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The Boreal Plains Ecozone is an ecozone in the western Canadian provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. It also has minor extensions into northeastern British Columbia and south-central Northwest Territories. Industry in this ecozone once consisted primarily of forestry and agriculture, but in 1967 the Great Canadian Oil Sands Limited began extracting bitumen from the Athabasca oil sands. Operations there have expanded significantly since 2003, and the oil sands are becoming an increasingly significant economic factor in the region. Wood Buffalo National Park, the largest national park in Canada, and Whooping Crane Summer Range, the only nesting and breeding area for the critically endangered whooping crane, are both located in the northern portion of this ecozone. ==Geography== Overlaying a bedrock of Cretaceous shale and Tertiary sediments are thick deposits of soil that form a flat terrain in the Interior Plains. It borders the Montane Cordillera to the west, closely following the border between Alberta and British Columbia. To its south is the Prairies ecozone for its entire extent, while to the north are the Taiga Plains, with its northeastern periphery adjacent to the Taiga Shield. Covering 650,000 km2, it is a region of subdued relief with few lakes. However, meltwater from glacial retreat between 11,000 and 8,000 years ago resulted in extensive deltas and dunes, forming Lake Winnipegosis at the eastern end of this zone. It is a remnant of Lake Agassiz, a large glacial lake.〔 Most rivers originate in the Rocky Mountains, flowing eastward through the zone.〔 Forestry has been an important industry because the region is nearly covered by timber, about 84% of the region. Agriculture can employ up to 20% of the land area, though it is typically less than that. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Boreal Plains Ecozone (CEC)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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