An ecological analogue system for biomonitoring the chronic and long-term effects of anthropogenic atmospheric emissions in the Alberta Oil Sands Region (AOSR) is described. This system has shown to be an efficient adjunct to ambient air quality measurements and has been previously applied successfully in western Canada. The essence of an ecological analogue system is the classification and identification of plant associations that are most sensitive to the atmospheric emissions of concern. An ecosystem classification and ordination was applied to sites of the most sensitive plant associations to identify detailed ecological analogue types (EATs). The EATs were then selected for use in locating field sites for the WBEA Forest Health Monitoring Program.Twenty-one major plant associations were identified within the AOSR with jack pine (Pinus banksiana)/bearberry (Arctostaphylos sp.)/green reindeer lichen (Cladina mitis) communities considered most sensitive. Among those, nine EATs most sensitive to atmospheric emissions were identified by classification and ordination techniques. These EATs possessed 10 specific ecological parameters necessary for field identification and mapping. Field sites were located near major AOSR emission sources, radiating outwards from ∼18 to 130km. A significant and high, nonlinear negative correlation (r=-0.98) was determined between the foliar inorganic/organic sulfur ratios in first year jack pine needles and the distance from the SO 2 sources. This foliar sulfur ratio metric coupled with other growth parameters provided a robust measure for deploying the ecological analogue system to monitor for the biological effects from the atmospheric chemical species of concern.