The Central Canadian Shield forests are a taiga ecoregion of Canada.
This ecoregion consists of rolling hills, lakes, bogs and rocky outcrops covering a large curved swathe on the Canadian Shield from eastern Manitoba and Northern Ontario running southeastwards through Thunder Bay District to the north shore of Lake Superior and then northeastwards into western Quebec. The area has a cool climate with summer tempearatures averaging around 13°C dropping to a very cold -17°C in winter, with the hills around Lac Seul in northwestern Ontario being warmer and wetter than most of the area. Average rainfall in the eastern side of the ecoregion is 550mm per year, rising to 750mm in the centre (near Lake Nipigon for example), up to 900mm in the west. Specific areas include Lake Nipigon and Big Trout Lake (Ontario). These forest contrast with more severe boreal forest ecoregions such as the Eastern Canadian Shield taiga to the north, which covers most of Northern Quebec and Labrador.
These hills support a large area of rich taiga forest dominated by black spruce (Picea mariana) along with jack pine and some paper birch (Betula papyrifera) and in the warmer south-facing areas some trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides), white spruce (Picea glauca), Ontario balsam poplar (Populus balsamifera) and balsam fir (Abies balsamea). Many of the rocks of the area are covered with colourful lichens. The ecoregion contains large areas of wetland especially in the south east, and a greater variety of plant life on the north shore of Lake Superior.