About Canada's Boreal

Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan’s Boreal Forest:

• is approximately 410,000 km2 (101 million acres) in size – larger than Germany.1
• comprises 7% of Canada’s Boreal Forest.
• is home to more than 50 aboriginal communities.2
• stores 5 billion tonnes of carbon in its soils, peat and forests – an amount equivalent to 24 years of Canada’s annual carbon emissions.3
• contains a portion of the 2,100 km-long (1,300 miles) Churchill River; the vast drainage basin of the river encompasses about half of the province’s boreal forest.
• is the breeding ground for 70 to 200 million birds of more than 175 bird species, including Yellow Rail, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Bay-breasted Warbler and Rusty Blackbird.
• supports over 4,000, or 13%, of Canada’s threatened boreal Woodland caribou population, as well as large populations of wolves, bear and other wildlife.4
• features 310,000 km2 (77 million acres) of intact forest, peatland and wetland habitat free from industrial development, making up 75% of the province’s boreal region.5

 

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.