Opportunitie's
Forestry
The Boreal Shield ecozone contains much of Canada’s largest forest: a belt of spruce and balsam fir some 1,000 kilometres wide in places, stretching from northern Saskatchewan to Newfoundland and Labrador. Almost 70 percent of the ecozone’s forest — some 106 million hectares — is timber-productive land, which amounts to almost half of the Canadian total. The bulk of this land lies in Quebec and Ontario, which together have 40 percent of Canada’s commercial forest. Across the Boreal Shield ecozone, the forestry industry harvests some 400,000 ha of timber a year. In terms of volume of wood cut, Quebec and Ontario rank second and third after British Columbia. This wood is turned into lumber and sawmill products, but the greatest portion is reserved for pulp and paper production. In Quebec, most of the productive forest of the Boreal Shield extends as far as 52° North, while the pulp and paper industry is based along the St. Lawrence, Ottawa, and Saguenay rivers. In Ontario, the productive forest is concentrated north of Lake Superior, where pulp and paper mills provide the only economic base for many communities.
Population
Humans first migrated to the Boreal Shield ecozone of Canada at the end of the last ice age. The Shield’s network of rivers and lakes served as imperative transportation routes for fur trade, and as a foundation for rich domestic fisheries. An abundance of fur-bearing animals roamed the Boreal Shield, which attracted early settlers. The population of the Boreal Shield is approximately 3 million, as of 1996. Mining, forestry, hydro-generation, and fisheries are all important contributors to the Canadian economy, but even beyond it’s economic prosperities, the Boreal Shield of Canada will continue to provide for our valuable wildlife.