Aspen parkland

Aspen parkland refers to a very large area of transitional biome between prairie and boreal forest in two sections, namely the Peace River Country of northwestern Alberta crossing the border into British Columbia, and a much larger area stretching from central Alberta, all across central Saskatchewan to south central Manitoba near the United States border. Aspen parkland consists of groves of aspen poplars and spruce interspersed with areas of prairie grasslands, also intersected by large stream and river valleys lined with aspen-spruce forests and dense shrubbery. This is the largest boreal-grassland transition zone in the world and is a zone of constant competition and tension as prairie and woodlands struggle to overtake each other within the parkland.

This article focuses on this biome in North America. Similar biomes also exist in Russia north of the steppes (forest steppe) and in northern Europe.

Setting

The aspen parkland biome runs in a thin band no wider than 500 km through the Prairie Provinces, although it gets broader to the west, especially in Alberta. This is a hilly landscape with many small lakes and ponds. The cities of Edmonton and Saskatoon are the largest cities completely in this biome while Winnipeg is bordered by tallgrass prairie to the west and south and the aspen parkland to the northeast, and Calgary is bordered by prairie to the east and the Foothills Parkland to the west.

Tallgrass Aspen Parkland

The Tallgrass Aspen Parkland is a Conservation area located in southeastern Manitoba and northwestern Minnesota. The area is characterized by a mosaic of habitat types, including tallgrass prairie, aspen woodland, sedge meadow wetlands, riparian woodland, and oak savannah. A number of endangered and threatened species occur in the area, including the Western Prairie Fringed Orchid and Dakota Skipper. One of Minnesota's only wild elk herds utilizes the area as well.

A number of conservation organizations, as well as provincial and state governments are involved in conservation activities in the Tallgrass Aspen Parkland. Major conservation partners include The Nature Conservancy, the Nature Conservancy of Canada, the Manitoba Conservation Data Centre, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the Manitoba Tall Grass Prairie Preserve, and Manitoba Conservation. These partners collaborated to produce a Conservation Area Plan for the area in 2006.

References

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Aspen

Aspen is a common name for certain tree species; some, but not all, are classified by botanists in the section Populus, of the poplar genus.

Species

These species are called aspens:

Habitat and longevity

The aspens are all native to cold regions with cool summers, in the north of the Northern Hemisphere, extending south at high altitudes in the mountains. They are all medium-sized deciduous trees reaching 15–30 m (49–98 ft) tall.

All of the aspens typically grow in large clonal colonies, derived from a single seedling, and spread by means of root suckers; new stems in the colony may appear at up to 30–40 m (98–131 ft) from the parent tree. Each individual tree can live for 40–150 years above ground, but the root system of the colony is long-lived. In some cases, this is for thousands of years, sending up new trunks as the older trunks die off above ground. For this reason, it is considered to be an indicator of ancient woodlands. One such colony in Utah, given the nickname of "Pando", is estimated to be 80,000 years old, making it possibly the oldest living colony of aspens. Some aspen colonies become very large with time, spreading about 1 m (3.3 ft) per year, eventually covering many hectares. They are able to survive forest fires, because the roots are below the heat of the fire, with new sprouts growing after the fire burns out.

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