Boreal Forest

In conventional geographic terms, the boreal forest is a terrestrial biome encircling nearly the entire subarctic. In North America, the boreal forest lies predominantly within Canada, where it occupies a contiguous zone from the province of Newfoundland to the Mackenzie River delta in the Northwest Territories, extending as far south as central Ontario and Québec. Significant portions of boreal forest are also found in central Alaska. In Europe and North Asia, the boreal forest—or taiga forest—is equally impressive in size, spanning northern Scandinavia, northern Russia and Siberia, and the Kamchatka Peninsula. Although frequently represented as a vast wilderness, millions of people reside in the boreal forest. In Canada alone, just fewer than 4 million people are estimated to reside within the boreal forest, including well ...