Sainte-Anne River (Les Chenaux)


The Sainte-Anne River is a tributary of the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River, whose mouth is located at Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade. This river flows in the province of Quebec, Canada, in the administrative regions of:
It is well known for ice fishing, with the primary catch being Tomcod,, during the winter at Ste-Anne-de-la-Pérade. A small village builds up from the end of December to mid-February.
It is also regionally known for flooding, especially in St-Raymond, and sometimes in St-Casimir.
Apart from the village areas, forestry, recreational tourism and agriculture are the main economic activities on this hydrographic side.
The surface of the Sainte-Anne river is generally frozen from the beginning of December to the end of March; however, safe circulation on the ice is generally done from the end of December to the beginning of March. The water level of the river varies with the seasons and the precipitation; the spring flood occurs in March or April.

Toponymy

The origin of the name of the river is unknown. Samuel de Champlain gave it the name of Sainte-Marie river in 1609 without specifying its reasons. It was registered under the name of Sainte-Anne river on the map of Jean Bourdon of 1641, an appellation which quickly became essential. The Hurons, meanwhile, call it "Telahiar".
The toponym "Rivière Sainte-Anne" was formalized on December 5, 1968 at the Commission de toponymie du Québec.

Geography

Course

Sainte-Anne begins its course at above sea level in the Laurentides, in Laurentides Wildlife Reserve, ie at the mouth of Lac Sainte-Anne in the unorganized territory of Lac-Croche and the Laurentides Wildlife Reserve. The Lac Sainte-Anne is long and wide.
From the road bridge spanning the Sainte-Anne river, at the mouth of the lac Sainte-Anne, the course of the Sainte-Anne river descends on with a drop of, according to the following segments:
Upper course of the Sainte-Anne river
Intermediate course of the Sainte-Anne river, downstream of the Chézine river
Intermediate course of the Sainte-Anne river, downstream from the Bras du Nord
Intermediate course of the Sainte-Anne river, downstream of the Jacquot river
Lower course of the Sainte-Anne river, upstream of Saint-Casimir
The river flows mainly in a south-westerly direction over a length of to Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade, and finally empties into the St. Lawrence river at sea level.
The confluence of the Sainte-Anne river with the St. Lawrence river is located downstream of the confluence of the Batiscan River.

Hydrology

The watershed has an area of.. Its average flow at its mouth is 78 m3/s. The main tributaries of the river are, from upstream to downstream, the Tourilli River, the Chézine River, the Talayarde River, the Bras du Nord, Jacquot River, Noire River, Blanche River, Niagarette River and Charest River. It also includes of watercourse. The basin includes 828 lakes, the most important of which are Lakes Montauban, Long, Blanche, Carillon and Clair.

Geology

Sainte-Anne is part of two geological provinces. Upstream of Saint-Alban, the subsoil is part of the Laurentides, and is composed of igneous rocks and metamorphic, mainly gneiss and granite, resistant to erosion. The river enters the St. Lawrence Lowlands downstream from Saint-Alban and the source rock consists mainly of limestone and shale from the Paleozoic.
The whole is covered with marine and continental deposits from the Quaternary, the thickness of which is approximately in the St. Lawrence Lowlands and less than in the Laurentians.

Population

It is estimated that there were approximately 16000 people who lived in the Sainte-Anne basin in 2001. The town of Saint-Raymond alone has half the population of the basin. Four other villages are located on the course of the river, namely Sainte-Christine-d'Auvergne, Saint-Alban, Saint-Casimir and Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade.

Natural environments

The north of the basin is included in the zecs of zec de la Rivière-Blanche and Batiscan-Neilson as well as the Laurentides Wildlife Reserve. The southwest of the basin is included in the Lacs-Long-et-Montauban Regional Park.
The forest dominates, occupying 80% of the hydrographic basin. The public forest, which includes 56% of the forest area, is composed of 58% of mixed forests, 26% of coniferous and 16% of broadleaved. The basin extends over four bioclimatics areas, namely maple grove to linden, maple grove to yellow birch, the fir with yellow birch and the fir white birch.
The river and its tributaries is frequented by 33 species of fish. The main species used for sport fishing living in the river are brook trout, walleye and the smallmouth bass.
The river is also recognized as an important spawning ground for the Atlantic tomcod. There are between 600 and

History

The river was known to the St. Lawrence Iroquoians who already practiced there ice fishing around the year 1000.
The Atlantic tomcod population was rediscovered in the river in 1938. Ice fishing quickly became a popular activity, developing a village up to 1200 huts. The combined pressure of commercial fishing and sport fishing caused the decline of the fish population. To remedy this decline, a moratorium on commercial fishing was decreed in 1992 which enabled the tomcod population to recover.

Layout

There are five dams on the Sainte-Anne river, three of which are used for hydroelectric production. These are the power stations of Saint-Alban, Chutes-à-Gorry and Glenford.