Boreal Plains Ecozone (CEC)

Boreal Plains
Peace Lowland ecoregion of the Boreal Plains ecozone
Ecology
Borders	List Boreal Cordillera Boreal Shield Montane Cordillera Prairies Taiga Plains Taiga Shield
Geography
Area	737,287 km2 (284,668 sq mi)
Country	Canada
Provinces	Alberta British Columbia Manitoba Northwest Territories Saskatchewan
Climate type	Humid continental and subarctic

The Boreal Plains Ecozone, as defined by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), is a terrestrial ecozone in the western Canadian provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. It also has minor extensions into northeastern British Columbia and south-central Northwest Territories.^[1][2] The region extends over 779,471 km², of which 58,981 km² is conserved (7.6 percent).^[3]

Wood Buffalo National Park, the largest national park in Canada, and Whooping Crane Summer Range, the only nesting and breeding area for the critically endangered whooping crane, are both located in the northern portion of this ecozone.^[4]

Industry in this ecozone once consisted primarily of forestry and agriculture, but in 1967 Great Canadian Oil Sands Limited began extracting bitumen from the Athabasca oil sands. Operations there have expanded significantly since 2003, and the oil sands are becoming an increasingly significant economic factor in the region.