North American Terrestrial Ecoregions—Level III April 2011 Commission for Environmental Cooperation This background paper (metadata for electronic information product) was prepared under CEC project 2007.1.8.8.1.1, Building Local Capacity for Integrated Ecosystem management and to Conserve Critical Species and Spaces•TERRESTRIAL ECOREGIONS, for the Secretariat of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation. The information contained herein is the responsibility of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of the CEC, or the governments of Canada, Mexico or the United States of America. The material herein may be reproduced without seeking permission, provided that it is accurately reproduced, is not used for commercial purposes, and includes an acknowledgement of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation. Except where otherwise noted, this work is protected under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works License. ©Commission for Environmental Cooperation, 2011 Cite as: Wiken, Ed, Francisco Jiménez Nava, and Glenn Griffith. 2011. North American Terrestrial Ecoregions—Level III. Commission for Environmental Cooperation, Montreal, Canada. Publication Details Publication type: Background paper Publication date: May 2011 Original language: English Review and quality assurance procedures: Final Party review: October-November 2009 QA07.30&32 Disponible en français – Disponible en español For more information: Commission for Environmental Cooperation 393, rue St-Jacques ouest Bureau 200 Montreal (Quebec) Canada H2Y 1N9 t 514.350.4300 f 514.350.4372 [email protected] / www.cec.org The Canadian portion of these descriptions was prepared by: Ed Wiken Canadian Plains Research Center (www.cprc.com) P.O. Box 59012 Ottawa, Ontario K1G 5T7 [email protected] 613-291-3109 The Mexican portion of these descriptions was prepared by: Francisco Jiménez Nava under the direction of Dr. Francisco Takaki, Director General Adjunto de Normatividad de la D.G.G. Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática (INEGI) 52449 910 5300 X: 5365 / 5251 The US portion of these descriptions was prepared by: Glenn Griffith Corvallis, Oregon 541 754-4465 [email protected] 3 Table of Contents Introduction.................................................................................................................................................10 1.0 Arctic Cordillera .................................................................................................................................12 1.1.1 Ellesmere and Devon Islands Ice Caps ..........................................................................12 1.1.2 Baffin and Torngat Mountains.....................................................................................12 2.0 Tundra ...............................................................................................................................................13 2.1 Northern Arctic........................................................................................................................13 2.1.1 Sverdrup Islands Lowland ...........................................................................................13 2.1.2 Ellesmere Mountains and Eureka Hills........................................................................13 2.1.3 Parry Islands Plateau....................................................................................................14 2.1.4 Lancaster and Borden Peninsula Plateaus....................................................................14 2.1.5 Foxe Uplands...............................................................................................................14 2.1.6 Baffin Uplands.............................................................................................................15 2.1.7 Gulf of Boothia and Foxe Basin Plains........................................................................15 2.1.8 Victoria Island Lowlands.............................................................................................16 2.1.9 Banks Island and Amundsen Gulf Lowlands...............................................................16 2.2 Alaska Tundra .........................................................................................................................17 2.2.1 Arctic Coastal Plain .....................................................................................................17 2.2.2 Arctic Foothills............................................................................................................17 2.2.3 Subarctic Coastal Plains...............................................................................................18 2.2.4 Seward Peninsula.........................................................................................................18 2.2.5 Bristol Bay-Nushagak Lowlands .................................................................................19 2.2.6 Aleutian Islands...........................................................................................................19 2.3 Brooks Range Tundra.............................................................................................................20 2.3.1 Brooks Range/Richardson Mountains .........................................................................20 2.4 Southern Arctic........................................................................................................................21 2.4.1 Amundsen Plains.........................................................................................................21 2.4.2 Aberdeen Plains...........................................................................................................21 2.4.3 Central Ungava Peninsula and Ottawa and Belcher Islands ........................................22 2.4.4 Queen Maud Gulf and Chantrey Inlet Lowlands .........................................................22 3.0 Taiga / Taiga.......................................................................................................................................22 3.1 Alaska Boreal Interior .............................................................................................................22 3.1.1 Interior Forested Lowlands and Uplands .......................................................................22 3.1.2 Interior Bottomlands....................................................................................................23 3.1.3 Yukon Flats..................................................................................................................24 3.2 Taiga Cordillera.......................................................................................................................24 3.2.1 Ogilvie Mountains..........................................................................................................24 3.2.2 Mackenzie and Selwyn Mountains ..............................................................................25 3.2.3 Peel River and Nahanni Plateaus .................................................................................25 3.3 Taiga Plains.............................................................................................................................26 3.3.1 Great Bear Plains .........................................................................................................26 3.3.2 Hay and Slave River Lowlands....................................................................................26 3.4 Taiga Shield.............................................................................................................................27 3.4.1 Kazan River and Selwyn Lake Uplands ......................................................................27 3.4.2 La Grande Hills and New Quebec Central Plateau......................................................27 3.4.3 Smallwood Uplands.....................................................................................................28 3.4.4 Ungava Bay Basin and George Plateau .......................................................................28 3.4.5 Coppermine River and Tazin Lake Uplands................................................................29 4.0 Hudson Plains / Planicies de Hudson .................................................................................................29 4.1 Hudson Plains.........................................................................................................................29 4 4.1.1 Coastal Hudson Bay Lowlands....................................................................................29 4.1.2 Hudson Bay and James Bay Lowlands........................................................................30 5.0 Northern Forests .................................................................................................................................30 5.1 Softwood Shield ......................................................................................................................30 5.1.1 Athabasca Plain and Churchill River Uplands.............................................................30 5.1.2 Lake Nipigon and Lac Seul Uplands ...........................................................................31 5.1.3 Central Laurentians and Mecatina Plateau...................................................................31 5.1.4 Newfoundland Island...................................................................................................32 5.1.5 Hayes River Uplands