27. The Minister may designate forest areas as biological refuges in order to protect certain mature or overmature forests that are representative of Québec’s forest heritage and foster the maintenance of the biological diversity of those forests.
To that end, the Minister draws the boundaries of biological refuges in the forests in the domain of the State, and manages the refuges so as to ensure their continued protection.
The biological refuges are defined and shown on the land use plan provided for in the Act respecting the lands in the domain of the State (chapter T-8.1).