Boreal Plains
Encyclopedia
The Boreal Plains Ecozone is an ecozone
in the western Canadian
provinces of Manitoba
, Saskatchewan
and Alberta
. It also has minor extensions into northeastern British Columbia
and south-central Northwest Territories
.
Industry in this ecozone once consisted primarily of forestry
and agriculture
, but in 1967 the Great Canadian Oil Sands Limited began extracting bitumen from the Athabasca Oil Sands
. Operations there have expanded significantly since 2003, and the oil sands are becoming an increasingly significant economic factor in the region.
Wood Buffalo National Park
, the largest national park in Canada, and Whooping Crane Summer Range
, the only nesting and breeding area for the critically endangered Whooping Crane
, are both located in the northern portion of this ecozone.
of Cretaceous
shale and Tertiary
sediments are thick deposits of soil
that form a flat terrain in the Interior Plains
. the Montane Cordillera
to the west, closely following the border between Alberta and British Columbia. To its south is the Prairies
ecozone for its entire extent, while to the north are the Taiga Plains
, with its northeastern periphery adjacent to the Taiga Shield
.
Covering 650,000 km², it is a region of subdued relief with few lakes. However, meltwater
from glacial retreat between 11,000 and 8, 000 years ago resulted in extensive deltas
and dune
s, forming Lake Winnipegosis
at the eastern end of this zone. It is a remnant of Lake Agassiz
, a large glacial lake. Most rivers originate in the Rocky Mountains
, flowing eastward through the zone.
Forestry has been an important industry because the region is nearly covered by timber
, about 84% of the region. Agriculture can employ up to 20% of the land area, though it is typically less than that.
, averaging 450 mm annually, with 300 mm in the west and 650 mm in the east. However, this is greater than the rate of evaporation
by over 100 mm in the south, and 300 mm in the north and at the foothills of the Rockies. The excess moisture promotes the development of wetland
s and peat bogs, which account for between 25-50% of the ecozone's area.
Summers are moderately warm, with mean July temperatures of 13°C to 15°C, whereas winters may be very cold, with mean January temperatures of -17.5 in the north and -11°C in the south.
Ecozones of Canada
The ecozones of Canada consist of fifteen terrestrial and five marine ecozones in Canada. These are further subdivided into 53 ecoprovinces, 194 ecoregions, and 1021 ecodistricts...
in the western Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
provinces of Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
, Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
and Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
. It also has minor extensions into northeastern British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
and south-central Northwest Territories
Northwest Territories
The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...
.
Industry in this ecozone once consisted primarily of forestry
Forestry
Forestry is the interdisciplinary profession embracing the science, art, and craft of creating, managing, using, and conserving forests and associated resources in a sustainable manner to meet desired goals, needs, and values for human benefit. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands...
and agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
, but in 1967 the Great Canadian Oil Sands Limited began extracting bitumen from the Athabasca Oil Sands
Athabasca Oil Sands
The Athabasca oil sands are large deposits of bitumen, or extremely heavy crude oil, located in northeastern Alberta, Canada - roughly centred on the boomtown of Fort McMurray...
. Operations there have expanded significantly since 2003, and the oil sands are becoming an increasingly significant economic factor in the region.
Wood Buffalo National Park
Wood Buffalo National Park
Wood Buffalo National Park, located in northeastern Alberta and southern Northwest Territories, is the largest national park in Canada at . The park was established in 1922 to protect the world's largest herd of free roaming Wood Bison, currently estimated at more than 5,000...
, the largest national park in Canada, and Whooping Crane Summer Range
Whooping Crane Summer Range
Whooping Crane Summer Range is a 16,895 km² wetland complex in the boreal forests of northern Alberta and southwestern Northwest Territories in Canada. It is the only natural nesting habitat for the critically endangered whooping crane...
, the only nesting and breeding area for the critically endangered Whooping Crane
Whooping Crane
The whooping crane , the tallest North American bird, is an endangered crane species named for its whooping sound. Along with the Sandhill Crane, it is one of only two crane species found in North America. The whooping crane's lifespan is estimated to be 22 to 24 years in the wild...
, are both located in the northern portion of this ecozone.
Geography
Overlaying a bedrockBedrock
In stratigraphy, bedrock is the native consolidated rock underlying the surface of a terrestrial planet, usually the Earth. Above the bedrock is usually an area of broken and weathered unconsolidated rock in the basal subsoil...
of Cretaceous
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous , derived from the Latin "creta" , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago. In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...
shale and Tertiary
Tertiary
The Tertiary is a deprecated term for a geologic period 65 million to 2.6 million years ago. The Tertiary covered the time span between the superseded Secondary period and the Quaternary...
sediments are thick deposits of soil
Soil
Soil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics...
that form a flat terrain in the Interior Plains
Interior Plains
The Interior Plains is a vast physiographic region that spreads across the Laurentian craton of central North America.-Geography:The Interior Plains are an extensive physiographic division encompassing 8 distinct physiographic provinces, the Interior Low Plateaus, Great Plains, Central Lowland,...
. the Montane Cordillera
Montane Cordillera
The Montane Cordillera is an ecozone in south-central British Columbia and southwestern Alberta, Canada . A rugged and mountainous ecozone spanning 473,000 square kilometres, it still contains "two of the few significant agricultural areas of the province", the Creston Valley and the Okanagan Valley...
to the west, closely following the border between Alberta and British Columbia. To its south is the Prairies
Prairies (ecozone)
The Prairies Ecozone is a Canadian terrestrial ecozone which spans the southern areas of the Prairie provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. It is a productive agricultural area, and is commonly referred to as "Canada's breadbasket"...
ecozone for its entire extent, while to the north are the Taiga Plains
Taiga Plains
The Taiga Plain is a Canadian terrestrial ecozone that covers most of the western Northwest Territories, extending to northwest Alberta, northeast British Columbia and slightly overlapping northeastern Yukon....
, with its northeastern periphery adjacent to the Taiga Shield
Taiga Shield
The Taiga Shield Ecozone is an ecozone which stretches across Canada's subarctic region. Some regions exhibit exposed Precambrian bedrock of the Canadian Shield, the oldest of the world's geological formations...
.
Covering 650,000 km², it is a region of subdued relief with few lakes. However, meltwater
Meltwater
Meltwater is the water released by the melting of snow or ice, including glacial ice and ice shelfs over oceans. Meltwater is often found in the ablation zone of glaciers, where the rate of snow cover is reducing...
from glacial retreat between 11,000 and 8, 000 years ago resulted in extensive deltas
River delta
A delta is a landform that is formed at the mouth of a river where that river flows into an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, reservoir, flat arid area, or another river. Deltas are formed from the deposition of the sediment carried by the river as the flow leaves the mouth of the river...
and dune
Dune
In physical geography, a dune is a hill of sand built by wind. Dunes occur in different forms and sizes, formed by interaction with the wind. Most kinds of dunes are longer on the windward side where the sand is pushed up the dune and have a shorter "slip face" in the lee of the wind...
s, forming Lake Winnipegosis
Lake Winnipegosis
Lake Winnipegosis is a large lake in central North America, in Manitoba, Canada, some 300 km northwest of Winnipeg. It is Canada's eleventh-largest lake...
at the eastern end of this zone. It is a remnant of Lake Agassiz
Lake Agassiz
Lake Agassiz was an immense glacial lake located in the center of North America. Fed by glacial runoff at the end of the last glacial period, its area was larger than all of the modern Great Lakes combined, and it held more water than contained by all lakes in the world today.-Conception:First...
, a large glacial lake. Most rivers originate in the Rocky Mountains
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
, flowing eastward through the zone.
Forestry has been an important industry because the region is nearly covered by timber
Timber
Timber may refer to:* Timber, a term common in the United Kingdom and Australia for wood materials * Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S...
, about 84% of the region. Agriculture can employ up to 20% of the land area, though it is typically less than that.
Climate
Lying east of the Rocky Mountains, the region experiences low precipitationPrecipitation (meteorology)
In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation (also known as one of the classes of hydrometeors, which are atmospheric water phenomena is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation...
, averaging 450 mm annually, with 300 mm in the west and 650 mm in the east. However, this is greater than the rate of evaporation
Evaporation
Evaporation is a type of vaporization of a liquid that occurs only on the surface of a liquid. The other type of vaporization is boiling, which, instead, occurs on the entire mass of the liquid....
by over 100 mm in the south, and 300 mm in the north and at the foothills of the Rockies. The excess moisture promotes the development of wetland
Wetland
A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....
s and peat bogs, which account for between 25-50% of the ecozone's area.
Summers are moderately warm, with mean July temperatures of 13°C to 15°C, whereas winters may be very cold, with mean January temperatures of -17.5 in the north and -11°C in the south.
Protected areas
Within this ecozone are a number of protected areas. These include:- Dry Island Buffalo Jump Provincial ParkDry Island Buffalo Jump Provincial ParkDry Island Buffalo Jump Provincial Park is a provincial park in Central Alberta, Canada, located about southeast of Red Deer and east of Trochu. The park is situated along the Red Deer River and features badlands topography...
- Wood Buffalo National ParkWood Buffalo National ParkWood Buffalo National Park, located in northeastern Alberta and southern Northwest Territories, is the largest national park in Canada at . The park was established in 1922 to protect the world's largest herd of free roaming Wood Bison, currently estimated at more than 5,000...
- Whooping Crane Summer RangeWhooping Crane Summer RangeWhooping Crane Summer Range is a 16,895 km² wetland complex in the boreal forests of northern Alberta and southwestern Northwest Territories in Canada. It is the only natural nesting habitat for the critically endangered whooping crane...
- Prince Albert National ParkPrince Albert National ParkPrince Albert National Park covers in central Saskatchewan, Canada and is located north of Saskatoon. Though declared a national park March 24, 1927, it had its official opening ceremonies on August 10, 1928 performed by Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King. The park is open all year but...
- Riding Mountain National ParkRiding Mountain National ParkRiding Mountain National Park is a national park in Manitoba, Canada. The park sits atop the Manitoba Escarpment. Consisting of a protected area , the forested parkland stands in sharp contrast to the surrounding prairie farmland. The park is home to wolves, moose, elk, black bears, hundreds of...