Natural Resources Canada

The map shows the mean daily maximum temperatures for July. Maximum temperatures in July are above freezing across all of Canada except for high elevations on Ellesmere Island. Maximum temperatures exceed 25ºC in the valley bottoms of southern British Columbia, across the southern Prairies, in...

The map shows the mean daily minimum temperatures for October. In October, longer nights and a return to below-freezing minimum temperatures is evident across most of Canada except for coastal British Columbia, southern Ontario and Quebec and most of the Atlantic Provinces. Normal minimum...

The map shows the mean daily maximum temperatures for October. Much of southern Canada experiences maximum temperatures in October above 10°C, whereas maximum temperatures across most of the northern territories are below zero. Only the southern portions of the Yukon and the Northwest Territories...

Fifteen ecozones make up terrestrial Canada, and five make up the marine waters bordering Canada. Canada’s 15 terrestrial ecozones can be subdivided into 53 ecoprovinces, which can be further broken into 194 ecoregions. Ecozones are useful for general national reporting and for placing Canada’s...

Canada has defined a hierarchical classification of ecosystems. At a simple level there are 20 ecozones, fifteen terrestrial and five marine. An ecozone is an area of the earth’s surface that represents a large ecological zone and has characteristic landforms and climate. Each ecozone is...

Endemic plants are those plants found only in Canada. These plants have genetically adapted to these particular environmental conditions. Because these are found nowhere else, Canada has a special obligation to ensure these plants do not become extinct. The map shows the number of endemic plants...

Ecoregions vary in their make up and complexity. Some are relatively uniform in their composition, structure and processes. Others contain extreme variations in relief, soils, climate, vegetation, and species. This map shows the number of land cover types (up to 29 types are possible) per...

Some plants are rare because they naturally occur in very specialized habitats or in very low numbers; others may be rare because they have suffered setbacks because of natural processes or pressures from human activities. The highest number of rare plant species is in southern Ontario, where...

Wetlands are lands where water saturation is the dominant factor. Wetlands occupy about 18% of Canada, and Canada has about 25% of the world’s wetlands. Wetlands foster the growth of hydrophytic vegetation and other biological activities such as the sustenance of large numbers of waterfowl,...

Protected areas are defined as legally established areas, both land and water, that are regulated and managed for conservation objectives. They include parks, wildlife and forest reserves, wilderness and other areas designated through federal, provincial, and territorial legislations. While there...

The higher the concentration of people in an ecoprovince, the higher the chance of loss of habitat and species. To better evaluate and minimize population impacts on the environment, it is necessary to study the distribution and variation of population within ecological areas. The map shows the...

The highest number of species at risk is in the southern areas of Canada where human activity is most extensive and intensive. As of May 2002, 30 animal and plant species had disappeared in Canada. Eleven of these species are no longer found anywhere on the Earth. For most species the greatest...

This map depicts the 77 electrical generating plants operated by forest-based industries. These industries are defined using the North American Industrial Classification. These plants are scattered throughout Canada, and are about equally divided between being hydro or thermal plants.

The 5-year mobility measures the percentage of the population aged five years or older who moved (changed address) in the five years preceding Census Day, 1996. The values are generally low. Three-quarters of the places have a figure below the Canadian average and the median for the entire set of...

This map indicates the degree of reliance of each of the 298 communities on forest-related industries. The index range spans the complete range from 50% up to 100% with most communities having values in the lower half of this range. Even though there are two widely-separated zones of these...

The income index compares the average employment income value of each community to that for Canada. The value for Canada as a whole is set at 1.00. The range of the index is from 0.12 to 1.65, with the median value for these communities being 0.73. Income index values are generally higher in...

The education index is a measure of the proportion of the population 15 years of age and over who have post-secondary qualifications compared to the Canadian proportion meeting the same criteria. The index values are generally lower than the Canadian average. The median value is 0.78, and 88% of...

In Canada, there are 20 ecozones, consisting of 15 terrestrial and 5 marine units. The vegetation varies from one ecozone to another. Forests cover totally or partially nine ecozones: Pacific Maritime, Montane Cordillera, Boreal Cordillera, Taiga Plains, Boreal Plains, Prairie, Boreal Shield,...

This map shows the distribution of land cover types across Canada, based on satellite data obtained in 1995. The land cover map contains 31 classes: 12 forest; 3 shrubland; 7 tundra/grasslands; 7 developed land types including cropland, mosaic and built-up areas; and 2 water cover types.

Nine zones indicate the areas where various trees, shrubs and flowers are most likely to survive. These zones are calculated based on average climatic conditions and altitude of each area. The harshest zone is 0 and the mildest is 8. Each major zone is divided into subzones a and b (for example...