The area of the Domaine Wabenaki – Andrew mentions the rich historic past of the Laurentian Club and of the actual La Mauricie National Park’s territory. Those two buildings, Le Chalet Wabenaki and La Maison Andrew, testify of the prominent presence of the private fishing and hunting clubs in La Mauricie County, one of the most important phenomena in the whole region and even in the entire province of Québec
At the end of the XIXth century, Federal Government granted to each province the fishing rights of their respective inside waters. Thereby, the government hopes to promote the protection of those waters and by the same time of the land nearby. In the Province of Québec, the government is missing the necessary budgetary resources to meet the needs. Therefore the State decides to entrust to individuals the management of some parts of the territory. These disposes of lands were made by renewable leases and, while conserving the territories’ property, the State controlled, regulated and made revenues on each land’s activities. From this moment, many fishing and hunting private clubs have seen day light in the Province of Quebec as it seemed to be an easy and efficient alternative for the land’s management. In La Mauricie County, this concept will be as successful as at one moment, about 23% of the territory will be occupied by those private clubs.
The creation of the fishing and hunting private clubs will have a positive impact for the concerned places. The movement will have helped to protect the natural heritage by controlling the access and by this fact, the fishing and hunting activities. Furthermore, private clubs will have big social and economic impacts in creating jobs for local populations and in producing revenues for locations nearby.
