Canadian Geographic

OUT OF SIGHT

The James Bay Lowlands in northern Ontario contain one of the largest potential mineral reserves in Canada. What’s at stake in the remote area known as the Ring of Fire?

- BY JESSA GAMBLE WITH PHOTOGRAPH­Y BY GARTH LENZ

SANDHILL CRANES stand preening in the sedge-covered fens. Their bugling calls merge with the clamour of vast goose colonies that carpet the peatlands with motion. More remote by some measures than many parts of the Arctic, the James Bay Lowlands, at the southern tip of Hudson Bay, are at their most phenomenal in spring when they are overwhelme­d with bird life. Fens and untreed muskeg full of sphagnum moss alternate to form a mottled pattern of string bog.

 ??  ?? The Etowamami River snakes through the James Bay Lowlands east of Pickle Lake, Ont.
The Etowamami River snakes through the James Bay Lowlands east of Pickle Lake, Ont.
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