Ecozones Project – Boreal Plains

1. EcozonesProject – Boreal Plains Alexander Bajic

2. Map of the Boreal Plains

3. General Statistics and Facts Landforms: Level to gently rolling plains Climate: Long cold winters; short warm summers; percipitation 450 mm; growing season 130 to 165 days Vegetation: Coniferous forests mixed with some deciduous; notable marsh areas Soils: Rich soils formed under forests, occasional marsh soils Human Activities: Total population 771205; GDP $13.7 billion; forestry, farming, tourism, oil and gas development Major Urban Areas: Hinton (highest pop. in region at 9405), La Ronge, The Pas, FlinFlon, Peace River, Fort Smith

4. Notable Terms and Concepts Bioregion: Aregion defined by characteristics of the natural environment rather than by man-made divisions. Ecozone: A region that has a unique amalgamation of plants, wildlife, climate, landforms, and human activities. Ecological Footprint: The sum of an individual's or other entity's impact on the environment, based on consumption and pollution. Boundaries: Aline that marks the limits of an area or a dividing line.

5. Notable Terms and Conditions (cont.) Transition Zone: A zone where the characteristics of one region gradually change into the next. Landforms: Anatural feature of the earth's surface. Climate: The weather conditions prevailing in an area in general or over a long period

6. Notable Terms and Conditions (cont.) Vegetation: Plants considered collectively, esp. those found in a particular area or habitat. Soils: The upper layer of earth in which plants grow, a black or dark brown material typically consisting of a mixture of organic remains, clay, and rock particles. Human Activities: Major Urban Areas: Areas of large and particularly dense population.

7. Human Activities and their interaction with the environment Human Activities have many impacts on the environment, some notable ones are included in the following list: -Urban expansion; this form of human activity affects the environment in that as the city expands, good farmland around the outskirts of the city can be swallowed up by urban sprawl -Logging can often result in a profusion of tree stumps and unusable and unproductive land, the impacts of mass deforestation includes soil erosion which often incurs the result of the land becoming a wasteland. There have been policies implemented on various levels to assist in mitigating this -Hunting; this human activity, although often essential, can in some cases be dangerous to the survival of certain species and can cause them to become endangered. This has been greatly reduced with things such as the legal protection of certain endangered animals

8. Human Activities and their interaction with the environment (cont.) Human interaction with the environment is quite seldom positive for the environment, but through certain policies and regulations, it can be kept sustainable.

9. Interesting Points about the Boreal Plains Positive Point • There is much potential for development in the Boreal Plains such as forestry, farming and oil and gas extraction and processing operations Negative Point • There is a relatively short growing season and the region suffers from long and cold winters and short and cool summers, there is also extensive unusable marshland Interesting Point • The Boreal Plains contain the largest national park in Canada; Wood Buffalo National Park

10. Geographic Issues in the Boreal Plains Recently the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report, which among many other things, stated that over the next few decades, the boreal biome which includes Canada’s Boreal Plains, will see the slow and constant migration of the region’s coniferous forests to what is currently tundra. It is also sad that species, many of whom there are in the Boreal Plains will be affected by this issue.