Newfoundland and Labrador

©Bruce LITTLEJOHN / WWF-Canada
©Bruce LITTLEJOHN / WWF-Canada
minimap

Watershed area

Jurisdiction

Newfoundland and Labrador
Species of interest

Moose

©Tim Stewart / WWF-Canada
©Tim Stewart / WWF-Canada

Newfoundland and Labrador contains some of the oldest rocks in the world, dating back 3.9 billion years. Meanwhile, the landscape within Canada’s easternmost watershed varies from Arctic tundra to boreal forests to the mountains and fjords of Gros Morne National Park. Human activity in the area began approximately 9,000 years ago. The ancestors of today’s Innu appeared 2,000 years ago, while the Mi’kmaq and Inuit were more recent arrivals. Vikings became the first Europeans to settle in Newfoundland and Labrador, around 1,000 AD, followed by fishers and whalers from Portugal, France, Spain and England. Industrial-scale mining began in the 1800s, taking advantage of the province’s rich deposits of iron, nickel, copper and other metals. Although Newfoundland and Labrador is closely tied to the ocean, its interior contains plentiful lakes, ponds, bogs and rivers. These provide excellent habitat for a number of fish, including salmon, large Arctic char, brook trout and northern pike.