The Fraser Valley is a

geographical region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

in southwestern

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Canada and northwestern

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

. It starts just west of

Hope Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one's life or the world at large. As a verb, its definitions include: "expect with confidence" and "to cherish ...

in a narrow valley encompassing the

Fraser River The Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Blackrock Mountain in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia just south of the City of Vancouver. The river's annual d ...

and ends at the Pacific Ocean stretching from the

North Shore Mountains The North Shore Mountains are a mountain range overlooking Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada. Their southernmost peaks are visible from most areas in Vancouver and form a distinctive backdrop for the city. The steep southern slopes of the No ...

, opposite the city of

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

BC, to just south of

Bellingham, Washington Bellingham ( ) is the most populous city in, and county seat of Whatcom County in the U.S. state of Washington. It lies south of the U.S.–Canada border in between two major cities of the Pacific Northwest: Vancouver, British Columbia (locat ...

. In casual usage it typically describes the Fraser River basin downstream of the

Fraser Canyon The Fraser Canyon is a major landform of the Fraser River where it descends rapidly through narrow rock gorges in the Coast Mountains en route from the Interior Plateau of British Columbia to the Fraser Valley. Colloquially, the term "Fraser Ca ...

. The term is sometimes used outside British Columbia to refer to the entire Fraser River sections including the Fraser Canyon and up from there to its

headwater The headwaters of a river or stream is the farthest place in that river or stream from its estuary or downstream confluence with another river, as measured along the course of the river. It is also known as a river's source. Definition The ...

s, but in general British Columbian usage the term refers to the stretch of

Lower Mainland The Lower Mainland is a geographic and cultural region of the mainland coast of British Columbia that generally comprises the regional districts of Metro Vancouver and Fraser Valley. Home to approximately 3.05million people as of the 2021 Canadia ...

west of the

Coquihalla River The Coquihalla River (originally or more recently and popularly ) is a tributary of the Fraser River in the Cascade Mountains of the Canadian province of British Columbia. It originates in the Coquihalla Lakes and empties into the Fraser River ...

mouth In animal anatomy, the mouth, also known as the oral cavity, or in Latin cavum oris, is the opening through which many animals take in food and issue vocal sounds. It is also the cavity lying at the upper end of the alimentary canal, bounded on ...

at the inland town of

, and includes all of the Canadian portion of the

Fraser Lowland The Fraser Lowland is a landform and physiographic region in the Pacific Northwest of North America, shared between the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. state of Washington. The region includes much of the Lower Mainland region o ...

as well as the

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between Hill, hills or Mountain, mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers ...

s and upland areas flanking it. It is divided into the Upper Fraser Valley and Lower Fraser Valley by the

Vedder River Vedder is a Dutch and Low German surname. ''Vedder'', related to Dutch ('father'), meant 'uncle' (father's or mother's brother) in Middle Dutch and Eastern dialects of Dutch. Notable people with the surname include: * Adam Swart Vedder (1834–190 ...

mouth at the eastern

foothills Foothills or piedmont are geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range, higher hill range or an upland area. They are a transition zone between plains and low relief hills and the adjacent topograp ...

Sumas Mountain Sumas Mountain is a mountain located in Whatcom County, Washington, Whatcom County, Washington (state), Washington, 15 miles northeast of Bellingham, Washington, Bellingham and southwest of Vedder Mountain. Located in the Skagit Range, the moun ...

, although the Lower Valley section upstream of

McMillan Island McMillan Island is an island in the Fraser River, British Columbia, Canada, also known as McMillan Slough.. Geography Overview McMillan Island is located in the lower Fraser River, north of Fort Langley and south of Maple Ridge, and separated f ...

and the Salmon River

(at

Fort Langley Fort Langley is a village community in Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada. It has a population of approximately 3,400 people. It is the home of Fort Langley National Historic Site, a former fur trade post of the Hudson's Bay Company. ...

) used to be called the Central Fraser Valley up until 1995 (see

Central Fraser Valley Regional District The Central Fraser Valley Regional District was a regional district in the province of British Columbia, Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region, south of the Fraser River and west of Chilliwack. It comprised the Township and City of Langley, ...

). Administratively, the Fraser Valley comprises parts of the

regional district In the province of British Columbia in Canada, a regional district is an administrative subdivision of the province that consists of a geographic region with specific boundaries and governmental authority. there were 28 regional districts in t ...

s of

Metro Vancouver The Metro Vancouver Regional District (MVRD), or simply Metro Vancouver, is a Canadian political subdivision and corporate entity representing the metropolitan area of Greater Vancouver, designated by provincial legislation as one of the 28 ...

and the

Fraser Valley Regional District The Fraser Valley Regional District (FVRD) is a regional district in British Columbia, Canada. Its headquarters are in the city of Chilliwack. The FVRD covers an area of 13,361.74 km² (5,159 sq mi). It was created in 1995 by ...

. The main

population centre In demographics, the center of population (or population center) of a region is a geographical point that describes a centerpoint of the region's population. There are several ways of defining such a "center point", leading to different geogr ...

s in the Fraser Valley are

Greater Vancouver Greater Vancouver, also known as Metro Vancouver, is the metropolitan area with its major urban centre being the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The term "Greater Vancouver" is roughly coterminous with the geographic area governed b ...

, Abbotsford and

Chilliwack Chilliwack ( )( hur, Ts'elxwéyeqw) is a city in the province of British Columbia, Canada. Chilliwack is surrounded by mountains and home to recreational areas such as Cultus Lake and Chilliwack Lake Provincial Parks. There are numerous outdoor ...

History

Evolution of the Lower Fraser Valley From Langley to Harrison

This section of the Fraser River is known by local indigenous peoples as "Sto:lo" in the

Halqemeylem Halkomelem (; in the Upriver dialect, in the Island dialect, and in the Downriver dialect) is a language of various First Nations peoples of the British Columbia Coast. It is spoken in what is now British Columbia, ranging from southeastern ...

language of the area, and this term has been adopted to refer to all of the indigenous peoples of the

, other than the Squamish and

Musqueam The Musqueam Indian Band ( ; hur, xʷməθkʷəy̓əm ) is a First Nations in Canada, First Nations band government in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is the only First Nations band whose reserve community lies within the boundari ...

. The indigenous peoples of the area have long made use of the river valley for agricultural and commercial exploits and continue to do so today. These indigenous keepers of the land were not consulted in the

Treaty of Oregon The Oregon Treaty is a treaty between the United Kingdom and the United States that was signed on June 15, 1846, in Washington, D.C. The treaty brought an end to the Oregon boundary dispute by settling competing American and British claims to t ...

, which saw the United States and Great Britain define and recognize each others' claims to the area. This overstepping of jurisdiction inevitably lead to conflict as Great Britain was incapable of exercising the control they claimed over the river valley. As a wave of immigrants flooded into the Fraser River Valley because of the

Fraser Canyon Gold Rush The Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, (also Fraser Gold Rush and Fraser River Gold Rush) began in 1858 after gold was discovered on the Thompson River in British Columbia at its confluence with the Nicoamen River a few miles upstream from the Thompson's c ...

, the British were unable to maintain order without the cooperation of the local indigenous peoples, and the

Fraser Canyon War The Fraser Canyon War, also known as the Canyon War or the Fraser River War, was an incident between the Nlaka'pamux people and white miners in the newly declared Colony of British Columbia, which later became part of Canada, in 1858. It occurred ...

broke out. The war was resolved with a series of treaties, none of which remain to this day, but which evidently included the regulation of immigration and the continuation of mining on the river by the indigenous inhabitants and the new immigrants. This war was part of a series of local conflicts surrounding the arrival of settlers ahead of American and British capacity to maintain order and refusal to cooperate with or recognize indigenous land claims and demands. These conflicts were pivotal in many aspects to the settlement of the West Coast in both Canada and the United States. The interaction of indigenous peoples and settlers lead to the growth of Chinook Wawa, a pidgin language that was used throughout the Fraser River Valley until the early 1900s. Industrialization of the river began with the use of the traditional trade waterway by steamboats and eventually, roads and railways were built, fueled by and in turn fuelling further population growth. Today, the most important transportation through the region are the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

and

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...

transcontinental main lines, the

Lougheed Highway Lougheed is an Irish variant of a surname of Scottish origins, meaning ''head of the lake''. Lougheed or Loughead may refer to: Places * Lougheed, Alberta, a Canadian village * Lougheed Island, Nunavut, Canada * Lougheed Highway, part of British ...

(Hwy 7), and the

Trans-Canada Highway The Trans-Canada Highway ( French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the Atlantic Ocean o ...

( Hwy 1).

Geography

After descending through the rapids of the

, the Fraser River emerges almost at sea level at

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

, over 100 km inland. Although the canyon in geographic terms is defined as ending at Yale, Hope is generally to be considered the southern end of the canyon, partly because of the change in the character of the highway from that point, and perhaps also because it is at Hope that the first

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

s typifying the course of the Lower Fraser are found. Downstream from Hope, the river and adjoining floodplains widen considerably in the area of Rosedale,

and Agassiz, which is considered the head of the Fraser Delta. From there the river passes through some of the most fertile agricultural land in British Columbia—as well as the heart of the

region—on its way through the valley to its mouth at

Georgia Strait The Strait of Georgia (french: Détroit de Géorgie) or the Georgia Strait is an arm of the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the extreme southwestern mainland coast of British Columbia, Canada and the extreme northwestern mainland coast ...

. During the last

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gree ...

, the area that would become the Fraser Valley was covered by a sheet of ice, walled in by the surrounding mountains. As the ice receded, land that had been covered by glaciers became covered by water instead, then slowly rose above the water, forming the basin that exists today. The valley is the largest

landform A landform is a natural or anthropogenic land feature on the solid surface of the Earth or other planetary body. Landforms together make up a given terrain, and their arrangement in the landscape is known as topography. Landforms include hills, ...

of the

ecoregion, with its delta considered to begin in the area of Agassiz and Chilliwack, although stretches of floodplain flank the mountainsides between there and Hope. Several of the Fraser's lower tributaries have floodplains of their own, shared in common with the Fraser freshet. Of varying size these include the

Harrison River The Harrison River is a short but large tributary of the Fraser River, entering it near the community of Chehalis, British Columbia, Canada. The Harrison drains Harrison Lake and is the ''de facto'' continuation of the Lillooet River, which feeds ...

Chilliwack River Chilliwack ( )( hur, Ts'elxwéyeqw) is a city in the province of British Columbia, Canada. Chilliwack is surrounded by mountains and home to recreational areas such as Cultus Lake and Chilliwack Lake Provincial Parks. There are numerous outdoo ...

(

), Hatzic Creek and Hatzic Lake, the Stave, Alouette, Pitt and

Coquitlam River The Coquitlam River ( /koʊˈkwɪtləm/ or /kəˈkwɪtləm/) is a tributary of the Fraser River in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The river's name comes from the word Kʷikʷəƛ̓əm which translates to "Red fish up the river". The na ...

s. Also incorporated in the Fraser delta region are the Nicomekl and Serpentine River floodplains and the Sumas River drainage, which flow to saltwater independently of the Fraser but help drain its lowland. The Fraser is tidal as far upstream as the town of

Mission Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

and, across the river, the City of Abbotsford, which is at the Fraser's closest approach to the international boundary, about 6 miles north of

Sumas, Washington Sumas () is a city in Whatcom County, Washington, United States. It had a population of 1,307 as of the 2010 census. Sumas is located adjacent to the Canada–U.S. border and borders the city of Abbotsford, British Columbia. The Sumas-Huntingd ...

Pitt Lake Pitt Lake is the second-largest lake in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia. About in area, it is about long and about wide at its widest. It is one of the world's relatively few tidal lakes, and among the largest. In Pitt Lake, there is o ...

, one of the Fraser's last tributaries and among its largest, is so low in elevation, despite its mountain setting, that it is one of the largest tidal freshwater lakes in the world . Oxbow lakes and side-sloughs are a common feature of the Lower Fraser's geography. The two main oxbows are those of Hatzic Lake and the Stave River on opposite sides of Mission, although that of the Stave has been silted in and part of it drained for a man-made lake. Around

is an oxbow formation, mostly swamped in at the time of the fort's foundation, which was drained and made part of the fort's farm and remains farmland today. The system of sloughs and side-channels of the river is complicated, but important sloughs include those around

Nicomen Island Nicomen Island is an island in the Fraser Valley region of southwestern British Columbia. Nicomen Mountain in the Douglas Ranges lies to the north across Nicomen Slough. Chilliwack Mountain lies to the south across the Fraser River. Adjacent to th ...

, Sea Bird Island and flanking the river from Rosedale to

, on the western side of

Climate

In winter, the Fraser Valley occasionally plays a significant role in the weather regime along the west coast of North America as far south as

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, acting as a natural outlet for the intensely cold Arctic

air mass In meteorology, an air mass is a volume of air defined by its temperature and humidity. Air masses cover many hundreds or thousands of square miles, and adapt to the characteristics of the surface below them. They are classified according to la ...

which typically sits over

Western Canada Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West or the Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a Canadian region that includes the four western provinces just north of the Canada� ...

during winter. Under certain meteorological conditions strong winds pour out of the Fraser Valley and over the relatively warmer waters of the

Strait of Georgia The Strait of Georgia (french: Détroit de Géorgie) or the Georgia Strait is an arm of the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the extreme southwestern mainland coast of British Columbia, Canada and the extreme northwestern mainland coast ...

and the

Strait of Juan de Fuca The Strait of Juan de Fuca (officially named Juan de Fuca Strait in Canada) is a body of water about long that is the Salish Sea's outlet to the Pacific Ocean. The international boundary between Canada and the United States runs down the centre ...

. This can cause ocean-effect snow, especially between

Port Angeles Port Angeles ( ) is a city and county seat of Clallam County, Washington, United States. With a population of 19,960 as of the 2020 census, it is the largest city in the county. The population was estimated at 20,134 in 2021. The city's har ...

and Sequim, where the air mass collides with the

Olympic Mountains The Olympic Mountains are a mountain range on the Olympic Peninsula of the Pacific Northwest of the United States. The mountains, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, are not especially high – Mount Olympus is the highest at ; however, the easter ...

. The cold air from the Fraser Valley can also flow out over the Pacific Ocean. Lanes of convective ocean-effect clouds and showers are produced as heat and moisture modify the very dry, frigid air mass. These then typically organize as a low pressure system which returns the showers to the coast south of Canada, often bringing snow to unusually low elevations.

Western Fraser Valley

Central Fraser Valley

Eastern Fraser Valley

Demographics

Fraser Valley Regional District

According to the 2011 Census, 76.47% of the Fraser Valley regional district in BC have

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

mother tongue A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongu ...

; Punjabi is the

of 10.02% of the population, followed by

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

(3.49%),

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

(1.39%), French (1.07%),

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

(0.69%),

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

(0.66%), Tagalog (0.35%), Chinese, n.o.s. (0.33%), and

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia ** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam. * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overse ...

(0.30%).Census Profile Fraser Valley, RD British Columbia http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2011/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=CD&Code1=5909&Geo2=PR&Code2=01&Data=Count&SearchText=fraser%20valley&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=All&Custom=&TABID=1

Modern land use

Today, the Fraser Valley has a mix of land uses, ranging from the urban and industrial centres of

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, and Abbotsford through golf courses and parks to dairy farms and

market garden A market garden is the relatively small-scale production of fruits, vegetables and flowers as cash crops, frequently sold directly to consumer A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or uses purchased goods, products, or s ...

s. Agricultural land in the valley – much of it protected by the

Agricultural Land Reserve The Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) is a collection of agricultural land in British Columbia in which agriculture is recognized as the priority. In total, the ALR covers approximately and includes private and public lands that may be farmed, fores ...

– is intensively farmed: the Fraser Valley brings in over half of British Columbia's annual agricultural revenue, although it makes up a small percentage of the province's total land area. The Fraser Valley, specifically in Abbotsford, is the northernmost area of

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima ''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...

cultivation in the world.Tourism Abbotsford (2019) https://tourismabbotsford.ca/abbotsford-rice-paddies-thriving/ Retrieved on: 2020-02-06.

Air quality

As the valley population grows and traffic increases,

air pollution Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. There are many different types ...

becomes an increasingly important issue; various controversies have risen over the years (most recently over "

Sumas 2 Sumas 2 was a proposal for an additional cogeneration electric power plant in the town of Sumas, Washington, Sumas, Washington (state), Washington near the Canada–United States border. The excess heat from this generator was to be used by a wood ...

", a defeated proposal for a power plant just south of the Canadian/USA border) as to whether or not air pollution is a problem, and if it is a problem, how this should be addressed. Air quality monitoring has improved in recent years and it is now possible to compare BC communities on a variety of measures. Comparative data on four measures— fine particulate matter,

ground-level ozone Ground-level ozone (O3), also known as surface-level ozone and tropospheric ozone, is a trace gas in the troposphere (the lowest level of the Earth's atmosphere), with an average concentration of 20–30 parts per billion by volume (ppbv), with cl ...

nitrogen dioxide Nitrogen dioxide is a chemical compound with the formula . It is one of several nitrogen oxides. is an intermediate in the industrial synthesis of nitric acid, millions of tons of which are produced each year for use primarily in the producti ...

and

sulphur dioxide Sulfur dioxide (IUPAC-recommended spelling) or sulphur dioxide (traditional Commonwealth English) is the chemical compound with the formula . It is a toxic gas responsible for the odor of burnt matches. It is released naturally by volcanic activ ...

—shows the Fraser Valley to have better air quality than Vancouver on several measures. For example, Fraser Valley communities had less than half the levels of nitrogen dioxide, and were lower in fine particulate matter and sulphur dioxide (on the latter measure, Abbotsford and Chilliwack were among the lowest of all BC sites).BC Lung Association (201
Sixth Annual State of the Air Report
. Retrieved on: 2011-01-27. In certain weather conditions during the summer, prevailing westerly winds blow air pollution from vehicles and from ships in Vancouver harbour east up the triangular delta, trapping it between the Coast Mountains on the north and the Cascades on the southeast. Air quality suffers. This usually occurs during a

temperature inversion In meteorology, an inversion is a deviation from the normal change of an atmospheric property with altitude. It almost always refers to an inversion of the air temperature lapse rate, in which case it is called a temperature inversion. No ...

, and lasts for a few days. Ground-level ozone tends to be from local sources in the valley and varies with prevailing winds. With prevailing winds from the northeast during the late fall and winter, air quality is seldom a problem. Air quality in the Fraser Valley at times exceeds the Canada-Wide Standard (CWS) for ozone (at Hope) and is close to exceeding the CWS for Particulate Matter.canada.com

Modern usage of the name

In colloquial usage, "Fraser Valley" usually refers only to that part of the valley beyond the continuously built-up urban area around Vancouver, up to and including Chilliwack and Agassiz, about 80 km east, and abutting the border with Washington's

Whatcom County Whatcom County is a county located in the northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Washington, bordered by the Canadian Lower Mainland (the Metro Vancouver and Fraser Valley Regional Districts of British Columbia) to the north, Okanogan Cou ...

; news media typically also include the built-up eastern suburban areas of Vancouver which a few decades ago were mixed farmland and forest, typical of "the Valley". The Fraser Valley region is also the namesake of the

, though that consists of only about half of the actual Fraser Valley, and is made up of the municipalities and incorporated areas from Abbotsford and Mission eastwards to Hope. It also includes areas not in the Fraser Valley, particularly the lower

from Boston Bar to Hope. The term "Central Fraser Valley" refers to Mission and Abbotsford and is included within the Lower Fraser Valley. The Upper Fraser Valley means from Chilliwack and Agassiz to Hope. The phrases "Fraser Valley towns" and "Fraser River municipalities" include Delta and Richmond, though the colloquial "in the Valley" means from Surrey and Coquitlam eastwards. The "Tidal Fraser area" is usually defined as the area of the Fraser from the mouth at the Pacific Ocean to the Mission bridge. Everything in between there is influenced greatly by ocean tides, including the largest tidal lake in North America, Pitt Lake.

Sociology

The south shore of the Central and Upper Fraser Valley is also known colloquially as the "

Bible Belt The Bible Belt is a region of the Southern United States in which socially conservative Protestant Christianity plays a strong role in society and politics, and church attendance across the denominations is generally higher than the nation's aver ...

" of British Columbia and is home to many of Canada's largest churches, notably the

Mennonite Brethren The Mennonite Brethren Church is an evangelical Mennonite Anabaptist movement with Wiktionary:congregation, congregations. History The conference was established among Plautdietsch language, Plautdietsch-speaking Russian Mennonites in 1860. Durin ...

and the

Dutch Reformed Church The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family and ...

, a reflection of the heavy settlement of the Valley by post-war Dutch and German immigrants, as well as the Canadian headquarters of many Christian/

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...

para-church organisations such as

Focus on the Family Focus on the Family (FOTF or FotF) is a fundamentalist Protestant organization founded in 1977 in Southern California by James Dobson, based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The group is one of a number of evangelical parachurch organizations ...

and

Campus Crusade for Christ Cru (until 2011 known as Campus Crusade for Christ—informally "Campus Crusade" or simply "crusade"—or CCC) is an interdenominational Christian parachurch organization. It was founded in 1951 at the University of California, Los Angeles by B ...

. Voters in south shore ridings typically elect right-wing candidates, while in ridings on the river's north side elections sway between left-wing and right-wing parties regularly.

Notes

References

* Arnett, T.C. 1976. The Chilliwack Valley Continuum: A Search for a Canadian Land Ethic. Unpublished Master's Thesis, UBC. * Carlson, K.T. (ed.) 2001. A Stó:lō-Coast Salish Historical Atlas. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre. * Carlson, K.T. (ed.) 1996. You Are Asked To Witness: The Stó:lō in Canada's Pacific Coast History. Chilliwack: Stolo Heritage Trust. * Cherrington, J.A. 1992. The Fraser Valley: A History. Madeira Park, B.C.: Harbour Publishing. * Cook, D. 1978. Early Settlement in the Chilliwack Valley. Unpublished research paper, UBC. * Demeritt, D. 1995–96. Visions of Agriculture in British Columbia. BC Studies 108, 29–59. * Harris, C. 1997. The Resettlement of British Columbia. Vancouver: UBC Press. * Oliver, J. 2006. A View From the Ground: Understanding the 'Place' of the Fraser Valley in the Changing Contexts of a Colonial World 1792–1918. Unpublished PhD Dissertation, University of Sheffield. * Ramsey, B. 1975. Five Corners, the story of Chilliwack. Chilliwack: Chilliwack Valley Historical Society. * Waite, D.E. 1977. The Langley Story illustrated: An Early History of The Municipality of Langley: Don Waite Publishing. * Wynn, G. & T.R. Oke (eds) 1992. Vancouver and Its Region. Vancouver: UBC Press. {{Subdivisions of British Columbia, regions=yes Fraser River Valleys of British Columbia Landforms of Lower Mainland Wine regions of British Columbia

History

Geography

Climate

Western Fraser Valley

Central Fraser Valley

Eastern Fraser Valley

Demographics

Fraser Valley Regional District

Modern land use

Air quality

Modern usage of the name

Sociology

See also

Notes

References