Photo: Marilyne Lesage · CC BY-SA 3.08.8 km from Desbiens to Pointe-Taillon National Park (Québec)
Within 5 km are 4 beaches; Plage Blanchet is the nearest. No national park lies within 100 km. The protected share within 10 km is 0.6%, where a typical Canadian town has 2.3%.
Desbiens against other Canadian towns
Each figure against the 2,611 Canadian towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500+ (not city hubs or reserves), with the town marked and the typical one’s line. Outdoors isn’t graded in Canada. The page compares each figure with other towns and leaves it there.
CPCAD 2.9.0 (ECCC, 2026), OpenStreetMap (November 2026). Distances from the town’s outline.
Desbiens sits 15th from last of 40 towns its size for protected land around it
The 40 Canadian towns nearest in population (1,034 to 2,587 residents), by the share of the land within 10 km that is protected. Hover for each one’s figures; click for its page.
For protected land nearby, Desbiens lags towns its size: 25 of 39 are ahead.
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Protected within 10 km | In town | Areas | Routes | Beaches | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anmore BC | 22% | 47% | 16 | 5 | 98 |
| 2 | Saint-Alexandre-de-Kamouraska QC | 19% | 0% | 28 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | Gracefield QC | 19% | 19% | 34 | 0 | 6 |
| 4 | East Preston NS | 16% | 6.3% | 20 | 1 | 5 |
| 5 | Clearwater BC | 7.7% | 4.1% | 4 | 0 | 3 |
| 6 | Roberval QC | 6.1% | 1.2% | 22 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | Saint-Louis-de-Gonzague QC | 5.8% | 0% | 20 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | North Frontenac ON | 5.7% | 5.2% | 13 | 6 | 4 |
| 9 | Cap-Chat QC | 5.3% | 0.4% | 13 | 0 | 10 |
| 10 | Killaloe, Hagarty and Richards ON | 4.4% | 1.5% | 9 | 0 | 4 |
| 11 | Saint-Polycarpe QC | 4.2% | 0% | 11 | 0 | 2 |
| 12 | Macassa ON | 4.1% | 0% | 18 | 1 | 0 |
| 13 | Saint-Damien QC | 4% | 3.2% | 22 | 1 | 9 |
| 14 | Unity SK | 3.4% | 0% | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | Sherwood ON | 3.4% | 0% | 19 | 2 | 0 |
| 16 | McNab SK | 2.6% | 0% | 4 | 0 | 1 |
| 17 | Mandeville QC | 2.5% | 1.8% | 19 | 4 | 7 |
| 18 | Esterhazy SK | 1.8% | 0% | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 | City Commercial Core ON | 1.8% | 0% | 20 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | Caswell Hill SK | 1.4% | 0% | 16 | 0 | 3 |
| 21 | Fossambault-sur-le-Lac QC | 1.3% | 7.8% | 15 | 0 | 14 |
| 22 | Pembina MB | 1.1% | 1.8% | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 | Burrows-Keewatin MB | 1% | 0% | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| 24 | Elmwood AB | 0.8% | 0% | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| 25 | Hatley QC | 0.7% | 0% | 9 | 0 | 5 |
| 26 | Desbiens QC | 0.6% | 0% | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 27 | Munroe West MB | 0.4% | 0% | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| 28 | Brooke-Alvinston ON | 0.3% | 0.2% | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 29 | Rosedale AB | 0.3% | 0% | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 30 | Minchau AB | 0.3% | 0% | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 31 | Lunenburg NS | 0.1% | 0% | 19 | 0 | 5 |
| 32 | Salisbury NB | 0.1% | 2.1% | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 33 | Dufferin MB | 0.1% | 0% | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 34 | Ekota AB | 0.1% | 0% | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| 35 | Satoo AB | 0.1% | 0% | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 36 | Saint-Éphrem-de-Beauce QC | 0% | 0% | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 37 | Magrath AB | 0% | 0% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 38 | Nanton AB | 0% | 0% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 39 | Rimbey AB | 0% | 0% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 40 | Sexsmith AB | 0% | 0% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
The green map of Desbiens
The town’s parks, woods, protected land and paths as mapped.
Few people in Desbiens live near a park
Residents of each 2021 dissemination area, at a point inside it, within 400 m (about a 5-minute walk) of a park or playing field mapped on OpenStreetMap.
For about 1,000 people, the nearest park is over 400 m away. The usual figure for a Canadian town is 83%, above this.
4 protected areas lie within 10 km of Desbiens
Every protected and conserved area in CPCAD within 10 km of the town’s edge: parks, reserves, wildlife areas and conservation land.
Public ownership covers 3 of the 4. Biggest of the named areas: Pointe-Taillon National Park (Québec), 9,750 ha. One more area within 10 km is private land, held by a landowner or a conservation group: counted here, not named.
Source: Canadian Protected and Conserved Areas Database (CPCAD) 2.9.0, Environment and Climate Change Canada. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada.
Pointe-Taillon National Park (Québec), 8.8 km off
National parks (Parks Canada) and provincial or territorial parks by direction and distance from the town’s edge: every one within 10 km, and the nearest of each within 100 km.
Pointe-Taillon National Park (Québec)
No national park lies within 100 km of Desbiens; the provincial parks are the big protected land within reach. The province names its big parks parcs nationaux, though they are provincial.
Source: CPCAD 2.9.0 (ECCC): areas and outlines, distances outline to outline; directions from the town’s centre point.
Paths to walk: 2 km in and around Desbiens
OpenStreetMap footpaths, paths, bridleways and steps, and tracks open on foot, in the town and 1 km around it; woods as mapped (landuse=forest, natural=wood).
Footpaths · km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
Paths are thinner on the ground than in 95% of Canadian towns. Woods cover more of it than in 62% of Canadian towns.
Source: OpenStreetMap, © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL. Mapping varies by place: a dense figure can mean keen local mappers as much as many paths.
No named walking route passes Desbiens on the map
Named walking and hiking routes on OpenStreetMap with at least 300 m within 2 km of the town, longest first; national routes lead.
No named route shows within 2 km of the town; volunteers map trails unevenly from one region to the next.
Source: OpenStreetMap (route relations hiking, foot and walking), © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL. Trans Canada Trail sections as OSM maps them.
May is the best month for walking in Desbiens
Environment and Climate Change Canada’s 1991–2020 normals from Roberval (27 km), and daylight at the town’s latitude. Good months: 12½+ hours of daylight, highs of 15–30 °C, little rain.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 8.7 | 10.1 | 11.7 | 13.6 | 15.2 | 16.1 | 15.7 | 14.3 | 12.5 | 10.7 | 9.1 | 8.3 |
| High (°C) | -11 | -8 | -1 | 7 | 16 | 22 | 24 | 23 | 18 | 10 | 2 | -6 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 55 | 45 | 57 | 64 | 71 | 87 | 112 | 104 | 99 | 81 | 71 | 66 |
July is the warmest month, with highs around 24 °C; January the coldest, at -11 °C. The warmest month, July, is also the wettest (112 mm), while February is driest at 45 mm. Expect around 271 cm of snow over a winter. The climate in Desbiens →
Desbiens has 4 beaches close by
Beaches on OpenStreetMap within 5 km of the town’s edge, nearest first, with directions.
2 more are mapped without a name. For water quality, look to the local health unit: no open beach-testing data covers Canada.
Source: OpenStreetMap (natural=beach), © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.
Desbiens has 7 viewpoints and 1 waterfalls nearby
Viewpoints, peaks, waterfalls, picnic sites, nature reserves, playgrounds, dog parks, campsites and boat launches mapped within 2 km of the town.
7 viewpoints top the list.
Every named place, with directions
Viewpoints 7
Plus 7 viewpoints without a name on the map.
Waterfalls 1
Playgrounds 1
Plus 1 playground without a name on the map.
Campsites 2
Source: OpenStreetMap (tourism, natural, waterway and leisure tags), © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.
Next to Desbiens
The nearest places, coloured by the share of the land within 10 km that is protected; tap one for its outdoors page.
| Town | Protected within 10 km | Areas | Routes | Beaches |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Desbiens | 0.6% | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Métabetchouan--Lac-à-la-Croix 6.2 km | 1% | 7 | 0 | 10 |
| Chambord 7.5 km | 1.1% | 6 | 0 | 3 |
| Saint-Gédéon 17 km | 0.6% | 4 | 0 | 9 |
For protected land, no neighbour of Desbiens doubles its share.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Private land. Land owned by individuals, companies or conservation groups counts toward the figures but is never named: a person’s land isn’t a place to visit.
- Beaches. The count includes unnamed stretches mapped as beach, which can make a lakeside town’s figure large.
- National and provincial parks. The nearest national park and the nearest provincial park are always shown when they are within 100 km.
- Protected land. Protected here means in CPCAD, Canada’s official list: parks, reserves, wildlife areas and other conserved land, measured within 10 km of the town’s edge.
- Walking routes. The list is OpenStreetMap’s, so a missing trail may just be unmapped. The Trans Canada Trail appears where OSM maps it.
Questions about the outdoors in Desbiens
Is there a beach near Desbiens?
Plage Blanchet, 1.1 km from town, is the nearest mapped beach.
Are there protected areas near Desbiens?
Yes: 0.6% of the land within 10 km is protected.
Is there a provincial park near Desbiens?
The closest is Pointe-Taillon National Park (Québec), at 8.8 km.
What is the largest protected area near Desbiens?
Pointe-Taillon National Park (Québec), a québec national park (provincial) of 9,750 ha.
What is the best season to get outdoors in Desbiens?
May, on the 1991–2020 normals and the daylight: long days, highs of 15 °C or more, light rain for the place.
What is the nearest national park to Desbiens?
The nearest national park is more than 100 km from Desbiens.
Sources for this page on Desbiens
Protected areas: Canadian Protected and Conserved Areas Database (CPCAD) 2.9.0, Environment and Climate Change Canada, 2026: every area within 10 km and the nearest national and provincial parks, measured outline to outline.
Walking routes and beaches: OpenStreetMap, November 2026: named hiking, foot and walking route relations within 2 km and beaches within 5 km.
Towns: Statistics Canada 2021 Census boundaries and populations; the comparison is the Canadian towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500+, not city hubs or reserves.
When to go: Environment and Climate Change Canada, Canadian Climate Normals 1991–2020, from the nearest station that publishes them.
Green space, paths, woods, things to do: OpenStreetMap (Geofabrik’s Canada extract), November 2026: parks, gardens, playing fields, woods, footpaths, the coastline and things to do in and around each town.
Residents: Statistics Canada 2021 Census dissemination areas (population, boundaries), each at a point inside it.
Walking routes and beaches © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database Licence (ODbL).
Not on this page: trailheads and trail grades, and beach water quality. No open Canadian dataset gives these for every town yet.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).