-most point of the Appalachian mountain range, in fact, the Forillon headlands predate the Appalachians by some 200 million years! This is just one of the many amazing facts about Forillon in "Forillon National Park; a Guide" by Maxime St-Amour, a naturalist who has spent many years exploring and examining the park.
The natural history of the park extends back to the oldest days of our planet. Forillon and indeed the whole of the Gaspé rests on pre-Cambrian rock formations which are the oldest rocks on Earth.On top of this base, sedimentary rock dating from the Ordovician, Silurian and Devonian eras can be seen easily in the cliffs, mountainsides and even underfoot! The rocks fall into three main categories: shale along the northern area of the park, sandstone from Peninsula to Little Gaspé, and limestone along the presqu'ile to Cap Gaspé.
Once a tropical sea
These layers of rock were laid down over millions of years while the area lay under a tropical sea and fossils of tropical marine life are abundant in the area. At the time, the area we now call the Gaspé was located very close to the Equator, and bordered what is now Europe and Africa.
About mid-way through the Devonian era, some 400 million years ago, Forillon was lifted out of its tropical seabed by tremendous geological forces which twisted and folded many of the rock formations, especially along the northern coast of the peninsula. The hills and cliffs of the park have been exposed to erosion and weathering ever since.
In his guide, Mr. St Amour writes, "Our Appalachians must have been a truly magnificent chain to have survived more than 375 million years of wear..."
Besides the usual weathering, the park has been subject to a number of glaciations, but only the last one has left its mark. About 70,000 years ago, ice and snow began to accumulate as Earth's temperature dropped. Research at Forillon has shown that small local glaciers formed on the mountains of the area, and began to flow down, causing deep scars called "striations" on many rocks.
But the large ice cap that covered eastern North America at the time also descended upon Forillon, and we find as evidence serpentine rock fragments and Laurentian stones not native to the area.
A temporary island
As the glaciers began to melt and recede, Forillon temporarily became an island. According to Mr. St Amour, you can actually see the notches in the cliffs caused by waves when the sea level was much higher than it is today.
During the melt down, fast-flowing rivers carved the deep ravines in the transverse valleys at Anse Au Griffon and Fox River. Now only tiny streams run through these areas. Ever since, the sea, wind, ice and snow have acted to create the tortured, carved and curved shoreline we see today.
Microclimates
Weather in the Forillon area, like everything else about the park, is marked in its variety; the topography has created a number of microclimates. But in general, the climate of the park is quite moderate due to the effect of the sea. The average winter temperature is only -10 degrees Celsius, warmer than most other areas of Québec at the same latitude, while the summer average is cooler at 17 degrees.
Forillon actually has fewer frosty days than Québec City, the first frost generally striking three weeks later than in the capital. Both fauna and flora of the park are extremely varied, due to the diversity of habitats present within the park boundaries. About 95% of the park is forested, but strangely enough, the majority of the park's 700 plant species are not found in the woods.
Rare plants
What is most fascinating about the plant life is the existence on the cliff heads of arctic-alpine plants not found east of the Rockies or south of the Arctic. About 30 species of these rare specimens are found here.
In the middle of Peninsula Point, an area like the subarctic Taiga exists, with stunted black spruce, lichens, mosses and false heather that are reminiscent of areas much farther north.
The mixed deciduous forest that covers the hills may hark back to the time about 7,000 years ago when the weather in the area was particularly warm. Clumps of sugar maple, red oak and bloodroot are more limited now, but still exist.
Wildlife is as varied as the flora of the park, with over 225 species of birds and many mammals and insects. While some birds inhabit the park all year, others migrate through the area and still others use the park as a nesting site.
Mammals include those familiar to most Gaspesians, but the caribou and wolverine are gone from the park, and some new species such as coyote have recently moved in. There are now white-tailed deer in the park, followers of colonization.
Few mosquitoes or black flies bother visitors to the coastal regions of Forillon, because there is little stagnant water for them to breed in. But inland, where there are five lakes and some ponds, such insects are more numerous.
The lakes are highly acidic even though they lie on a limestone formation, and the author of the Guide warns us that increasingly high acid rain content could kill the fragile lakes. Speckled trout are the only freshwater species here, but they are small due to the poor habitat.
Rich marine life
Turning to the sea, the water around the park has a fairly high salt content which ranges from 28ppm in summer to 31ppm in winter. By the early 1900s, over 770 marine species were catalogued by researchers in Gaspé Bay and more are found all the time.
There are over 100 species of fish in the area, including the mighty cod, famed for its importance as a food source, and its once tremendous fertility. Although the cod fishery was the main reason for European colonization of the area, now, due to over-fishing, cod can no longer be fished commercially along Forillon's coastline.
A favourite with tourists to the park are the gray and harbour seals, which can be seen sporting in the waves, and some ten species of whales. The latter can also be seen quite close to shore as the water is deep, and they are most numerous during the months of July, August and September.
Perhaps the best description of how Forillon became what we see today is in John M. Clarke's book, "The Heart of the Gaspé". In 1937 this American geologist noted for his study of the area wrote:
"The sea was in a savage mood during the long years when she was carving out the marvellous peninsula of the Forillon. She had found a single range of mountains stretching its length out into her domain, and she sliced it straight and clean along the middle from crest to roots;...And this is the Forillon as it stands today with its bare cliffs uncovering the very secrets of the mountains..."
No doubt to some extent, the work done by Dr. Clarke and others like him contributed to Forillon being marked as a potential site for a national park. Forillon must have seemed a veritable paradise to the first humans who set eyes on it. In the next part of our series, we explore the beginnings of human occupation, and the struggle for control of the area and its resources.