Taiga Plains

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Earlier national classifications that covered the Northwest Territories (NWT) have had limited application for resource management. Increasing pressure from non-renewable resource development in the southern NWT and the planned Mackenzie Gas Project prompted an ecological re-evaluation of the Taiga Plains, a priority region that comprises most of the south-central NWT south of tree line and lying between the mountains on the west and the Taiga Shield to the east.

Under the new ecosystem classification, the Taiga Plains is a level II ecoregion, that lies entirely within the broader, Taiga Level I Ecoregion. It is further divided into four level III ecoregions and nested within these are a total of 45 level IV ecoregions.

A report was released in 2007.  Following some further revisions, mainly in the naming convention used for the level III ecoregions, a new report was issued in 2009.  Significant changes from the earlier report included a large fold-out map at the back of the report and descriptive wildlife summary. 

Click here for a high resolution version of the document Ecological Regions of the Northwest Territories, Taiga Plains (2009) - (Warning 137 MB). For a specific level III ecoregion within the Taiga Plains, please click on one of the individual sections below.

	1. The Taiga Plains High Subarctic (HS) Ecoregion occupies the northern third of the Taiga Plains and contains 14 Level IV ecoregions.
	2. The Taiga Plains Low Subarctic (LS) Ecoregion occupies the middle third of the Taiga Plains; this Ecoregion contains 14 Level IV ecoregions.
	3. The Taiga Plains High Boreal (HB) Ecoregion occurs at higher elevations, or at slightly higher latitudes within the larger Mackenzie and Slave Lowlands Ecoregion; it contains six Level IV ecoregions.
	4. The Taiga Plains Mid-Boreal (MB) Ecoregion is a narrow belt across the southern third of the Taiga Plains and has the mildest climate in the Northwest Territories. This Ecoregion contains 11 Level IV ecoregions.