Fort Nelson Forest District

Boreal Forest of North East BC

The forests of the Fort Nelson Forest District are best characterized as Boreal Forest.

Certain tree species, shrub species and other plant species, when found in combination, form unique forest ecosystems. BC forested ecosystem descriptions are summarized into what are called Biogeoclimatic Zones (BEC). For Fort Nelson please choose a field or wall map from the following list [please be patient as these are large .pdf files, therefore you may have a blank screen for a minute to a few minutes until the map is completely downloaded]:

Fort Nelson FD East Field Map
Fort Nelson FD West Field Map
Fort Nelson FD East Wall Map
Fort Nelson FD West Wall Map

There are three BEC zones found within the Fort Nelson Forest District boundaries. These are the Boreal White and Black Spruce (BWBS), the Spruce-Willow-Birch (SWB) and Alpine Tundra (AT) zones. The BWBS zone is by far the largest BEC zone by representation with 6,873,029 ha, or 70 percent of the district. The SWB zone covers an area of 2,094,384 ha in the district, or 21 percent of the district. And lastly, the AT zone makes up the remainder representing nine per cent of the district or 892,098 ha.

The ecology and geography of the Fort Nelson Forest District are comprised of relatively flat plains to the east and mountains and their associated foothills to the west.

The majority of the plains are identified with the Taiga Plains Ecozone, with a very minor component of the Boreal Plains Ecozone in the very South East corner of the district. To the West the dominant features are the foothills and mountains that make up the Northern Rocky Mountains and the Southern Mackenzie Mountains which are a part of the Boreal Cordillera Ecozone.

The Ecozones are nationally recognized ecological descriptions of the land base, whereas Ecoregions are provincial ecological descriptions of the land base. These Ecoregion descriptions are further sub-divided into Ecoprovinces. The equivalent provincial Ecoprovinces in the Fort Nelson Forest District are the Taiga Plains Ecoprovince (equivalent to the Taiga Plains Ecozone), Boreal Plains Ecoprovince (equivalent to the Boreal Plains Ecozone) and the Northern Boreal Mountains Ecoprovince (equivalent to the Boreal Cordillera Ecozone).

The Fort Nelson Boreal Forest can also be described by the wildlife that exists in this area of BC. The large mammals comprise possibly the most conspicuous component of wildlife - including the black bear, grizzly bear, mountain goat, Stone's sheep (one of two thinhorn mountain sheep species), mule deer, white-tailed deer (uncommon), Rocky Mountain elk (or wapiti), moose, wood bison and a subspecies of caribou called the woodland caribou. There are three ecotypes of the woodland caribou found in BC. Two of these ecotypes are found within the Fort Nelson Forest District. Theses two ecotypes are called the Northern Caribou and the Boreal Caribou.

Small mammals such as marten, fisher, river otter, red fox, woodchuck, beaver and snowshoe hares are also numerous. Common carnivores found in the Fort Nelson Boreal Forest are the Canada lynx, cougar, wolf and coyote. Less numerous but still present are carnivores such as wolverines.

There are other mammals known to occur but with unconfirmed numbers, for example, the northern long-eared bat.

Waterfowl are very evident within the district as well. Such as Canada geese, loons, trumpeter swans, sandhill cranes, various duck species, etc. As are passerines (song birds) and other typical bird species of the Boreal woodland. Such as crows, ravens, gray jays (aka. Canada jay or Whiskey-Jack), blue jays, owls, hawks, sparrows, warblers, hummingbirds, etc.

Other wildlife include a few amphibians, mainly frogs such as the wood frog, boreal chorus frog and at least one toad - the western toad. Also, at least one reptile, the most northerly occurrence of the common garter snake in the very South-West portion of the Fort Nelson Boreal Forest (in the headwaters of the Prophet, Muskwa, Dunedin, Toad and Kechika Rivers).

The provincial initiative for the Identified Wildlife Management Strategy (IWMS), as of the summer of 2004, has no designated Wildlife Habitat Areas (WHA) within the Fort Nelson Forest District. This initiative is managed under the Biodiversity and Wildlife in BC portfolio administered by the Ministry of Environment (MOE).

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