A few facts and figures about the boreal forest:
- Percentage of Canada covered by boreal forest: 60 per cent. That’s a total of 5.7 million square kilometres;
- Percentage of Canada’s boreal forest lost to insects, disease and fire every year: 1 per cent;
- Percentage of boreal forest harvested in Canada annually: 0.2 per cent.
- Canada’s boreal forest is home to 85 species of mammals, 130 species of fish, some 32,000 species of insects, and 300 species of birds;
- The boreal forest covers most of inland Canada and Alaska, most of Sweden, Finland and inland Norway, much of Russia, and the northern parts of Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Japan.
- It represents 29 per cent of the world’s forest cover, and 30 per cent of it lies within Canada;
- Threatened and endangered wildlife within the Canadian boreal forest includes such iconic species as the woodland caribou, grizzly bear, and wolverine. Habitat loss from logging is a primary reason for the decline of these species;
- More than 2.5 million people—1 in 13 Canadians—live in Canada’s boreal zone.
