Spectral reflectance of the forest understory at the ground level, in three boreal forest sites of Northern Manitoba (56 degrees N latitude and 98 degrees W longitude), were obtained and analyzed. The objective of the study was to estimate light levels inside the forest canopy and to link these estimates with airborne images taken above the canopy, in order to tie the photosynthetic experiments and models with the remotely sensed measurements. The Boreal Ecosystem-Atmospheric Study (BOREAS) Terrestrial Ecosystem (TE)-09 project contained several sub-projects designed to work together to meet this goal: a high-resolution canopy modeling component, extensive measurements of canopy architecture and structure, photometric measurements inside the canopy, and spectral measurements of both the canopy and the understory.