The precipitous eastern slopes of the Rockies are included in this ecoregion, which is centered on the Columbia icefield. Also common are hanging glaciers, alpine meadows, and waterfalls. At lower elevations are mixed forests of lodgepole pine, Engelmann spruce, and alpine fir. Big game is prominent, with bighorn sheep, elk, black-tailed deer, wolf, grizzly, caribou, … More Alberta Mountain Forests
This entry describes the northern parts of the Alberta-British Columbia Foothills Forests, drained by the North Saskatchewan, Athabasca, and Peace Rivers. Parks in this ecoregion include waterfalls, canyons, and glacial features. Cultural features include trading post sites and Sudeten heritage. North Saskatchewan River Area To the west and north of Rocky Mountain House, public lands … More Alberta-British Columbia Foothills Forests, Part B
This ecoregion is delineated as transitional between boreal forests and Rocky Mountain vegetation. There are linear ridges, rolling plateaus, and broad valleys to the east of the Alberta Mountain forests and Central British Columbia Mountain forests ecoregions. There are three discontinuous sections. The southernmost and smallest is south of the Bow River and west of … More Alberta-British Columbia Foothills Forests, Part A
This article describes features of the boreal forests north of Edmonton in Alberta. The area is drained by the Athabasca and North Saskatchewan Rivers, and these are used to group the parks and public lands described. In addition to the boreal jack pine and spruce forests, natural features include transverse dunes, floating sedge mats, orchid … More Mid-Canadian Boreal Forests, Part B: Athabasca, Lac La Biche, and Oil Sands Areas
Mid-Canadian Boreal Forests is new ecoregion established in the 2017 ecoregion delineation. It combined parts of the Canadian Aspen Forests and Parkland ecoregion with the Mid-Continental Canadian forests. The sites listed here include the former Mid-Continental Canadian forests as well as that portion of the Mid-Canadian Boreal forests that were formerly in the Canadian Aspen … More Mid-Canadian Boreal Forests, Part A: Central Alberta Lakes
This ecoregion is found in Alberta and British Columbia. The Peace River parklands were lumped into the Mid-Canadian Boreal Forests ecoregion in the 2017 delineation. These sites were formerly part of the Canadian Aspen Forests and Parklands ecoregion and the separation is maintained here because of their distinctive grassland characteristics and local distinction as the … More Peace River Parklands
Provincial and Local sites in the Canadian Aspen Forests and Parklands ecoregion subsection are described below. They are generally organized according to the river drainages that cross this grassland transition ecoregion. From north to south, these are the North Saskatchewan River (Edmonton area), Battle River (Wetaskiwin area), Red Deer River, and Bow River (Calgary area). … More Canadian Aspen Forests and Parklands, Part 2
Canadian Aspen Forests and Parklands This ecoregion is characterized by a vegetation of quaking aspen with balsam poplar. It is the most extensive boreal-grassland transition in the world and is the northernmost breeding area for many warbler species and hosts extenesive waterfowl breeding habitat. As mapped in 2001 and amended in 2017, there are four … More Canadian Aspen Forests and Parklands, Part 1
The shortgrass prairies of the northern Great Plains were mapped in 2001 into three ecoregions–the Montana Valley and Foothill Grasslands,the Northern Mixed Grasslands, and the Northern Short Grasslands. In 2017, the Northern Mixed Grasslands and the Northern Short Grasslands were merged. I maintained the 2001 split below. This is part 2 of an earlier post in … More Alberta Grasslands
Part 3 concludes the information on the Okanagan dry forests. Sites are mapped on the Okanagan dry forests map available on databasin.org. Highlights of this section include the McAbee Fossil Beds, Monashee Provincial Park, Painted Bluffs, Pillar Provincial Park, Shuswap Lake,Tunkwa Provincial Park, and the crown jewel of the park system, Wells-Gray Provincial Park. Mabel … More Okanagan Dry Forests, Part 3
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