7 Fun facts about the Boreal Forest

Canada’s boreal forest is considered the world’s largest intact forest ecosystem and spans 1.2 billion acres (485 million hectares). Indigenous communities, ancient trees, and endangered wildlife still live in the Canadian boreal forest today.

Boreal forests make up 30 percent of the world's forests, and around 30-40 percent of the earth’s land-based carbon is stored in boreal forests, which makes them critical to protect in the fight against climate change.

The boreal forest is a habitat for the wood bison, which is North America’s largest land mammal. Adult male wood bison can measure up to 6 feet tall, 10 feet long and weigh over 2,000 pounds!

The boreal forest was named after the greek god Boreas, who was believed to be a purple-winged god of the North wind in greek mythology. Boreas was also the god of winter, and it was believed that he could chill the air with his icy breath.

Approximately 1 million acres of forest are clearcut in the Canadian boreal forest alone each year. Most logging goes towards making paper products such as toilet paper and facial tissues. This is why it’s important to ensure that any paper or wood products you purchase are sustainably-sourced.

As mentioned before, the primary threat to boreal forests is logging, which has led to many species becoming endangered. Endangered species that rely on the boreal forests as their habitat include the grizzly bear, woodland caribou, wolverine and Siberian tiger.

Boreal forests usually experience very little precipitation, and when it does rain or snow, the cool temperatures often slow evaporation. This is why it’s very common to find swamps, bogs, lakes, and rivers within boreal forests. Canada’s boreal forest contains more surface freshwater than anywhere else in the world!