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The forests and woodlands of Labrador, Canada: ecology, distribution and future management

  • Special Issue
  • Global changes in terrestrial ecosystems
  • Published:
Ecological Research

Abstract

Labrador, Canada is the last relatively undeveloped landmass of Boreal and subarctic Canada. Its land area is over 288,000 km2, with less than 1% developed, and a human population of below 30,000. Labrador is greater than 60% forest- and woodland-covered and over 30% tundra, soil and rock barrens. We review the ecology and distribution of forests, woodlands, and related vegetation of Labrador within the context of climate, forest site index, landform, soils, and disturbance. Recent ecosystem management through a public planning process with emphasis on past and future comanagement and development with traditional and western scientific principles is currently underway. Plant–animal interactions, traditional uses by aboriginal groups, and early history are also reviewed.

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Acknowledgments

Denes Bajzak in early biophysical land classification studies provided summer work in the summer of 1968 through the Canadian Forest Service (CFS). The summer and winter fieldwork at Churchill Falls was sponsored by Newfoundland & Labrador Hydro; thanks to W. Smith and employees as well as extended time working from Rigolet with Environment Canada. We have benefited from discussions with K. Beanlands, A.W.H. Damman, J. Gosse, D. Grant, H. Hiroven, M. Jurdant, G. Kitchen, N. Loupoukhine, W.J. Meades, E. Mercer, L. Moores, G.S. Ringius, J. Taylor, A.R. van Kesteren, R. Wells, and E. Woodrow. We are grateful to the CFS, the Newfoundland and Labrador Forest Service (NLFS) and Western Newfoundland Model Forest for recent fieldwork support. Thanks are due to Darren Jennings of NLFS for cutting records, Gary Pittman of Parks Canada for new proposed park information and discussion, and Reginald Parsons of Canadian Forest Service and Valerie Courtois of the Innu Nation for discussion on First Nations and Innu projects underway in Labrador. C. Messier is the principal investigator in the development of the management toolkit. Finally, Bruce Roberts first became interested in Labrador from first-hand accounts of the CFS excursions of Charlie Evans and Bill Wilton in the 1960s.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Atlantic Forestry Centre, Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service, Corner Brook, P.O. Box 960, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, A2H 6J3

    Bruce A. Roberts

  2. Newfoundland and Labrador, Department of Natural Resources, Station B, P.O. Box 3014, Happy Valley–Goose Bay, NL, Canada, A0P 1E0

    Neal P. P. Simon & Keith W. Deering

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  1. Bruce A. Roberts
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Correspondence to Bruce A. Roberts.

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Roberts, B.A., Simon, N.P.P. & Deering, K.W. The forests and woodlands of Labrador, Canada: ecology, distribution and future management. Ecol Res 21, 868–880 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-006-0051-7

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