South Block, Rumsey, British Columbia, Canada Photograph by D. Poulton   Central North America: Central Canada Temperate Grasslands, Savannas, and Shrublands   153,400 square miles (397,400 square kilometers) -- slightly smaller than California Critical/Endangered

· The Influence of Glaciers
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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The Influence of Glaciers

At the end of the last Ice Age, receding glaciers created the "hummocky" or hilly appearance of the Canadian Aspen Forest and Parklands ecoregion. The many small lakes and ponds carved out by the glaciers provide important habitat for breeding waterfowl.

Special Features

The Canadian Aspen Forest and Parklands ecoregion is one of the largest boreal-grassland transitions in the world. The region gets its name from the open, grassy "parks," or breaks in the tree cover, that are common here. Long, cold winters and short, warm summers characterize this habitat. Fire is a natural occurrence, and the disturbance it creates influences the types of trees found in this region, since it kills evergreens such as white spruce and balsam fir more quickly than deciduous trees.

	The Canadian Aspen Forest and Parklands ecoregion contains many types of ecosystems, including: the Peace lowland, along the Peace River near the British Columbia border; western boreal forest; boreal/grassland transition; interlake plain; aspen parkland, and southwest Manitoba uplands.

Wild Side

The habitat gets its name from the most common tree species that grows here, the quaking aspen--which is called quaking because of the way its leaves flutter in the breeze. Other forest species are balsam poplar, white spruce, balsam fir, jack pine, willow, black spruce, and tamarack. Animals that call the habitat home include moose, white-tailed deer, black bears, wolves, beavers, coyotes, martens, minks, red foxes, snowshoe hares, grouse, and many birds that migrate from the tropics to nest here. The species that live here survive the harsh winters by hibernating, storing food, or migrating.

Cause for Concern

Less than 10 percent of the natural Canadian Aspen Forest and Parklands habitat remains intact. Most of the loss is due to converting habitat to pastures for grazing livestock and to agricultural fields for raising crops such as canola, alfalfa, and wheat. Much of the original forests have been cut for timber. Oil and gas exploration is also happening in many areas.

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