The Boreal Forest of North America

Our last, best hope for forest ecosystem conservation

Stretching across the top of our continent from Alaska to Newfoundland, the Boreal Forest of North America is one of the largest intact forest remaining on the planet. It covers 1.4 billion acres, larger than the Brazilian Amazon, and offers the best opportunity left in the world for large-scale forest ecosystem conservation.

Named after Boreas, the Greek god of the North wind, the boreal ecosystem is also known by the Russian word Taiga. It is a unique mosaic of interconnected habitats that include forests, lakes, river valleys, wetlands, peatlands and tundra. The main tree species in the North American Boreal forest are white and black spruce, trembling aspen, balsam poplar, tamarack and white birch. Two kinds of pine – jack pine and lodgepole pine – cover about two-thirds of the boreal region. Mammals inhabiting the boreal ecosystem including black and grizzly bear, wolves, woodland caribou, wolverine, lynx, and much more. But the most characteristic group of species in the boreal are birds. The most abundant groups are warblers, with up to two billion individuals breeding in the region, and sparrows, of which there are a billion or more.

The Boreal Region consists of four distinctive Bird Conservation Regions. The most westerly is the Northwestern Interior Forest (BCR 4) that covers most of central Alaska and the Yukon, extending into the Northwest Territories and northern British Columbia. Forest habitat is dominated by white and black spruce, poplars, and paper birch and is occupied by birds such as the Boreal Chickadee and Gray-cheeked Thrush. Bogs are common in the lowlands, and alpine dwarf scrub communities are common in mountainous regions, where American Golden-Plovers and Surfbirds breed.

Boreal Forest. Photo: USFWS

The next region to the east is the Boreal Taiga Plains (BCR 6) that extends south to the Prairies and east to central Manitoba. This area is dominated by the Mackenzie River and its tributaries. Black spruce is a dominant species is the open forests of the north, while warmer better-drained southern areas support mixed forests, including the Aspen Parklands on the southern fringe. The seasonally waterlogged landscape is breeding habitat for Whooping Cranes and Wilson’s Phalarope, while Great Gray Owls haunt the forests.

The Taiga Shield and Hudson Plains (BCR 7) is perhaps the largest wetland complex in the world. Dense sedge-moss-lichen groundcover are interspersed with open woodlands of black spruce and tamarack on drier sites. Representative birds are Rock and Willow Ptarmigan, Black Scoter, Northern Shrike, and Blackpoll Warbler.

The last area is the Boreal Softwood Shield (BCR 8), which stretches all the way from Saskatchewan to the Atlantic Ocean. It is covered by a closed stand of coniferous forest that becomes more mixed with broad-leaved species like white birch and balsam poplar in southern transition zones. Wetland birds here include Purple Sandpiper and Yellow Rail, while forests provide habitat for Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Boreal Owl, and a large suite of breeding warblers, including Connecticut and Bay-breasted Warblers.

The Boreal Songbird Initiative is a new initiative dedicated to educating birdwatchers and conservationists throughout the U.S. about the importance of the boreal forest to migratory birds.