GNA - Northern Forests
The northern forests consist of all wooded parts of Canada east of the Rocky Mountains to the Arctic Ocean to the north and Atlantic ocean to the east. Its southern limits are marked by a transition to the subtropical forests of the south-east at the Great Lakes. The forest, except for a flat and swamp strip along the coast of the Hudson Bay known as the 'Hudson Lowlands', is dominated by coniferous forest which grows thick on wrinkled landforms cut through by rivers and dotted with lakes or muskeg swamplands. In the south, where trees grow to full height, the region is considered 'boreal', while in the north where cold weather and irregular sunlight causes trees to grow stunted or gnarled, and the region is called 'taiga'. Further, the region can be divided into the silty-bottomed Mackenzie River valley in the west and the Canadian Shield - a vast rounded outcrop of bare bedrock which covers the territory of Nunavut, as well as much of the provinces of Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and Labrador. This rock, which makes farming difficult, even dips down into what was once the United States into what was once the United States in northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the upper peninsula of Michigan.
In the southern 'boreal' portion of the northern forests, summers tend to be short and hot while winters are long and cold. Average summer temperatures can be as hot as 23 C while winter averages -10 C. Winters are more mild along the Atlantic coast, where the average temperature is 9 C and there are often snow free winters. Rainfall averages 300mm in the west, where the mountains block moisture, and steadily increases until it reaches a maximum of 1600mm in the east.
Meanwhile, in the northern 'taiga' portion of the northern forests summers are short and cool while winters are long and bitterly cold. Summers average 20 C and winters average -26 C. Precipitation here is low, between 300-600mm annually.
Finally, in the Hudson Lowlands, summers are short and warm while winters are cold. Average temperatures in summer are 21 C while in winter they average -6 C. Precipitation ranges from 500mm in the northwest to 800mm in the east.
The entirety of the northern forests are susceptible to wild fires, especially the drier Mackenzie river valley of the west. On average, 1% of the region burns every year, covering millions of hectares. These fires are essential to forest maintenance, with dense force cover following fires.
In the west, the Mackenzie river valley consists of slightly rolling plains and gentle valleys. As one moves north into the taiga portion of the region, the ground becomes more irregular as river tributaries carve deep canyons, some hundreds of meters deep. Here the landscape is also marked by broad lowlands, plateaus, and undulating hills or ridges called drumlins. Glaciation has marked the region with vast deposits of sand, gravel, and lone boulders called erratics. Across the entirety of the length of the Mackenzie river's watershed lakes, wetlands, and bogs dominated lowland areas.
In contrast, the shield consists of rolling rocky hills and depressions, scrapped of their topsoil by glaciation. As with the rest of the northern forests, this rolling bedrock is littered by deposits of sand, gravel, and boulders. Water collects in the many depressions forming deep lakes, rivers, ponds, wetlands, and bogs.
The Hudson Lowlands, meanwhile, are differentiated from th other two regions by the flatness of its terrain, a feature which, combined with its waterlogged soil, has resulted in it becoming the largest continuous wetland in the world. The majority of the region, over 75%, is covered in wetlands and bogs dotted like leopard print with shallow ponds and lakes. The coast, meanwhile, is marked by extensive tidal flats and shallow off-shore waters in which hide the snags of ancient flooded trees.
Across the boreal portions of the region, trees grow in a patchwork of differing types. Coniferous trees like spruce, pine, and fir occur across the region while deciduous trees like birch, aspen, and poplar appear only in the warmer southern portions. Hardwood trees are rare everywhere. The paper birch grows abundantly here providing material to create lightweight birch-bark canoes which are essential for transport along the waterways of the region. In low lying areas wetlands are common, covering as much as 20% of the region. Meanwhile, in the uplands, lichen dotted bedrock outcrops dominate.
In the taiga, meanwhile, conifers are the only trees, though their growth pattern is still shaped heavily by forest fires. Trees like black spruce and larch dominate the lowlands while highland areas are dominated by shrublands, including cranberries, currants, and blueberries in the Mackenzie valley or rock-clinging lichen in the shield. These forests are stunted and often lean at odd angles caused by the seasonal freezing and thawing of the waterlogged wetland soils.
Finally, in the Hudson Lowlands, boreal forests of spruce and tamarack grow only on ridges which cut through the landscape of wetlands dominated by cotton grass, sedge, and mosses.
Fearsome Critters: black bear, bobcat, coyote, foghog, hangdown, hide-behind, hodag, hoop snake, hugag, flatbear, mug-lump, snow alligator, lynx, shagamaw, snow wasset, spurdoodle, wolf
Big Game: bison, caribou, deer, elk, moose
Small Game: beaver, chipmunk, ermine, fisher, fox, gopher, hare, lemming, marten, mink, muskrat, otter, porcupine, racoon, skunk, squirrel, vole, weasel, woodchuck
Fowl: bald eagle, bufflehead, cardinal, chickadee, crane, cormorant, dove, duck, finch, grosbeak, grouse, goofus bird, goose, gull, hawk, heron, jay (gray, blue), loon, merganser, nighthawk, osprey, owl, peregrine falcon, philamaloo bird, ptarmigan, puffin, redpoll, raven, sparrow, vulture, warbler, wren, wood thrush, woodpecker.
Fish: alewife, burbot, chub, cisco, cougar-fish, giddy fish, goldeye, grayling, lamprey, log gar, perch, pike, salmon, shiner, shovel-faced oscar, smelt, sturgeon (giant), sucker, trout (fur bearing), varden, walleye, whitefish, whirligig fish.
Pests: giant mosquito, giant leach, treehopper
Population across the region can be divided into three broad areas. In the first of these, along the southern limits of the Mackenzie river and its tributaries, the population is largely sedentary with a population of about 10 people per square mile. Their subsistence staple is wheat and corn mixed with small vegetable gardens. They also practice livestock grazing of cattle, sheep, and goats. Meanwhile, in the southern shield, populations are smaller and more disparate - about 5 people per square mile. They rely largely on farming wetlands for berries (including cranberries, blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries) as well as seasonal wild rice harvesting. Limited forest grazing is also practiced including animals like pigs, sheep, and various fowl. In both the southern shield and Mackenzie River valley fishing, hunting, and trapping supplement diet while forestry and mining are important economic activities.
Further north, population becomes more scarce, typically about 1 person every 10 miles but dropping as low as 1 person every 20 miles in the taiga. Here fish are a staple of subsistence diet, supplemented by seasonal gathering, trapping, and hunting. In all three parts of the northern forest luxury items include furs and sweet tree syrups like that of the maple or birch. These luxury goods bring outsiders to the periphery of the north, especially the coast of the Hudson Bay and the Arctic Ocean. Along these coasts, foreign powers have constructed trade posts and forts to act both as centers of local trade and as stop-overs for trade with the pacific ocean via the North-West Passage.
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