habitat
Seasons of the Barren-grounds
In winter, the barren-grounds are almost featureless, flattened by a blanket of wind-whipped snow. Grizzly bears are snug in their dens, and only a few hardy muskoxen can be spotted standing solidly shoulder to shoulder in the wind and winter darkness.
In spring, colourful tufts of greenery appear on the edges of south facing boulders, eskers and sandy dunes. Tiny plants concentrate the heat of the sun and slowly the surface of the land is revealed. Herds of caribou appear like a mirage on distant ridges, and then, suddenly, vanish.
By mid-summer the land is in bloom, the days are long and lakes sparkle under an endless blue sky. Knee-high berry bushes and miniature willows and birch are in leaf. Wolf pups frolic by their dens. Swans and terns jealously guard their nests. Tiny flowers dot the land with colour – bright pinks, sunny yellows and vivid blues.
By August, the flowers are gone. The days are shorter and the night sky sparkles with the aurora borealis. Grizzlies feed on a rich carpet of berries. Green leaves morph to blood red, intense yellow and somber maroon. The caribou, now fat and glossy from summer feasting, wander time worn paths south to their wintering grounds.
Barren-ground Habitat
A thin carpet of plant life and a meager layer of soil overlays the ancient rock of the barren-grounds. Following the ice age, the first organisms to colonize the land were lichens. Colourful and slow spreading, jewel lichen, rock tripe and map lichen still decorate rock surfaces. On the ground, caribou moss helps to stabilize the soil, allowing tiny heath plants – cranberry and Labrador tea – and miniature willow and birch trees to gain a foothold.
There’s little precipitation here, and what little there is, is mostly snow, which presents a challenge for new plant life. Temperatures range from a chilling wind whipped minus 27ºC in January to a searing 17ºC in July.
The barren-ground caribou are at home in this land. In summer, they browse fresh grasses, sedges and leafy plants that grow in protected areas. Caribou moss is a mainstay of their diet, year round.
Traces of the glaciers are everywhere on the barren-grounds. Large boulders deposited by the glaciers stand sentinel here and there. Long, narrow ribbons of sand and gravel called eskers provide good footing and freedom from insects for caribou. Lakes and rivers carved by the ice are home to fat trout and wily northern pike.
