Moisie River

The Moisie River is a river in eastern Quebec. Known as the Nahanni of the East, it is a wild river of North America. It has been proposed to protect the river with the Moisie River Aquatic Reserve. The Moisie River basin lies between the basins of the Rapides River to the west and the Matamec River to the east. It covers an area of . The Moisie flows south from Lake Opocopa near the Labrador border to the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River east of Sept-Îles, Quebec. The town of Moisie is located at its mouth. The river is in length. The length calculated from most commonly used starting point of canoe trips, bridge of highway 389 over Pékans River (at ) is 373 km. Moisie tributaries include: Aux Pékans River Carheil River (via Pékans) Nipissis River Caopacho River Ouapetec River Joseph River The river's name may originate from a French word moisie meaning "moldy" . But this is not certain and other hypotheses exist. The Mishta-shipiunnu ("Innu from the Moisie River") call it Mishta-shipu ("Great River"; mishau - ′′big, great′′ and shipu - ′′river"). As they have done for thousands of years, they continue to use the river to reach their northern hunting and fishing grounds. Large parts of the river were also protected by private fishing clubs. There were recent attempts to develop hydroelectric projects on the Moisie. However, in 2003, the Quebec government protected a large part of the river's watershed as an aquatic reserve. This prevents activities such as logging, mining and power projects, but permits traditional uses such as hunting and fly-fishing. A map of the Ecological regions of Quebec shows the river's tributary, the Rivière aux Pékans, rising to the northwest of Fermont just west of the Spruce/lichen domain of the boreal zone, and flowing south through the eastern spruce/moss domain. The last section of the Moisie River flows through the Fir/white birch domain of the boreal zone. This river is the most important spawning ground for the Atlantic Salmon in eastern North America.