. The Canadian field-naturalist. 280 The Canadian Field-Naturalist Vol. 114. Figure I. Location of the study site (Cacouna bog). very slow and is dominated by non-bog species such as birches (Lavoie and Rochefort 1996; Lavoie and Saint-Louis 1999; Robert et al. 1999). In eastern Canada, most block-cut bogs have been abandoned for more than 30 years, which is not the case for vac- uum-mined peatlands (most sites: ten years maxi- mum). It is possible that revegetation patterns of block-cut and vacuum-mined sites will converge in the near future and that, on a long-term basis, natural revegetatio
. The Canadian field-naturalist. 280 The Canadian Field-Naturalist Vol. 114. Figure I. Location of the study site (Cacouna bog). very slow and is dominated by non-bog species such as birches (Lavoie and Rochefort 1996; Lavoie and Saint-Louis 1999; Robert et al. 1999). In eastern Canada, most block-cut bogs have been abandoned for more than 30 years, which is not the case for vac- uum-mined peatlands (most sites: ten years maxi- mum). It is possible that revegetation patterns of block-cut and vacuum-mined sites will converge in the near future and that, on a long-term basis, natural revegetation would be a good alternative to restora- tion in vacuum-mined bogs, at least for vascular plant species. To test this hypothesis, we sampled, in 1994 and 1998, a vacuum-mined peatland located in southern Quebec that was abandoned in 1989. The 1994 survey has been published (Lavoie and Rochefort 1996), and we show here the results of the 1998 survey. Study Site and Methods The Cacouna peatland (47°52' N, 69°27' W) is located 10 km northeast of the city of Riviere-du- Loup (Figure 1) and 6 km from the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, in Quebec (Canada). The altitude of the peatland is 83 m. In 1930, the total area of the bog was 203 ha, but some parts of the peatland have been converted into agricultural lands during the last 70 years. Consequently, in 1995, the total area of the bog was 173 ha. More than 50% of the original surface of the Cacouna peatland (102 ha) was mined (block-cutting of peat) between 1942 and 1975. During this period, more than 34% of the peat volume has been lost due to peat mining and agricul- tural activities, and also due to peat subsidence. A small section of the bog (16 ha of block-cut peat- land) was bulldozed in 1983 to level the peat surface, and to allow an additional peat harvest using tractor- drawn vacuum machines. Additional drainage ditches. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digit
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