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Biodiversity
The topography of Johnville and the Johnville Bog & Forest Park is a result of the last ice age. Tangible signs of the ice age are still visible. An esker extends across the Park west of the peat bog and through the villages of Johnville and Martinville. It is composed of deposits of sand, gravel, and rocks forming long, winding, steep ridges. The presence of these deposits contributed to the formation of the peat bog by limiting land drainage to the north and the east.
The Johnville Bog & Forest Park contains ecosystems rare to the region: a peat bog and ombrotrophic ponds. These unique environments contrast sharply with the agricultural and forestry landscape around them, making the Park an islet for numerous species of plants and animals not found in neighbouring areas. Many of these species are found predominantly in the north, in vast ecological regions of coniferous forests where few people ever travel. Hence, preserving the Park contributes to conserving the landscape's biodiversity in addition to protecting the species that live there.
The site's unique character can be effectively demonstrated by one simple fact: peat bogs are found on less than 1% of the area covered by the Appalachian Mountains. Furthermore, the majority of peat bogs are completely covered over with an accumulation of partially decomposed organic matter (peat), and few of them include bodies of water, as is the case with the Johnville bog.
The Johnville bog's vegetation is particularly representative of bogs found in the upper basin of the St. Francis River, although this bog features the most diversified flora. More than 34 types of mosses and over 400 species of vascular plants have been found in the Park to date, 350 of these indigenous. Certain zones are ecologically rich in flora, and this is the case with the open peat bog, in particular.
The woodland area is composed of a variety of forest stands following the pattern of the topographical variations, a succession of eskers and depressions. Spruce forests with sphagnum moss typical of peat bogs, wet cedar bushes, hemlock woods, and red maple groves are all found here. Several plantations dating back more than 50 years can be found on what was once agricultural land.
The Johnville Bog & Forest Park is also home to numerous species of wildlife. An abundance of dragonflies, damselflies, and butterflies can be found. Fourteen species of herpetofauna, 12 amphibians and two reptiles, have been inventoried. The Park is also a great site for bird-watching, where palm warblers, Lincoln's sparrows, northern harriers, and several varieties of waterfowl can be found. Park users regularly come across mammals that are very prevalent, including moose, white-tailed deer, American black bears, red foxes, beavers, porcupines, and small rodents, among others.
To date, plant and wildlife inventories have identified two species of plants designated as threatened or vulnerable (bloodroot and ostrich fern) as well as three species of vascular plants and four species of vertebrates found on the lists of species likely to become threatened or vulnerable (the white-fringed orchid, Wolffia columbiana, Clinton's wood fern, the southern bog lemming, the rock vole, the hoary bat, and the silver-haired bat).
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