Where: Manitoba and Ontario, Canada

What's at stake: Nesting grounds for migratory songbirds, wildlife habitat, lands that sustain indigenous communities

Threatened by: A hydropower complex

Animals include: Warblers, great gray owls, wolves, wolverines, moose, black bear, woodland caribou

	Named for Boreas, the Greek god of the north wind, the boreal forest encircles the earth just below the treeless tundra of the polar region and is the biggest terrestrial ecosystem in the world.
	North America's boreal forest, along with Russia's boreal and the Amazon rainforest, are the world's last large forest ecosystems that remain mostly free of industrial development.
	The great gray owl is a year-round resident of Manitoba and Ontario's boreal. North America's largest owl, the great gray prefers the seclusion of coniferous and mixed wood forests, especially in damp areas such as tamarack bogs.
	Most of the region's bald eagles fly south for the winter. In the spring, they return to the same nest with their lifelong mate.
	Research underway in northwestern Ontario is revealing new information about wolverines. The largest member of the weasel family, this northern carnivore has disappeared in more southerly regions of the boreal forest but is still found throughout the Heart of the Boreal BioGem.
	Manitoba's boreal forest is home to approximately 4,000 gray wolves, which live in packs often made up of several families. Wolves frequently move to new territories in search of food, and their ranges often expand or contract according to the movements of their prey.
	Woodland caribou, which live in herds throughout the Manitoba and Ontario boreal forest, use their excellent sense of smell to locate lichens in the snow-blanketed forests. To make it through long winters, these threatened animals depend on old-growth boreal forests where the lichen has grown undisturbed for over a century.
	Aboriginal people of Canada's boreal have forged deep ties to the land over thousands of years, using the region's wildlife, trees and plants for food, medicine and clothing, as well as for ceremonial purposes. Many of these communities are committed to caring for the land in accordance with their traditional customs, even while pursuing their contemporary livelihoods.
	Thirty percent of North America's songbirds visit Canada's boreal each year. The wood warbler spends the winter months in the tropical forests of Central and South America and in the West Indies, then returns to boreal woodlands and marshes in the spring to nest.
	An estimated 1.5 million lakes nestle among the dense stands of spruce, pine, tamarack and fir that stretch across Canada's boreal forest regions.