Near Schefferville, Quebec, Canada Photograph by Lynda Dredge/Used with permission of the Geological Survey of Canada, Natural Resources Canada   Eastern North America: Eastern Canada Boreal Forests/Taiga   291,000 square miles (753,800 square kilometers) -- about the size of Texas and South Carolina combined Relatively Stable/Intact

· Signs of a Glacial Past
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
More Photos

Signs of a Glacial Past

Along the Atlantic coast of this ecoregion, glaciers have carved U-shaped valleys in the steep mountainsides, which have become arms of the sea called fjords. The coast provides important habitat for seabird colonies and areas where seals can raise their young. It is also part of the Atlantic Flyway for migratory birds. The Larch Plateau and Richmond Hills have an undulating ground surface. Kaniapiskau Plateau is a raised granite region that reaches nearly 3,000 feet (915 m) above sea level. The ecoregion has many small, shallow lakes. In the eastern area, extensive string bogs (wetland areas that develop in cracks and depressions) are surrounded by sedges and brown and sphagnum mosses.

Special Features

Lac des Loups Marins, Quebec, is home to a very rare population of about 300 landlocked freshwater seals. This ecoregion includes most of the year-round range of the George River barren-ground caribou herd, the world's largest migrating herd of caribou, containing an estimated 800,000 animals. The Mealy Mountains and Kingarutuk-Fraser River areas have extensive tundra barrens.

	The eastern harlequin duck is an endangered species in Canada. This small duck favors rocky coastal habitats, plentiful in this ecoregion. Males have unusual and beautiful markings, which give the species its name.

Wild Side

The ecoregion's dominant trees are stunted black spruce and tamarack. Less common are white spruce, dwarf birch, willow, laurel, and rhododendron. Cottongrass, lichens, and mosses cover the ground. White spruce forests grow along the Atlantic Coast; salt marshes and plateau bogs are common on coastal marine terraces. Moose, black bears, wolves, red foxes, arctic foxes, wolverines, coyotes, snowshoe hares, grouse, ospreys, peregrine falcons, ravens, and waterfowl all rely on this ecoregion for habitat.

Cause for Concern

Approximately 95 percent of the ecoregion remains intact. Five percent of the ecoregion is permanently flooded by hydroelectric projects. Future threats include additional hydroelectric projects, mining, and logging.

For more information on this ecoregion, go to the World Wildlife Fund Scientific Report.