Natural ressources on the territory of Notre-Dame-du-Nord offer interesting opportunities for development. The whole area covers 109.85 km². The population density in 1991 was 14.1 person by km². The Timiskaming First Nation Band Indian Reserve covers a quarter of the territory, which is under federal jurisdiction.

The agricultural zone covers a little more than half the Notre-Dame-du-Nord territory and is for the most part protected by the Law on agriculture zones. Within those lands are some particular sectors demanding a more restrictive ruling. They are the zones surrounding the water treatment plant and the municipal water tap.

The Notre-Dame-du-Nord town is located by Lake Timiskaming, on the north shore. This is where are concentrated the residential, commercial and services zones and functions. The development of these activities mainly takes place inside the urban zone.

In 1996, there was 96 property owners with lands of ten acres or more. Together they own 12 244.41 acres in 212 lots. These figures do not account the lands used for agriculture or urban purposes.

The beauty of those huge natural spaces makes Notre-Dame-du-Nord a site of choice for those who love living in contact with nature while having a wide array of services at hand.

The Notre-Dame-du-Nord climate allows hay production of better quality with a better yield per hectare than in the south of the province due to the absence of important drought during the summer. Vegetables have a sweeter taste because of the lenght of daytime and the coolness of weather. Soils are not much contaminated by herbicides and pesticides.

Notre-Dame-du-Nord ranks second among Témiscamingue municipalities for the quantity of good to very good quality soil, after St-Eugène-de-Guigues. The agricultural zones represents 65% of the territory and only 47% of those zones are cultivated.

Farming businesses:

In 1931, there was in Notre-Dame-du-Nord 98 farms on which were living 527 people, or 65% of the total population. In the 50's, changes began in traditional rural areas, changes being especially visible in the population's tendency to leave the regions and gather in the urban centres, and also in the diminution of the number of farms. From 1951 to 1961, the population decreases from 638 to 461 peoples, and during the same time, the number of farms goes down at about the same rate, that is from 95 farms to 72. In 1971, only 20% of the population live on a farm, and the proportion decreases to 12% five years later. The number of farms also keeps a steady decrease, from 30 properties in 1976 to 20 in 1995.

The following shows the different types of farm production operating in Notre-Dame-du-Nord today :

Type of production	Number of farms	Number of animals	Land (hectares)
Animal productions : 20 1 142   Dairy production 8 378   Meat cows 11 526   Bullock 10 16   Veal 8 220   Horses 2 2           Plant productions: 20     Oat 7   126,2 Wheat 1   12,9 Canola 1   10,1 Mixed crop 3   72,4 Barley 10   308,9 Asparagus 1   0,5 Clover, Sorgho, Mil 12   871,3 Fodder Corn 2   18,1       1 098 Woodlands 13     Total number of farms 20

Source: Ministère de l'Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l'Alimentation - 1998

Témiscamingue is part of the forestry zone of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River, and features a rather leafy vegetation. The forestry lands cover almost hals of the municipality area, and are mostly owned by private sector. Because of the micro-climate, long development species like White pine or Red pine can succesfully grow (25 to 30 metres high, with 20 centimeters to 1 metre trunks).

Lake Timiskaming:

Rivière-des-Quinze:

Land animals:

Moose :
Around Notre-Dame-du-Nord, the average number of moose harvest is 0.18 by kilometer square. During the last 5 years, 35 mooses have been killed by hunters.

Black Bear :
There was 0.12 bears killed in every 10 square kilometers, on a 400 square kilometers hunting territory including the Municipality.

Deer :
There is a small population of deer in the region. Only one have been killed during the last five years.

Small Game :
There are no statistics of small game harvests for the region. However, the most popular games, hare and partridge, can find here the perfect habitat for their needs.

Fishes:

The waters left by the melting ice created an enormous lake called Ojibway-Barlow. When the lake began to withdraw, the water couldn't penetrate into the clay of the surface. Thus was created a wide network of rivers and lakes, according to the shapes left by the glaciers. The Notre-Dame-du-Nord land is part of the "Canadien Shield". The topography in the municipality is rather flat, except some steep hills surrounding the river.

The soil:

The soil is the remains of the glaciers covering the earth thousands of years ago. What they left is in good part clay and rocks.
Three hundred years of sedimentation in the water of the Ojibway-Barlow Lake were enough to constitute the immense clay zone surrounding the Lake Timiskaming called "the Little Clay Belt".

General characteristics of clay:

• Excellent fertility
• Prone to compaction in damp weather and often needs draining.
• Tough to work with, especially in dry periods, when it hardens.
• The addition of organic substances like moss, manure or top soil greatly improves the aeration and water circulation.

Underground:

The region is part of the great rock region surrounding the James Bay. It is the geologic province of Grenville, in good part made of metamorphic rock. Rare limestones from the paleozoic era can also be found. There is 100 millions of years old kimberlite containig diamond.
Notre-Dame-du-Nord have two granit kinds : one black, the other pinkish, sand pits and gravel pits.