Yukon

The Yukon's native plant communities are among the most cold-adapted and ancient in North America — the territory's southwest was a glacial refugium during the last ice age, meaning some plant populations survived in place while the rest of the continent was under ice. The result is an unusually high rate of local endemism and genetic diversity. Yukon's boreal forest, alpine tundra, and subarctic shrublands are all connected to a food web of extraordinary density, including North America's largest migratory caribou herds.