About Canada's Boreal

Newfoundland and Labrador

Newfoundland and Labrador’s Boreal Forest:

• is approximately 380,000 km2 (94 million) in size – larger than Germany.1

• comprises 7% of Canada’s Boreal Forest.

• is home to 14 aboriginal communities.2

• stores 21 billion tonnes of carbon in its soils, peat and forests – an amount equivalent to 107 years of Canada’s annual carbon emissions.3

• is the breeding ground for 70 to 200 million birds of more than 150 bird species, including Harlequin Duck, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Bay-breasted Warbler and Rusty Blackbird.

• supports more than 3,000, or 9%, of Canada’s threatened boreal Woodland caribou population.4

• features 326,000 km2 (80 million acres) of intact forest, peatland and wetland habitat free from industrial development, making up 86% of the province’s boreal region.5

• features the world’s largest tundra-dwelling caribou herd in Labrador's George River region.

 

1. Canadian Boreal Initiative. 2003. Canada’s Boreal Region.
2. Aboriginal Canada Portal (www.aboriginalcanada.gc.ca), and Global Forest Watch.
3. Tarnocai, C. and Lacelle, B. 1996. Soil Organic Carbon Digital Database of Canada. Eastern Cereal and Oilseed Research Center, Research Branch, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, Canada.
4. Environment Canada. 2008. Scientific Review for the Identification of Critical Habitat for Woodland Caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou), Boreal Population, in Canada. August 2008.
5. Global Forest Watch Canada. 2009. Canada’s Forest Landscape Fragments: A Second Approximation.