Manitoba

C

Climate

The climate of Manitoba reflects both its northerly position and its interior location. The climate is typically continental, and the temperature varies dramatically with the seasons. Winters are quite cold throughout the province. Even Winnipeg, in the south, has January temperatures that average a high of -13°C (8°F) and a record low of -48°C (-54°F). Churchill, on Hudson Bay, has a January average of -28°C (-18°F). Summers, on the other hand, are rather warm. Winnipeg’s July average high is 26°C (79°F), and a high of 42°C (108°F) has been recorded. Summers become mild to cool in northern parts of the province. Churchill’s July average is 12°C (54°F), yet a high of 36°C (96°F) has been experienced there. Southern Manitoba has a fairly long frost-free season, consisting of between 120 and 140 days in the Red River Valley. This decreases to the northeast.

Precipitation is relatively light, and it decreases both to the west and to the north. The Red River Valley averages 560 mm (22 in) annually, while 460 mm (18 in) is received at the western boundary and 380 mm (15 in) in the far north. Snowfall is not usually heavy, but it tends to accumulate during the long severe winters and gives the impression of great abundance. Most of the moisture occurs as rain during the summer.

D

Soils

The best soils for farming are in southern Manitoba. Fertile black soils occur in the Red River Valley and in the prairies of the southwest. Less fertile brown and gray soils are found in the parklands, between the prairie and the mixed-wood forest. Gray soils that require much fertilizer occur north of Winnipeg, around the major lakes. In the Canadian Shield region are infertile gray soils derived from hard granites and other rocks.

E

Plant Life

Forests cover 66 percent of Manitoba. The main forest area is divided into the boreal forest and the mixed-wood forest. The boreal, or northern, forest contains coniferous (cone-bearing) trees, especially white and black spruce, balsam fir, and jack pine. South of the boreal forest is the mixed-wood forest, which contains conifers as well as such deciduous trees as white birch, aspen, poplar, and Manitoba maple. Prairie land is found in the southwest, where the natural vegetation is grass. Between the prairie and the mixed-wood forest are the parklands, where small prairie tracts are mingled with wooded areas containing aspen, birch, and poplar. In the far northeast is tundra; there the ground cover largely consists of mosses and lichens. Between the tundra and the boreal forest lies a belt of sparse and stunted coniferous trees that also contains large open areas of muskeg, or boglike spongy ground.

---

---

F

Animal Life

The plains and forests of Manitoba contain a diversity of animals, including caribou, moose, deer, and elk. Coyotes and badgers are common in the open country, and the beaver, black bear, fisher, lynx, and marten inhabit the forests. In the far north live polar bears, wolverines, white foxes, and blue foxes. The north is also home to bison (commonly called buffalo), the animal that the province adopted as its emblem on its flag and seal. This variety is the wood bison, which lives in forests. The plains bison formerly roamed southern Manitoba in the millions but disappeared because of overhunting in the late 19th century.

Other species of fox are found throughout the province, as are mink, otter, weasel, and muskrat. Ducks and geese breed around Manitoba’s lakes, which contain whitefish, lake and speckled trout, pike, pickerel, tullibee, muskellunge, and bass.

G

Environmental Issues

Water pollution and environmental problems associated with hydroelectricity development are among the most serious environmental problems of Manitoba. Water pollution in the province is caused mainly by the runoff of pesticides and fertilizer from cultivated fields, the discharge of municipal sewage, and manure from livestock (up sharply in the province since the mid-1990s due to the large increase in hog farming). Nitrogen and phosphorus from fertilizers and animal wastes has been linked to contaminated groundwater in some areas, especially in the southeast, which has the highest concentration of large livestock farms. It has also led to toxic algae blooms in lakes and threatened the health of such important bodies of water as Lake Winnipeg and Lake Manitoba.

Hydroelectricity development in Manitoba has required engineers to reroute and dam rivers and to flood large tracts of wetlands and forest. In some areas this has led to land erosion, damaged fish stocks, and compromised the quality of available drinking water. Further development of hydroelectricity, much of which is exported to the United States, has been vigorously opposed by some indigenous First Nations peoples and by environmental groups.

Manitoba adopted its first legislation to protect the environment in 1968. The comprehensive Environment Act that went into effect in 1988 requires that any environmental problems in the province that might be caused by any economic development project be identified and dealt with during the project’s initial planning stages. In 1990 Manitoba undertook the Protected Areas initiative, a commitment to establish a network of protected areas to preserve the rich biological diversity found in the province’s varied landscapes. Today, this network has expanded to include dozens of ecological reserves, wildlife management areas, provincial forests, and other sites across Manitoba.

	More from Encarta
	•  Presidential Myths Quiz •  Coffee break: Recharge your brain