This map indicates Canada's four main vegetation zones. The most prominent is a broad band of forests, including a boreal zone, inland deciduous forests in the St. Lawrence and Great Lakes region, and coastal forests in the Atlantic provinces and on the Pacific coast. The core of the western interior is a grassland plain (the prairie) with a transition zone of aspen parkland to the north. The tundra lies north of the boreal forest. These vegetation zones determine to a great extent the type of animal species living in each. Also, there is a close relationship between vegetation and climate. Most of the boreal forest is classed as subarctic, having only one to three months of temperatures above 10 C. The combination of water, vegetation and climate created ideal environments for an array of fur-bearing animals, the exploitation of which provided the basis for the fur trade.
