The Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve is a

UNESCO Biosphere Reserve Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) is an intergovernmental scientific program, launched in 1971 by UNESCO, that aims to establish a scientific basis for the improvement of relationships between people and their environments. MAB's work engag ...

located in southeastern

Ontario, Canada Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

. The biosphere reserve was designated in 2002, and is one of 16 biosphere reserves in Canada. The Frontenac Arch Biosphere operates primarily within a 2,700 km². region from

Brockville Brockville, formerly Elizabethtown, is a city in Eastern Ontario, Canada, in the Thousand Islands region. Although it is the seat of the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, it is politically Independent city, independent of the county. It i ...

to Kingston, extending north to

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Northern Italy, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and the ...

and

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

. The Frontenac Arch Biosphere is located in the Thousand Islands - Frontenac Arch area, in one of the great crossroads of Eastern Canada. An ancient granite bridge, called the Frontenac Arch, runs from the northern

Canadian Shield The Canadian Shield (french: Bouclier canadien ), also called the Laurentian Plateau, is a geologic shield, a large area of exposed Precambrian igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks. It forms the North American Craton (or Laurentia), the anc ...

Algonquin Park Algonquin Provincial Park is a provincial park located between Georgian Bay and the Ottawa River in Ontario, Canada, mostly within the Unorganized South Part of Nipissing District. Established in 1893, it is the oldest provincial park in Canad ...

to the

Adirondack Mountains The Adirondack Mountains (; a-də-RÄN-dak) form a massif in northeastern New York with boundaries that correspond roughly to those of Adirondack Park. They cover about 5,000 square miles (13,000 km2). The mountains form a roughly circular ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The granite arch intersects with the

St. Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting ...

in the southernmost part of the Frontenac Arch Biosphere boundary, as the

runs southwest to northeast from Kingston to

. The Biosphere Reserve operates as a not-for-profit network, called the Frontenac Arch Biosphere Network, with over 100 regional partners, and a suite of programs aimed at encouraging the community to become a global model for sustainable development. The Frontenac Arch Biosphere’s activities are guided by three core functions as set by

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

and the

Man and the Biosphere Programme Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) is an intergovernmental scientific program, launched in 1971 by UNESCO, that aims to establish a scientific basis for the improvement of relationships between people and their environments. MAB's work engag ...

: #Conservation: To contribute to the protection of cultural diversity and biodiversity through sharing of knowledge and best practices concerning the conservation of ecosystems, species and the natural biodiversity of the region. #Sustainable Development: To foster and promote human development that is socially, culturally, economically and ecologically sustainable for all time. #Capacity Building: To facilitate dialogue and information-sharing between communities, resource sectors, governments and researchers, for the purpose of education, training, research and/or monitoring projects.

Area

The reserve's surface area (terrestrial and marine) is . The core area is , surrounded by buffer zone(s) of and transition area(s) of .

Ecological characteristics

The topography of the biosphere reserve is rugged, consisting of steep, rocky slopes and ridges, typical of the Precambrian Shield. These alternate with moist

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

or wetland valleys inland, and rocky promontories in the Saint Lawrence River known as the Thousand Islands.

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

call the Frontenac Arch the "backbone of the mother"– Mother Nature’s spinal column. Five separate forest regions meet at the crossroads of the Frontenac Arch and the Saint Lawrence River, creating a rich

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

of plant, insect and animal species, renowned as the most biodiverse region in Canada. It has a long and rich cultural heritage and serves as the gateway through which the Saint Lawrence River flows into Canada. Characteristic species of the area include the

pitch pine ''Pinus rigida'', the pitch pine, is a small-to-medium-sized pine. It is native to eastern North America, primarily from central Maine south to Georgia and as far west as Kentucky. It is found in environments which other species would find unsuit ...

(''Pinus rigada''), the

black rat snake Black rat snake may refer to: *'' Pantherophis alleghaniensis'', the eastern ratsnake * '' Pantherophis spiloides'', the central ratsnake *''Pantherophis obsoletus ''Pantherophis obsoletus'', also known commonly as the western rat snake, black ...

(''Elaphe obsoleta'' obsolete) – Canada’s largest reptile and a threatened species, the

least bittern The least bittern (''Ixobrychus exilis'') is a small heron, the smallest member of the family Ardeidae found in the Americas. Taxonomy The least bittern was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his re ...

(''Ixobrychus exilis'') – the smallest member of the

heron The herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 72 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genera ''Botaurus'' and ''Ixobrychus ...

family and listed as a species of special concern, the

great blue heron The great blue heron (''Ardea herodias'') is a large wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common near the shores of open water and in wetlands over most of North America and Central America, as well as the Caribbean and the Galápagos ...

(''Ardea Herodias''), the

osprey The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...

(''Pandion haliaetus''), the

common loon The common loon or great northern diver (''Gavia immer'') is a large member of the loon, or diver, family of birds. Breeding adults have a plumage that includes a broad black head and neck with a greenish, purplish, or bluish sheen, blackish o ...

(''Gavia immer''), the

bald eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche as ...

(''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') and the

pine warbler The pine warbler (''Setophaga pinus'') is a small songbird of the New World warbler family. Description These birds have white bellies, two white wing bars, dark legs and thin, relatively long pointed bills; they have yellowish 'spectacles' a ...

(''Dendroica pinus'').

Socio-economic characteristics

The main traditional industry in the inland part of the biosphere reserve is agriculture. Other main economic activities include fishing, forestry and mining. Water-oriented recreation and tourism are major economic sectors in shoreline communities along the Saint Lawrence River, the

Rideau Canal The Rideau Canal, also known unofficially as the Rideau Waterway, connects Canada's capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, to Lake Ontario and the Saint Lawrence River at Kingston. It is 202 kilometres long. The name ''Rideau'', French for "curtain", ...

and Charleston Lake. The Thousand Islands, the Frontenac Arch region and the Saint Lawrence River have a long history of human habitation. Archaeological sites found in the Thousand Islands indicate that people visited the area as early as 7,000 years ago, and that Laurentian and

Point Peninsula Point or points may refer to: Places * Point, Lewis, a peninsula in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Point, Texas, a city in Rains County, Texas, United States * Point, the NE tip and a ferry terminal of Lismore, Inner Hebrides, Scotland * Points ...

cultures used the area as hunting and fishing grounds.

References

Sources

{{free-content attribution , author = UNESCO , title = UNESCO - MAB Biosphere Reserves Directory , publisher = UNESCO , documentURL = http://www.unesco.org/new/en/natural-sciences/environment/ecological-sciences/biosphere-reserves/europe-north-america/canada/frontenac-arch/ , License statement URL = http://www.unesco.org/new/en/natural-sciences/environment/ecological-sciences/biosphere-reserves/world-network-wnbr/wnbr/ , licence = CC BY-SA IGO 3.0

External links