The Mid-Canada Boreal Plains Forests stretch across central Canada from south of Wood Buffalo National Park in Alberta southeastward to north of Winnipeg, Manitoba, spanning parts of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and British Columbia. The landscape mixes quaking aspen and balsam poplar with later-successional black and white spruce, interlaced with abundant wetlands, lakes, and tamarack-and-moss peatlands, where lightning fires keep forest stands in shifting stages of succession. Its subhumid mid-boreal climate brings average annual temperatures around -2 to 1degC and roughly 300-625 mm of precipitation. Only about 6% is protected, though much unprotected land remains in natural condition under pressure from logging, mining, and oil and gas.

At a glance

About the boreal forests/taiga biome

The vast northern forest belt of spruce, fir, pine, and larch, defined by long, severe winters and short growing seasons. Often underlain by permafrost and wetlands, the taiga forms one of the world’s largest terrestrial carbon stores.

National refinement sub-regions

Catalog plants suited to this ecoregion

Computed from each plant's stated USDA zone range against this ecoregion's NRCan Plant Hardiness Zone 1981-2010 GeoTIFF published current zone range, with the CHELSA mid-century warming delta applied for the projection. Plants whose stated range falls outside both the current and projected zone end up dropped; the rest land in one of the three buckets below.

Collections for this ecoregion

Curated multi-plant collections whose members all fit this ecoregion's zone range — no won't-grow members smuggled in. Overall fit class shown per collection is the weakest link across its members.

Related ecoregions