Taiga Plains

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Earlier national classifications that covered the Northwest Territories 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 evaluation of the 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. The first NWT Level II ecoregion to be revised and mapped is the Taiga Plains and its four Level III ecoregions. 

Click here for a higher resolution version of the document Taiga Plains (Warning! Large file: PDF = 95 MB). For a specific ecoregion within the Taiga Plains, please click on one of the individual sections below.

	1. The Northern Great Bear Plains HS (High Subarctic) Ecoregion occupies the northern third of the Taiga Plains and contains 14 Level IV ecoregions.
	2. The Central Great Bear Plains LS (Low Subarctic) Ecoregion occupies the middle third of the Taiga Plains; this Ecoregion contains 14 Level IV ecoregions.
	3. The Great Slave Uplands HB (High Boreal) 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 Mackenzie and Slave Lowlands MB (Mid-Boreal) 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.

Classification maps can be accessed/generated from the GNWT Spatial Data Warehouse Geospatial Portal.