The Boreal Forest is the largest single ecosystem on the North American continent and occupies one third of the total landmass of Canada. It is as important to the planet as is the Amazon rain forest. The Boreal Forest is a living, breathing, pollutant-filtering six-million-square-mile forest covering almost 11 percent of the planet's surface, stretching from Newfoundland to Alaska. The forest absorbs and filters a quarter billion gallons of water each day and contains a large portion of Earth's non-frozen fresh water. After sixty-five million years of evolution, this ecosystem is now threatened by development and pollution.