The Gouvernement du Québec approved the designation of the Réserve de territoire aux fins d’aire protégée Aashukan following the submission in the fall of 2020 of a joint brief from the Minister of the Environment and the Fight Against Climate Change, the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, and the Minister of Forests, Wildlife and Parks. The legally protected status contemplated for this territory is that of a “biodiversity reserve,” which is governed by the Natural Heritage Conservation Act.
The Réserve de territoire aux fins d’aire protégée Aashukan fosters the connectivity of habitats between the Réserve de biodiversité projetée de Chisesaakahikan-et-de-la-Rivière-Broadback and the Projet de parc national Nibiischii. It is part of the Rupert River drainage basin. The complex of thin till hills and organic depressions that characterize the territory is representative of the territorial zone of the Eastmain River Undulating Plain. The territory is also marked by part of the Sakami frontal moraine, which forms an arc more than 630 km long between Lac Mistassini and the mouth of the Great Whale River.
No natural resource exploration or exploitation activity (mining, energy and forests) is allowed in the territory of the territorial reserve for protected area purposes. The Minister of Energy and Natural Resources and the Minister of Forests, Wildlife and Parks will ensure the maintenance of the administrative and legal provisions that their prohibition requires.