All language subtitles for Borealis.2020.720p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-[YTS.MX]

♪

Downloaded from
YTS.MX

Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

♪ [voices harmonizing]

Just go.

♪ EVERGREEN,
OH, EVERGREEN ♪

♪ HOW FAITHFUL
ARE YOUR BRANCHES ♪

♪ EVERGREEN,
OH, EVERGREEN ♪

♪ HOW FAITHFUL
ARE YOUR BRANCHES ♪

♪ GREEN BENEATH THE
SUMMER'S GLOW ♪

♪ YOU BLOSSOM IN
THE WINTER SNOW ♪

♪ WHEN ALL THE DAYS

♪ ARE DARK AND COLD

♪ YOU ARE A HOPE
WE CAN BEHOLD ♪

♪ EVERGREEN, OH,
EVERGREEN ♪

♪ WHAT JOY I FEEL
TO GREET YOU ♪

♪ EVERGREEN, OH,
EVERGREEN ♪

♪ WHAT JOY I FEEL
TO GREET YOU ♪

♪ WHEN ALL THE DAYS

♪ ARE DARK AND COLD

♪ YOU ARE A HOPE
WE CAN BEHOLD ♪

♪ THE EVERGREEN
WILL ALWAYS STRIVE ♪

♪ AND EVER KEEP
OUR FAITH ALIVE ♪

♪ EVERGREEN, OH,
EVERGREEN ♪

♪ YOU CHEER US WITH
YOUR PROMISE ♪

♪ EVERGREEN, OH,
EVERGREEN ♪

♪ YOU CHEER US WITH
YOUR PROMISE ♪

♪ [voices harmonizing]
AH... ♪

♪

♪

[wind gusts]

[wind gusts]

[Diana] The trees in
the Boreal forest...

take oblique sunlight
and make oxygen.

It's like a miracle
for the planet.

♪ [ethereal]

♪ [ethereal]

[Edmund] We have a certain
relationship with the trees...

Because of their
living essence.

♪

The tree has been
here for a long time,

standing in the same spot,
but watching.

Being blessed with time.

♪

[birds chirping]

There are older relations.

We're just little things
flipping around, you know,

showing a different person
here and there.

♪

♪

♪ [rumbling drum]

♪

♪

We're very happy and secure...

that they're there,
that they're still standing,

watching over us.

♪

Some of us have
heard them sing,

which happened
to me one time.

♪

A combination of sounds in
the natural environment and,

the wind on the trees...

made for a song that I
haven't been able to forget.

It's still with me.

♪ [ethereal]

[Diana] The design of
nature is music.

♪ [bird calls]

If you listen to the trees,
you will hear a song.

♪

And some people actually hear

an individual song for
certain species.

♪

♪

As a scientist, I should say,
"No, that's not possible."

But as a human being,

I understand what these
people are saying.

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

[Edmund] Within that moment,
the environment was

a community, a village,
a living thing.

♪

♪

♪

[birds chirping]

[Diana] The trees of the Boreal,

you just have to respect them
just because they survive.

[birds chirping]

It's the general respect
for all things that

are on the margins of life.

[bird chirping continues]

[Christian] The Boreal Forest
region is one of the

last regions in this world

where nature
dominates, prevails.

Still in many, many
places very wild.

[Gerry] It's a
land of extremes.

We can go from
very cold to very hot,

dry summer days and the
Boreal Forest survives.

♪

♪

[birds chirping]

The trees and the animals
have found a way to

deal with that rhythm.

The processes that allow them
to do so can be complicated.

But they're also
mystically amazing.

♪

[rushing water]

♪

[birds chirping]

[thunderclap]

[wind gusts
& birds chirping]

[Diana] I am in awe of
the design of the forest.

In awe of the
magnitude of it.

Its eternal ability
to replicate itself.

[rolling thunder]

[Edmund] Thunderbird,
we call it "Okema Bieso"

in our language, "Okema Bieso".

He's the one that shoots
fire down to the earth.

The forest needs to regrow,
needs to replenish, you know.

[rolling thunder]

[rolling thunder]

[thunderclap]

[crackling]

[Mike] These are the
three types of fires.

There's surface fires.

They start and
spread along the surface.

And flames can be from
anywhere from a millimetre

to many, many, many metres.

[crackling flames]

And then there's what
we call ground fires.

And they're smouldering fires
that burn into the ground,

common in peat bogs.

And these fires can burn
for weeks, months, years.

[crackling flames]

[crackling flames]

There are crown fires...

which engulf the crowns
of the trees and

can be hundreds of
metres in height.

[loud, roaring
flames continue]

[Mike] Very energetic fires
inject material just like

a volcano into
the stratosphere.

And it will take months
for it to get back down.

And once the fire
is up and running,

it self-perpetuates.

It's called
pyro cumulonimbus,

so it's a fire
generated thunderstorm.

♪

[thunderclap]

♪ [suspenseful]

♪

♪

♪

♪

[croaking]

♪

[rolling thunder]

[rainfall patter]

[Gerry] After the fire,
that organic material that was

on the forest floor had been
fuel and has now consumed,

leaving these exposed
skeletons of roots.

That was a
biological community...

composed of the
building blocks of life.

[Diana] In the carbon cycle,
they're reduced down

to carbon again,
but that's a good thing.

Carbon is never lost.

It is the greatest
element on Earth.

It is the basis of all life,
really on Earth.

[howling wind]

[howling wind]

[bird cawing]

[bird calls]

[bird calls &
insects buzzing]

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

[Stan] You know, many might
view fires as this sort of

devastating disturbance
to the Boreal Forest and,

how do organisms
cope with it?

The ability of these animals
to get out of the area

is actually astounding.

[Mike] Our Boreal Forests
have survived and thrived in

this regime of semi-regular
stand renewing fire.

♪

[bird calls]

♪

[Diana] The Jack Pine cones
will only open on fire.

The resin needs to be melted
off the cone and then

they shed their seeds.

♪

[Gerry] Spruce,
on the other hand,

most of those cones are
right at the top of the tree.

And there's enough heat
to open the cones,

but not enough
heat to burn them up.

♪

♪

[Gerry] White Birch,
you look at it following fire,

it looks like it's dead.

And when you look
around the base,

you'll find stump sprouts.

[Mike] Another example
is Aspen.

Fire goes through
and above ground,

trees are killed, but the
roots survive and then

sends up thousands
of new suckers.

♪

[Diana] The Aspen can
survive because

they can live underground.
They can clone.

One Aspen can
produce a forest.

♪

[Gerry] You're also amazed
that species like Fireweed...

where did those
seeds come from?

How did they
take off so quick?

♪

♪

[Diana] It's a
regeneration of the forest.

The new saplings come in...

and then it takes 17 to
20 years for them

to reach a certain height.

[Gerry] You see the
initiation of a complex

story of succession,
which is going to be unfolding

over the next hundred years.

[insects chirping]

Jack Pine gets off to
a really good start.

It's a sprinter.

The Black Spruce are
starting to come in and

growing much slower, but
might very well be there

long after some of the Jack
Pine have started to die out.

♪ [ethereal]

The strategy that
Birch and Aspen use is to

maximize the exposure that
the leaves have to sunlight.

♪

That gives them the
greatest ability to

conduct photosynthesis,

to produce food
and grow quickly.

♪ [ethereal]

[Diana] That base of
the food chain is

manufactured in the
leaf that farms the sun.

The leaf is a green
molecular machine.

The green chlorophyll recognizes
the light of the sun...

and it can manufacture
all kinds of chemicals.

♪

On the under
part of the leaf,

you have rows and
rows of stoma...

and those are all
little breathing mouths.

♪

Stoma on a leaf is exactly
the same as your mouth.

There are all kinds of
things coming and

going out of that mouth.

[Gerry] They're taking in
carbon dioxide from the air,

producing oxygen,
producing carbohydrates

that help keep the tree alive
during the growing season.

♪

[Diana] It is pumping oxygen

and you and I right now are
breathing that oxygen.

[rustling leaves]

[Gerry] As the
new forest grows,

it changes its environment.

♪ [piano]

That log that's laying
on top of the rock...

forms a substrate on which
various lichen species and

moss species can
become established.

♪

They get their
moisture from the air.

They don't have roots and
therefore they can live in

areas where virtually no other
plants can live and thrive.

♪ [choir singing]

♪ [choir singing]

♪

It can develop an
environment within which

trees can grow and reoccupy
what was previously

exposed bedrock after the fire.

[Edmund] This is
what the mice see.

This is where they live,
under the moss.

♪

You find all these roots...

radiating and
touching each other.

And these are what
I call 'holding hands'.

They share nutrients.
They give nutrients.

♪

This is what the
forest floor is doing.

It's just saying, "Here,
let me hold your hand.

Hold your hand so that I
can support your living.

Let's live together.
Let's use what we can get.

And we'll share it
with one another."

♪ [choir singing]

[rustling leaves]

[Nadir] The trees cannot
survive by themselves.

They always associate
with the community.

They also associate with
understory plant species,

mainly mycorrhizal fungi.

♪

[Sandy] There's fungal
mycorrhizal networks that are

under there to allow trees to
exchange chemical compounds.

♪

[Diana] So the
mycorrhiza produce long,

tangly arms called hyphae.

And they can get all kinds
of goodies out of the soil.

The tree tries to get minerals
in exchange for the sugars,

for the mycorrhizal fungi.

♪

[Isabelle] They're
massive fungal networks,

essentially, like the
Internet in a way

where it's allowing
information to pass through,

but then it's also allowing
physical things like

nutrients to be moved
from one tree to another,

one plant to another.

[Diana] Their conversation
is chemistry.

[rustling leaves
& wind gusts]

[geese honking]

[wind gusts]

[geese honking]

[birds & insects chirping]

[Gerry] Through the
life of the tree,

as the tree goes from being
a seedling to a sapling and

into maturity...

carbon dioxide has been
taken in by the tree.

Oxygen has been released.

The by-products of
that carbon that has been

captured by the tree goes
into the construction of

the tree itself.

[Kajar] The young forest,
the young trees,

they are taking a lot of
carbon in to grow because

the small trees, they need to
grow a lot because otherwise,

they will just not survive.

There is a huge competition
inside the young forest.

[birds chirping]

[Gerry] As the trees grow,
together,

they're intersecting the light
before it reaches further down.

They've been
seeking out the moisture.

They've been seeking
out the nutrients,

battling each other for
the few resources that

are available on the site.

[insect buzzing]

[Diana] For some
species like your Aspen,

it just sits and waits.

Paper Birch have the ability
to actually survive under

great shade and shadow,
and they will wait and wait and

wait until that tree dies
and then it grows like hell.

[bird calls continue]

[Gerry] Over the
next 10 or 20 years,

we'll see a lot of
these trees die.

And the remaining trees
will fight for resources

all over again.

This is the fight for
survival with the trees

as they start becoming a
more mature forest.

[bird cawing]

[loon calls]

[Diana] Up in
the Boreal north,

because it's so mean and
tough and because the

land is not rich at all,
you really shouldn't have

trees growing up there.

They're almost
desert species up there.

They get lean and
tight with water.

[David S.] The Boreal is
in a very close

water balance, actually.

Most of it has
precipitation,

which is only a little bit
higher than evaporation.

[Ted] One of the things that
we've looked at is the question

of how does the vegetation
feedback on the weather.

So, what we often see
is that in early May,

we get very little rainfall.
It's quite dry.

And then when the Aspen leaf
out and other types of

green vegetation, you know,
the humidity goes up.

♪

[David S.] They're sucking
water up with their roots and

it's going up carrying
nutrients and water to

the leaves and
needles and so forth.

[Sandy] They have
a phloem system and

a xylem system that's moving
water up, nutrients down.

[Diana] If there's very
little water for the tree,

the tree will stay closed.

If there's a lot of
water in the tree,

it can open its mouth
at any time it wants to.

♪

[David S.] They let water loose
into the atmosphere and

it can be as great or
greater of an evaporation.

♪ [ethereal]

[thunderclap]

[David P.] That has
two consequences.

It drops the temperature and
that moisture has to

come down as precipitation
somewhere else.

♪

♪ [rainfall patter continues]

♪ [rainfall patter continues]

♪

[rushing water]

♪

[David S.] Things rot in
the forest and fall down,

and things that are decomposing

slowly break down
in aquatic systems,

producing bacteria
which are in turn

eaten by small crustaceans
and rotifers and things.

Work their way up
the food chain.

♪

[Diana] Without the trees,
there would be no great

feeding foundation in
the ocean and

the whales wouldn't exist.

♪

[snorting]

♪

[bird calls]

[trickling]

♪

[loon calls]

[Edmund] There is a
certain way of activity

for the maintenance of a system.

They all have
their function.

[creaking & crunching]

To survive as
long as they can,

but also to have the reward
of nourishing somebody else.

[creaking & cracking]

♪

[squeaking & grumbling]

♪

[birds chirping]

[David S.] These levees that
contain all these ponds,

some of those are sealed off
from the river by beavers.

Now, those pools maintain a
surprising variety of things

from fish to
waterfowl of various kinds.

It's a whole niche that wouldn't
be there if it were dry.

[birds chirping]

[squeaking]

[croaking]

[birds chirping]

♪ [faint bird
chirping continues] ♪

♪

♪

[Nadir] Plants have a memory.

I'm a really strong
believer of that.

Memory means their
experiences make them

who they are, what they are.

That's a part of evolution.

That's a part of the
survival mechanisms.

They learn.

The things about the trees,
at their different life stages,

they are attacked
with the different enemies.

When they're young, they might
be attacked by rabbits.

But when the
tree becomes tree,

they're not
attacked by rabbits,

they are attacked
by something else. Right?

They all have a different
mechanism to dealing with

all the different
enemies of the plants.

Remember the plants,
they cannot run away.

[chewing]

[howling wind]

[birds chirping]

[Stan] So, Spruce Trees are
the typical evergreen trees.

It takes many, many years
to become a mature tree,

and they produce their
seed in these cones.

[squeaking]

Red squirrels really rely
heavily on conifer seed

produced by the
Spruce Trees.

The Spruce produce these
cones and the seeds are

locked inside the
cones under these,

each bract of that cone.

[squeaking]

The squirrels are really
efficient at husking them,

and it's just like you
eating a corn on the cob.

[squeaking]

When the cones are mature,
the seed is ready to be dropped.

The squirrels clip the cones
before that happens,

drop them to the ground.

The squirrels dig holes and
shove the cones down

inside there and cones and
stay nice and moist and

cool down there and then
they don't open.

And over the years,
they husk the cones

to get at the inner seeds,
which is what

they use for the food.

[squeaking]

Clearly, the tree is not too
keen on the squirrel chewing

all this seed up before it
can drop to the ground and

produce more baby trees.

♪

So, the trees synchronize
when they produce

big crops of cones.

When that synchronization
takes place,

we call it a mast year.

They make so many cones
that even the

best-equipped squirrels
can't clip all of them and

store them before
the cones open.

So a lot of the
seed escapes.

But once that seed is
shed from the cone,

the squirrels are totally
inefficient at harvesting it.

They can't go around the
ground and scoop up

every little individual
seed and consume it.

They're just not
built that way.

[squeaking]

However, the squirrel says,
"Well, just hold on here,

I'm going to try and
combat that."

[squeaking]

The mothers can sense that a
big mast is coming and

they crank up their reproduction

before they get
access to those cones.

[squeaking & chirping]

And so,
they're back and forth,

these two species playing
games with each other over

a lot of evolutionary time to
try and outwit each other.

[squeaking]

The trees,
for the most part,

I must admit, win.

♪

♪ [ethereal]

♪ [ethereal]

[Isabelle]
The forest provides food.

The forest
provides medicine.

♪

Solitude, peace of mind.

[birds chirping]

It's just this
abundant living,

beautiful organism that offers
us whatever we really need.

Spruce, because of
the essential oils,

the sap is used as
an aromatherapy tool.

Bunchberry.

They have an antiseptic
anti-inflammatory property.

So this is a lichen.

There's a lot of lichens
that grow on Spruce Trees.

You could brew it into
a tea and use it to

treat strep throat specifically.

And then wild strawberries,
which are obviously

just delicious and for eating.

[birds continue chirping]

[Diana] All species on the
margins of life produce

the greatest amount of medicine.

So the greatest medicines
we have are found in the Boreal.

[Thomas] These medicines are
like all over the forests,

all over the bush.

This is clean, you know.

This is the cleanest place.

When you sleep here,
you sleep good.

You know, you're...

you're smelling all that
medicine and all that clean air.

You smell like trees,
you know.

[Tuukka] If you
walk in a forest,

you smell the forest.

Trees are emitting vapours as a
side product of photosynthesis.

And the smell of the forest is
coming from these vapours.

For example, Pine Tree
is mostly emitting

a compound called alpha-Pinene.

There's many purposes.

One of them is
to repel insects.

♪

[insects buzzing]

[Roger] Every species
has its nemesis.

The mountain pine beetle is
the primary pest affecting

Lodgepole Pine
and Jack Pine.

♪

[Sandy] So, the female
beetle comes in and

she starts chewing.

She sends chemical signals
out to attract

other males and other females.

Trees can defend
themselves fairly well.

With conifers, the first and
the basic strategy is

resin production to prevent
them from getting in.

[gurgling]

If they can
produce enough resin,

they can pitch out or suffocate
beetles that are attacking.

[fluttering wings]

[creaking]

[Tuukka] Coming from the
damages that the insect

has been doing, the tree
starts to emit more vapours.

♪

[Diana] They deal in chemistry.

The conversation is
based on alarm and response.

They're giving a message
to their siblings that

there is trouble on the way.

[Nadir] That means that those
unattacked healthy trees

have already stronger
defences build up

before beetles arrive.

[Roger] So they can produce
an extra amount of resin to

really pitch out these mass
attacks when they occur.

They'll pitch those
beetles out, no problem.

And it won't
really affect the tree.

♪

[Nadir] They can't even
release anything-- they die.

Because the
compound is so toxic.

♪

[Isabelle] When I walk
into the forest and

I realize that these trees
are communicating,

that's so affirming to me that

we're not alone in
this experience.

♪

[bird calls]

♪

♪

[wind gusts]

[Gerry] As it
approaches fall,

the trees receive a signal
from the shorter day length

to start going
into dormancy.

♪

The tree stops
producing chlorophyll...

making it appear as if
something new is happening.

It's actually just
the green disappearing,

which has revealed the yellow
that was there previously.

♪

♪

It is this annual falling
of the leaves from the

deciduous trees that
helps to recycle

the nutrients
very quickly.

The brilliant colours are as
much a pledge of things

to come as they are of a
thing that once were.

♪

♪

♪

♪

[rustling]

♪

When a Boreal
Forest gets old,

what you have are the trees
that have managed to

escape fire for many years,
maybe several hundred years.

Those are
mostly Black Spruce,

the Jack Pine are getting
old and ragged looking.

Jack Pine and Black Spruce
needles help acidify

the landscape and slow
down the decomposition.

So we have an
old Boreal Forest,

you have ground fuel and
you've got fuel in the crown.

And given the right source
of ignition like a

lightning strike, the old Boreal
Forest is ready to burn.

And we don't know when
that's going to happen.

Could be tomorrow.

It could be 30 or 40 years
down the road.

♪

But over time,
in the absence of fire,

there becomes less and less
nutrients available for the

support and growth of those
Boreal Forest conifer trees.

Many of the mosses on
the forest floor are

ready to take advantage of that.

And they build up a moss
layer on the forest floor,

which is the bank in which
these nutrients and

some of the forest
carbon is stored.

♪

Sphagnum mosses can
gradually build upon themselves

and accumulate
to many metres of depth.

It's called peat.

♪ [ethereal]

[David P.] And of course,
the peat tends to freeze

in the far north.

Large areas of northern
Canada is permafrost,

frozen organic soil.

Peat accumulates over
thousands of years to be very,

very large stores of peat and
other organic material.

A layer of moss and other
vegetation provides insulation,

which means that the permafrost
itself is protected from melting

in warm years because that
layer of sphagnum moss and

maybe the shading
provided by the trees

help to keep the
temperature below zero.

♪

[Kajar] We have been working
a lot on permafrost areas.

When fire occurs,
the temperatures inside

the flame can be 700,
800, 900 degrees.

But if you are going a couple of
centimetres below the ground

into the soil,
there is almost no changes

inside the temperature.

So actually the permafrost
doesn't know that

it burns up there.

♪

[Isabelle] I like the calm
that comes over everything

as it's preparing
to go to sleep.

♪ [choir singing]

♪ [choir singing]

♪ [choir singing]

[Gerry] We call
conifer trees, evergreens.

And they are indeed always green
as long as they're healthy.

[Diana] They have the
ability in their genome to

withstand great cold,
which makes them unique

because they are still
photosynthesizing and

they're still sequestering
at very low temperatures.

[Gerry] There is a great
advantage to the architecture

of coniferous trees
having branches that

readily shed snow.

♪

Trees are
incredibly adaptable.

Poplar and Birch
both have white bark.

The white bark reflects
sunlight as a form of insulation

against premature
thawing of the tree.

♪

[rustling branches]

[Isabelle] All winter long,
there's still berries that

have frozen and they just stay
beautiful and bright and red.

And then they have these
perfect layerings of snow.

The snow is so soft,
and pillowy, and insulating...

It creates this wonderful,
cozy feeling.

♪ [ethereal]

♪ [ethereal]

♪ [ethereal]

[Edmund] There's a
peace there and

there is a presence there.

They're very gentle,
they're very kind and

they're very understanding and
very happy when they see you.

Everybody has a
certain personality,

and so, the same
thing with the world.

The elements
within the environment,

they have their own rules to
follow and their own needs.

[Gerry] That's something that we
need to be thinking about

when we start talking
about how we as humans

interact with the forest.

[snorts]

[roaring snow
machine engine]

[bird calls]

[insect buzzing]

[Ben] I am a trapper.

I use the forest for other
forms of recreation like

fishing, hunting
and berry picking.

All kinds of things
that I do in the forest.

I'm a big user.

[snow machine engine
rumbling in the distance]

[creaking trees]

[bird calls]

When you come here on a nice
day and it's so beautiful...

you seem to forget about all
the problems in the world,

the killing and
the mass murders.

The mass shootings.
I'm not gonna get bombed.

I feel safe here.

[creaking]

[animal calls]

I've noticed a decline in
certain species over the years.

But that's understandable
because of

the harvesting of the forest.

[indistinct buzzing &
bird chiriping]

[loud crack followed by
flapping wings]

[indistinct thud
& buzzing]

[chainsaw &
rumbling machinery]

[loud rumble & boom]

[chainsaw]

[crash]

♪

[saw buzzing]

♪ [suspenseful]

[saw buzzing]

[bang]

♪ [suspenseful]

[chainsaw buzzing]

[creak & crash]

♪ [suspenseful]

[machine clang]

[saw buzzing & grinding]

♪

[rumbling &
creaking of metal]

♪

[Robert] So, the primary
conifer species in this area

are Black Spruce
and Jack Pine.

The average age is,
I want to say,

85 years of age.

And that's generally where
the forest will reach the

highest quality of timber and
the most amount of timber.

♪

The round logs were processed
into two-by-four studs.

Of course, there's also
full tree chipping.

Those chips are sent
to a nearby pulp mill.

Pulp is used for everything
from the paper you write on

to material used in diapers.

[saw buzzing]

[creaking]

[saw grinding]

[rumbling & boom]

[saw grinding]

[rumbling & boom]

♪ [somber]

After a harvest we'll assess
what competition there might be

there for conifer species
that we want to regenerate.

We do use glyphosate.

The herbicide targets
deciduous species:

Poplar, Birch as well,
competing vegetation

such as raspberry.

The herbicide is absorbed
in the leaf and into

the plant system,
and then it dies.

♪

[Edmund]
We are very careless.

I suppose that when
the trees look at us,

they say we're
very careless.

We throw things around.

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

[bell chiming]

[Isabelle] There are
so many roads

and they go for...

I don't even know
where they stop.

It seems like they
just continue forever.

♪

[David S.] There's roads,
there's seismic lines...

there's well pads,

there's lines to connect
the well pads...

roads to service them.

A toxic waste treatment
centre right in

the middle of the Boreal.

And then the oil sands,
which are all in Boreal areas.

♪

[Ben] You see more
development, subdivisions.

You wonder sometimes if they're
going to run out of bush.

But I mean,
the way I look at it,

we're all users
of the forest.

♪

♪ [suspenseful]

[truck honking]

♪ [suspenseful]

♪ [energetic]

[cameras clicking]

[truck honking]

♪

[Mike] People love
to be in the woods.

People love wildlife,
and this is normal.

[Erin] People want to buy
or build and be directly

adjacent or
close to the forest.

[indistinct radio broadcast]

[Mike] But recognize that,
you know,

some of these areas are
extremely fire prone.

[thunder]

[lawnmower whirring &
indistinct chatter]

[Erin] I knew that there was
potential for forest fires.

I never personally thought that
it would breach the city limits.

[thunderclap]

♪

[Christine] At the
beginning of May,

the fire started several
kilometres to the west of us.

The fire spread very rapidly
towards the community.

[Erin] We ended up
losing everything,

our house,
our personal belongings,

the trees, everything.

♪

[Christine] As a biologist,
I understand that

the wildlife and the
plants need fire.

But the community was really
devastated by the fire.

Some of them are
still suffering, mentally.

[Erin] We still look around
and see burnt forest

every single day
that we're here.

♪

[helicopter chuff]

[Mike] We found that
the warmer it gets,

the more fire we have.

There's three
reasons for this.

The first is
the warmer it is,

the longer the fire season.

The warmer it gets,
the more lightning we see.

As we warm, the atmosphere's
ability to suck moisture

out of the fuel increases
almost exponentially.

We're seeing more fire
because of

human caused climate change.

And we're going to
see a lot more fire.

♪

[Erin] I think you can kind of
get opinions from both sides.

People who believe that
the climate change is

what helped create this fire.

But there's so much
reclamation happening

around the community in the oil
and gas industry as well,

trying to make it green.

♪

[hum of machinery]

[Jessica] This was
formerly the mine.

It was mined out
about 40 metres deep.

Oil sands were removed

and now we use it to pour
composite tailings into.

Once a tailings deposit is
up to an elevation where

we're ready for reclamation,
we come in and

we do landform grading.

Create the hills
and the valleys,

and streams and channels.

We need to mimic what
Mother Nature's done.

[digital feedback]

And then this is seven
years after planting.

It's a young
forest-wetland complex.

We hope our research
will help us to learn

how to build wetlands
and peatlands.

♪ [electronic]

Some of our researchers that
do climate change research...

specifically
carbon research,

they're monitoring the
ability for reclaimed sites

to sequester carbon.

♪

Carbon is sequestered
when plants grow.

Young plants grow much
faster than older plants.

So a mature forest is
actually sequestering

less carbon on a yearly
basis then a new forest.

So we're actually
doing well because

our forests are so young.

♪ [ethereal]

[David S.] Scientists worry
that they don't know exactly

where the tipping point is,
where you've got enough CO2

added to the atmosphere,
that it will trigger those

natural carbon cycles to
where they'll accelerate

what's going on.

The burning of forest
is one classical one.

Another is the
melting of permafrost.

[wind gusts]

[Kajar] Soils are
getting warmer.

Now, constantly warmer soils

will actually start to
melt the permafrost.

[Sam] When the
permafrost melts,

everything sinks.

♪

You will find fields of
trees that are dead...

and they start falling over
in different directions and

they actually look drunk.

♪

The vegetation is rotting.

It creates methane through
the process of peat rotting.

It's emitting methane gas,
causing a greenhouse effect.

[Kajar] Methane is one of
the greenhouse gases...

and actually if you're
talking about climate change,

the methane is a much stronger
gas than CO2, carbon dioxide.

It's almost 20 times stronger.

♪

♪

[David P.] It's all
about the feedbacks.

It's getting warmer and
the higher CO2 concentration

will stimulate more growth.

[Sam] We're on the
south shore of Hudson Bay.

There was not even one
Poplar here when I was a kid,

nothing but
grass and no trees.

But now the whole coast
is getting infested with

all kinds of Spruce,
Tamarack, Poplar.

♪

[David P.] One of the
limitations to the rate at which

forests can expand
northward is just

how fast they can produce seed.

The shift in the climate zones
will be so much more rapid

that the forest
will not be able to keep up.

The northward extension
will not be as dramatic,

I suspect, as the
southern dieback.

♪

[groans]

♪

[rustling leaves]

[David P.] The general
trend for the Boreal Forest,

I think, in the south,
is definitely browning down.

[rustling leaves]

[Ted] I mean, we've been
working on Aspen since the

early 90s because there were
some early episodes

of Aspen decline.

What's new is the extent
of the decline is

much greater than it used to be.

And part of it is the change
toward drier conditions.

This isn't just a
normal drought,

but it really is a
prolonged dry period.

Aspen's adapted to
things like fire.

The Aspen will
regenerate from its roots.

But what's happening is
that we're getting repeated

droughts in combination
with insects and diseases.

♪

So, the root systems
are becoming unhealthy.

♪ [ethereal]

So that when the
trees die, quite often,

little comes back.

You'll see these dead Aspen
trees and you see green things

growing underneath and it turns
out to be other shrubs,

things like chokecherry
or hazelnut,

instead of Aspen.

The effect will then be more
of a shrub land than a forest.

♪

♪

♪

[Stan] Everyone worries
about how climate change is

going to affect
these systems.

♪

You get a mismatch between
when things should happen

versus when they
actually do happen.

[squeaking]

We wonder if that would happen
with the red squirrels...

and the neat relationship
that squirrels have

with the Spruce trees.

This mast year was a
bumper crop of cones.

The squirrels had all the
signals of this big mast year,

so they've been
breeding like crazy.

So, the mothers have been busy
trying to tend to babies.

And so, they've done
no caching at all.

And then we had some
extremely warm, sunny days.

All of the cones have opened
up on the trees prematurely.

[rustling branches]

So, it's all working
perfectly for the tree.

All of this seed has
escaped from the squirrels.

[squeaking]

[squeaking]

[wind gusts]

[squeaking]

The trees are just laughing
their heads off right now.

♪

In the 35 years, we've had
five previous mast years and,

this is the first time
we've seen this happen.

♪

So, here's this incredible
amount of energy

lying on the ground in the form
of these individual seeds,

but they just can't
take advantage of it.

[squeaking]

♪

[squeaking]

Now they're going to
go into the winter

with their food store empty.

♪

♪

[Nadir] We have a
problem right now.

What to expect?
That is the biggest problem

we have right now.

Some areas used to be
climatically unsuitable for

mountain pine beetle,
for example.

Right now, they've become
suitable because it's warmer.

[insects buzzing]

[Roger] The droughts benefit
the mountain pine beetle

because the trees can't
get enough moisture and

just lowers the
defences of the tree.

[Sandy] Some of the cells
in the xylem-phloem system,

it just kind of
collapses in on itself.

[cracking & creaking]

And it causes that pop
on that cellulose wall.

[cracking & creaking]

That tree is less
able to defend itself,

plus it's signaling
that it's having problems.

So, the insects,
once they get close up,

they can actually hear that.

♪

♪

[Roger] When you dig into a tree
that has been mass attacked,

a lot of the time
directly under the bark,

it's as dry as a
bone and dusty.

And there'll be sawdust
in there from the beetles

boring and
doing what they do.

♪

You have little
tiny pitch outs.

Not a lot of resin flow.

So, the tree was
weakened enough when

the mountain pine beetle
attacked the tree in mass.

It didn't have enough vigour
to produce a lot of resin

to pitch them out.

The needles are still green,
they're still trying to

produce photosynthesis
and they're still trying to

operate as
business as usual,

except they're drying out
the tree even more because

there's no uptake
from the roots.

The tree is dead.

It just takes a while for
the tree to understand

that it's dead.

♪

It usually takes about a year
for the red needles to show up.

[howling wind]

When you look at an entire
hillside that is just red

with Lodgepole Pine, which is
a flammable species anyway,

because that's
how it propagates itself,

I can't help but think,
"That's not a good sign".

[thunderclap]

[Kajar] Now when the new
fire is hitting the area,

we actually don't know
how this will affect

the permafrost,
how deep it will melt.

♪

[Mike] It can burn
deeper and longer

if we get drier conditions.

This is legacy carbon
slowly building up over

thousands of years, and then,
in the course of one fire,

it can be injected
into the atmosphere.

♪

[David P.] As things
progressively get worse,

we will start losing
all of these species, actually.

The Spruces will go first
because they're the ones

that are most
intolerant of drought.

Then I think we'll see the Pine
disappear from the uplands.

♪

[Ted] It's really hard to
predict what's gonna happen.

You might see a patchwork
of stunted Aspen groves with

grassland in some of these areas
that are now Boreal Forest.

That's what I would see.

♪

[David S.] Forests were best
when we left them alone.

Over a period of
about 50 years.

We've seen declines
in so many things...

like butterflies, Boreal birds,
amphibians...

Lake Trout, caribou.

♪

[Mike] Because of things like
fire and mountain pine beetle,

our forests,
our Canadian forests,

are now carbon sources
and not carbon sinks.

♪

♪

♪

[Diana] We can't
live without forests.

To maintain life
on this planet,

we have to have
a green cover.

We won't be able to breathe.

[Isabelle] I feel upset
that this is what the

generations before me
are leaving me with.

But I just think that
instead of looking at it as,

"Oh, we've made mistakes,
and we're bad,

and we're this
plague on the Earth..."

No, we're extremely creative.

♪ [ethereal]

♪ [ethereal]

♪ [ethereal]

♪ [ethereal]

♪ [ethereal]

Sometimes I think,
"I hope you live."

Sometimes I think, "This is
not the best place for you.

Even though this
is not efficient,

I'm gonna pull you out
because if I take

another step to the right,
it's going to be

a much better soil
habitation for you."

♪

Sometimes I think about what
they're going to look like

in 10 years from now.

Sometimes I wonder if
they're gonna survive.

We have the ability to make
whatever it is that we imagine,

so let's just start
imagining a new path.

Let's start
imagining a new way.

♪

We're so inherently
tied to this experience,

and what happens to
that forest is gonna be

a reflection of
what happens to us.

♪

[Edmund] We are here to
make sure that the world,

that the species,
that humanity continues.

The trees are support,
guidance,

encouragement and faith,

that things are just the way
they're supposed to be.

That support from
something that's inanimate,

it looks like, but you're
getting it because

it's connected to the ground
and it's aiming for the sky.

It's a conduit between
the earth and the sun.

♪

To see the tree as
a living light...

When you see that light,
you've gotten a gift.

You're going to
be very humbled.

♪ [ethereal choir singing]

♪ [ethereal choir singing]

♪ [ethereal choir singing]

[birds chirping continues]