Northern ecosystems, with their vast forests, numerous wetlands, bogs, lakes and rivers, play an important role in producing oxygen and clean water, and enhancing our environment. Different combinations of climate, soils and terrain create a variety of landscapes across the Northwest Territories. These landscapes can be grouped into ecological regions (ecoregions) at a variety of scales. The NWT has adopted the North American continental system to revise its ecoregions. The system includes several levels of ecoregions, ranging from huge global biomes such as tundra and taiga to much smaller and more specific areas that might cover only a few square kilometres.

Under this system the Northwest Territories has three Level I ecoregions: Arctic, Tundra, and Taiga. These can be further divided into eight Level II ecoregions and 17 Level III ecoregions. This classification system will be useful for environmental assessment, cumulative effects management, biodiversity monitoring and reporting, forest resource analysis and planning, wildlife habitat evaluation and conservation, and protected area identification.

Ecological Regions of the Northwest Territories Taiga Plains 2007

1. Introduction
2. The Four Level III Ecoregions in the Northwest Territories
3. Wilflife on the Taiga Plains
4. Vegetation on the Taiga Plains
5. The Taiga Plains Wildflowers
6. Oddities and Rarities on the Taiga Plains
7. Rare and Unusual Plants

Ecological Regions of the Northwest Territories Taiga Plains 2007 document is available here (PDF = 1595KB)

The first NWT Level II ecoregion to be revised and mapped is the Taiga Plains Ecoregion and its four Level III ecoregions. Get the report here (PDF = 6348 KB)

An educational poster of the Taiga Plains Ecoregions is available here (PDF = 2095 KB)

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

	1. The Northern Great Bear Plains HS (High Subarctic) Ecoregion occupies the northern third of the Taiga Plains and contains 14 Level IV ecoregions. (Map JPG = 97 KB)
	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. (Map JPG = 111 KB)
	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. (Map JPG = 100 KB)
	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. (Map JPG = 251 KB)

Taiga Plains PDF