remarkable fjords are located. Not only a place of stunning beauty, the park contains 30 ancient fossil sites, as well as evidence, in its geology and land formations, of the dynamics of plate tectonics – invaluable data for scientists on how our planet was formed.

Winters are long and cold in this ecozone, its summers short and warm. Given the extent of the area, temperatures vary considerably, especially in the winter. The mean annual winter temperature in the west is -20.5°C, but it is a considerably warmer -1°C in the east, where the Atlantic exerts a moderating influence. Mean summer temperatures vary much less across the zone, at between 11°C and 15°C. Not surprisingly, the Atlantic end of the Boreal Shield has the highest mean annual precipitation, as much as 1600 millimetres in eastern Newfoundland – four times the precipitation of northern Saskatchewan, which lies more than half a

continent away.

About three million people live in the Boreal Shield, the majority in cities and towns such as Flin Flon, Thunder Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, Rouyn-Noranda, and St. John's. While agriculture is limited, natural resources are abundant and help create employment in mining, forestry, hydropower, and tourism. But most people work in the urban centres: in public administration, and in the service and retail industries.

In addition to La Mauricie and Gros Morne, the Boreal Shield has three other National Parks: Pukaskwa and Georgian Bay Islands, in Ontario; and Terra Nova, in Newfoundland.