The Canadian Shield is a distinct ecological region that forms the evergreen, granite-studded crown stretching across two-thirds of North America. In size, it approximates western Europe with one percent the number of people. A satellite view of the region on a winter's night shows tiny, widely scattered blips of light-islands of human settlement adrift in a sea of subarctic wilderness. In age, the shield's primeval bedrock dates to the beginning of earthly time. Shield Country unfolds a fascinating story of unrivaled Precambrian geology, of wild rivers and millions of pristine lakes, of an ecological junction where subarctic and arctic climates, plants, birds, and mammals weave a richly textured wilderness fabric.

Jamie Bastedo, former CBC North host and author of Shield Country: The Life and Times of the Oldest Piece of the Planet, Reaching North: A Celebration of the Subarctic and Blue Lake and Rocky Shores, reflects on the charm and mystery of the Canadian Shield. He writes to inform and to inspire, telling a "story of place." He lives in Yellowknife, NWT and operates a touring company that takes tourists on tours of the North and also runs an environmental consulting company.