Priority Landscapes

Hudson Bay Lowlands I Boreal Forest
Clay Belt I Great Lakes-St. Lawrence

Hudson Bay Lowlands

Canadian Wildlife Service

• The Hudson Bay Lowlands stretch from Quebec to Manitoba, covering over 265,000 square kilometres.
• This landscape is characterized by vast tidal flats and inland beach ridge complexes that provide highly productive freshwater marshes, sedge meadows and swamps. Bogs and fens are a dominant landscape feature further inland.
• The coast is important to migrating and breeding waterfowl such as Canada Geese, Atlantic Brant, and Black Scoters.

Potential Threats: climate change, hydro-electric development, mining, and to a lesser extent, peat and petroleum extraction.

Boreal Forest

Canadian Wildlife Service

• In Ontario, the Boreal forest landscape covers more than 455,000 square kilometers and consists of exposed Precambrian Shield, sand plains, rolling hills and a mix of trees including red and jack pine, black and white spruce, tamarack, balsam fir, trembling aspen, poplar and speckled alder.
• Wetland habitats are extensive in this landscape, and are comprised of beaver ponds, riverine and lacustrine marshes, deltas, swamps, fens and bogs.
• The Boreal forest provides important breeding habitat for many species of waterfowl, especially the wary American Black Duck.

Potential Threats: forestry, mining, hydro-electric production, tourism, acid rain and climate change.

Clay Belt

Canadian Wildlife Service

• Located in the eastern part of Ontario's boreal forest, the high fertility associated with the more than 50,000 square kilometres of clay belt contrasts with the low fertility habitats of bog and exposed Precambrian Shield that surround it.
• Wetland habitats are among the most productive in the province, with a diverse wetland base ranging from highly productive marshes and beaver ponds through to less productive but unique graminoid fens and bog complexes.
• The Clay belt provides important breeding habitat for waterfowl and staging habitat for migrating waterfowl such as Canada Geese.

Potential Threats: agriculture, forestry and mining activities and climate change.

Great Lakes-St. Lawrence

Canadian Wildlife Service

• The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence landscape in Ontario covers more than 215,000 square kilometres and is dominated by large lakes and river systems that are interspersed with agricultural areas, major urban centres, and remnant forest tracts.
• This landscape is the most fertile region of the province featuring highly productive wetlands which support many species of plants, insects and birds including waterfowl, waterbirds, shorebirds and many songbirds.
• Critical staging areas for scaup, Redhead, and Canvasback occur along the Great Lakes coastline.
• As much as 90 per cent of this landscape's original wetlands have been lost, largely from agricultural drainage, urbanization and recreational pressures.

Potential Threats: urbanization, agriculture, forestry, acid rain, recreational development and climate change.