Environmental Setting

Boreal wetland regions extend across Canada at mid-latitudes, are characterized by the widespread occurrence of coniferous forest, and cover about 3 034 000 km2. Exclusive of the Atlantic Boreal Wetland Region (BA) and mountains, these regions constitute about one-third of the area of Canada. Wet-lands cover approximately 20 % of the land surface within these regions and, where the physiography permits, they dominate the landscape. In this chapter, the common and characteristic boreal wet-land forms are discussed with the exception of salt marshes, which are considered separately in Chapter 9, and those boreal wetlands lying in the Atlantic Boreal Wetland Region, which are discussed in Chapter 7