Canada has a vast geography that occupies much of the continent of North America, sharing a land border with the contiguous United States to the south and the U.S. state of Alaska to the northwest. Canada stretches from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west; to the north lies the Arctic Ocean. Greenland is to the northeast with a shared border on Hans Island. To the southeast Canada shares a maritime boundary with France's overseas collectivity of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, the last vestige of New France. By total area, Canada is the second-largest country in the world, after Russia. By land area alone, however, Canada ranks fourth, the difference being due to it having the world's largest proportion of fresh water lakes. Of Canada's thirteen provinces and territories, only two are landlocked while the other eleven all directly border one of three oceans.
Northern Canada, colloquially the North or the Territories, is the vast northernmost region of Canada, variously defined by geography and politics. Politically, the term refers to the three territories of Canada: Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut. This area covers about 48 per cent of Canada's total land area, but has less than 0.5 per cent of Canada's population.
White Pass, also known as the Dead Horse Trail, is a mountain pass through the Boundary Ranges of the Coast Mountains on the border of the U.S. state of Alaska and the province of British Columbia, Canada. It leads from Skagway, Alaska, to the chain of lakes at the headwaters of the Yukon River.
The Liard River of the North American boreal forest flows through Yukon, British Columbia and the Northwest Territories, Canada. Rising in the Saint Cyr Range of the Pelly Mountains in southeastern Yukon, it flows 1,115 km (693 mi) southeast through British Columbia, marking the northern end of the Rocky Mountains and then curving northeast back into Yukon and Northwest Territories, draining into the Mackenzie River at Fort Simpson, Northwest Territories. The river drains approximately 277,100 km2 (107,000 sq mi) of boreal forest and muskeg.
The Mackenzie Mountains are a Canadian mountain range forming part of the Yukon-Northwest Territories boundary between the Liard and Peel rivers. The range is named in honour of Canada's second prime minister, Alexander Mackenzie. Nahanni National Park Reserve and Nááts'ihch'oh National Park Reserve are in the Mackenzie Mountains.
Yukon is in the northwestern corner of Canada and is bordered by Alaska and the Northwest Territories. The sparsely populated territory abounds with natural scenery, snowmelt lakes and perennial white-capped mountains, including many of Canada's highest mountains. The territory's climate is Arctic in territory north of Old Crow, subarctic in the region, between Whitehorse and Old Crow, and humid continental climate south of Whitehorse and in areas close to the British Columbia border. Most of the territory is boreal forest with tundra being the main vegetation zone only in the extreme north and at high elevations.
The First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun is a First Nation band government in Yukon, Canada. Its main population centre is in Mayo, Yukon, but many of its members live across Canada and the United States. Members of the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyak Dun claim Gwich'in ancestry, located in north, and Dene ancestry, located in the east, along with their Northern Tutchone ancestry. The Na-cho Nyak Dun are the northernmost representatives of the Northern Tutchone language and culture.
The Peel River is a tributary of the Mackenzie River in the Yukon and Northwest Territories in Canada. Its source is in the Ogilvie Mountains in the central Yukon at the confluence of the Ogilvie River and Blackstone River. Its main tributaries are:
The Teslin River is a river in southern Yukon Territory and northwestern British Columbia, Canada, that flows 632 kilometres (393 mi) from its source south of Teslin Lake to its confluence with the Yukon River.
The Pacific Cordillera, also known as the Western Cordillera or simply The Cordillera, is a top-level physiographic region of Canada, referring mainly to the extensive cordillera system in Western and Northwestern Canada that constitutes the northern part of the North American Cordillera. The mountain ranges in this region were covered during the Pleistocene by the Cordilleran Ice Sheet, the extent of which gives perspective on the geographic extent of this region. The cordillera extends from the Alaska's Brooks and Alaska Ranges, southeast through most of the Yukon and British Columbia as well as the southwestern fringe of Northwest Territories and Alberta, to stretch its margin beyond the Canada–United States border with five extensive lobes reaching into the mountain valleys of Montana and Washington.
Southwest Alaska is a region of the U.S. state of Alaska. The area is not exactly defined by any governmental administrative region(s); nor does it always have a clear geographic boundary.
The Stikine Ranges are a group of mountain ranges and mountainous plateaus in northwestern British Columbia, Canada. They are the northernmost subdivision of the Cassiar Mountains and among the least explored and most undeveloped parts of the province.
The Wind River is a river in Yukon, part of the Peel River watershed. It lies to the west of the Bonnet Plume and Snake Rivers.
Carcross Desert, located outside Carcross, Yukon, Canada, is a series of sand dunes. The Carcross Desert measures approximately 2.6 km2 (1.0 sq mi), or 259 ha.
The Snake River is in the Yukon Territory near the Northwest Territories border. It is the farthest east river in the Peel watershed, a major tributary of the Mackenzie River.
The Ray Mountains is a mountain range in central Alaska named for the Ray River, itself named for United States Army Captain Patrick Henry Ray, who established a meteorological station in Barrow, Alaska, in 1881. The mountains are within the Yukon-Tanana Uplands, an area of low mountain ranges that also includes the White Mountains. The Ray Mountains cover an area of 10,600 square miles (27,454 km2) and are bordered on the east by the Yukon River, on the south by the Tozitna River, and on the north by Kanuti National Wildlife Refuge. The highest point in the Ray Mountains is Mount Tozi, which has a summit elevation of 5,519 feet (1,682 m). Other notable peaks include Wolf Mountain, Mount Henry Eakin, the Kokrines Hills, and Moran Dome.
Volcanism of Northern Canada has produced hundreds of volcanic areas and extensive lava formations across Northern Canada. The region's different volcano and lava types originate from different tectonic settings and types of volcanic eruptions, ranging from passive lava eruptions to violent explosive eruptions. Northern Canada has a record of very large volumes of magmatic rock called large igneous provinces. They are represented by deep-level plumbing systems consisting of giant dike swarms, sill provinces and layered intrusions.
The interior Alaska–Yukon lowland taiga is an ecoregion in the taiga and boreal forests biome, of far northern North America.
The Peel watershed drains 14% of the Yukon Territory Canada and flows into the Beaufort Sea via the Peel and then Mackenzie Rivers. While the lower part of the Peel River and its confluence with the Mackenzie River are in the North West Territories, most of the watershed, 68,000 km2 out of 77,000 km2 is in the Yukon. Six major tributaries and numerous smaller streams feed the Peel. The Yukon portion of the watershed is undergoing land use planning, a process laid out in Chapter 11 of the Yukon Land Claims Agreement and is called the Peel Watershed Planning Region (PWPR). This article is confined to the PWPR.
