The Kitlope Heritage Conservancy or Huchsduwachsdu Nuyem Jees ("source of milky blue waters") in the

Haisla language The Haisla language, ''X̄a'islak̓ala'' or ''X̌àh̓isl̩ak̓ala'', is a First Nations language spoken by the Haisla people of the North Coast region of the Canadian province of British Columbia, who are based in the village of Kitamaat. This is ...

, is a

conservancy Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

located on the

Pacific coast Pacific coast may be used to reference any coastline that borders the Pacific Ocean. Geography Americas Countries on the western side of the Americas have a Pacific coast as their western or southwestern border, except for Panama, where the Pac ...

of the province of

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 Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. It preserves the largest continuous tract of coastal

temperate rainforest Temperate rainforests are coniferous or broadleaf forests that occur in the temperate zone and receive heavy rain. Temperate rain forests occur in oceanic moist regions around the world: the Pacific temperate rain forests of North American Paci ...

in the world. Beginning at the head of

Gardner Canal The Gardner Canal is one of the principal inlets of the British Columbia Coast. Technically a side-inlet of the larger Douglas Channel, the Gardner Canal is still in length in its own right; total length of the waterways converging on the Douglas ...

, the park stretches inland along the

Kitlope River The Kitlope River is a river in the Kitimat Ranges in the North Coast of British Columbia, Canada, flowing north for ,Length measured using Google Maps path tool, BCGNIS coordinates, topographic maps, anTopoQuest into the head of the Gardner Canal ...

to the border of

Tweedsmuir Provincial Park Tweedsmuir South Provincial Park is a provincial park covering parts of the eastern Kitimat Ranges, northern Pacific Ranges, and the Rainbow Range in British Columbia, Canada. It was established on May 21, 1938 in the western interior of the pro ...

History

The Kitlope River area is within the ancestral homeland of the

Haisla people The Haisla (also known as Xa’islak’ala, X̄a’islakʼala, X̌àʼislakʼala, X̣aʼislak’ala, Xai:sla) are an amalgamation of two bands, the Kitamaat people of upper Douglas Channel and Devastation Channel and the Kitlope People of upp ...

. The Haisla used the area for hunting and fishing, especially the production of

oolichan The eulacheon ( (''Thaleichthys pacificus''), also spelled oolichan , ooligan , hooligan ), also called the candlefish, is a small anadromous species of smelt that spawns in some of the major river systems along the Pacific coast of North Americ ...

grease, for which the tribe was famous along the Pacific coast. By the early 1990s, the

West Fraser Timber West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. is a Canadian forestry company that produces lumber, LVL, MDF,OSB, plywood, pulp, newsprint, and wood chips based in Vancouver B.C., Canada. West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. is a member of the Forest Products Association o ...

logging company had acquired logging leases for large tracts of forest in the drainage. The Haisla, along with Portland, Oregon-based advocacy group

Ecotrust Ecotrust is a nonprofit organization based in Portland, Oregon, working to create social, economic, and environmental benefit. History and programs Ecotrust was founded in 1991 by Spencer Beebe, who brought his conservation experience in the tro ...

, lobbied the company and the provincial government to place a moratorium on logging in the watershed. In 1994, West Fraser agreed to relinquish its lease without compensation. In consultation with the

Haisla Nation The Haisla Nation is the Indian Act-mandated band government which nominally represents the Haisla people in the North Coast region of the Canadian province of British Columbia, centred on the reserve community of Kitamaat Village. The tradition ...

, the provincial government established a Protected Area around the Kitlope on February 20, 1996. In 2008, it was renamed a Conservancy, reflecting the co-management of the park by BC Parks and the Haisla. Conservancies in the park system are a lower level of protection than full Provincial Parks, allowing "low-impact" economic activities such as eco-tourism, but prohibiting heavy industries such as logging, mining, power generation and road construction. The push for a park in the Kitlope valley was part of a larger effort to protect more of the coastal temperate rainforest in B.C., an ecological zone that has been heavily logged in the south of the province. The Kitlope region is considered part of the

Great Bear Rainforest The Great Bear Rainforest is a temperate rain forest on the Pacific coast of British Columbia, Canada comprising 6.4 million hectares. It is part of the larger Pacific temperate rainforest ecoregion, which is the largest coastal temperate rainfo ...

(GBR), a term coined by environmental groups. The Conservancy was the first major portion of the GBR to receive protection. In ''Stories from the Magic Canoe of Wa'xaid'', Cecil Paul tells the story of how the Kitlope was preserved. "...in our language we call it ‘Huchsduwachsdu Nuyem Jees.’ That means the land of milky blue waters and the sacred stories contained in this place. You think it's a victory because we saved the land. But what we really saved is our heritage, our stories, which are embedded in this place and which couldn't survive without it, and which contain all our wisdom for living."

Geography

The Conservancy covers of coastal temperate rainforest, making it the largest such preserve in the world. It lies at the head of the Whidbey Reach of the

, and encompasses the drainages of the Kitlope, Kalitan, Gamsby, Tsaytis, Kapella, and Tezwa rivers. During the spring melt, these rivers are subject to heavy flooding and carry large amounts of debris. Much of the park is mountainous; south of the Kitlope River the granite domes and ridges are part of the

Kitlope Range The Kitlope Range is a small subrange of the Kitimat Ranges, located southeast of Kitlope Lake in British Columbia, Canada. It is surrounded by the Tezwa River, Tezwa and Kitlope Rivers. See also *Kitlope (disambiguation), Kitlope (disambiguation ...

, a sub-range of the

Kitimat Ranges , photo = Lax Kw'alaams.jpg , photo_size = 280px , photo_caption = Lax Kw'alaams backdropped by Mount McNeil , map = , map_image = BC-relief_Kitimatranges.png , map_caption = Kitimat Ranges ...

. In the north, they form part of the

Tochquonyalla Range The Tochquonyalla Range is a subrange of the Tahtsa Ranges, located east of the Gamsby River and west of Lindquist Lake in northern British Columbia, Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories ...

, a sub-range of the

Tahtsa Ranges The Tahtsa Ranges are a mountain range in northern British Columbia, Canada. It has an area of 7531 km2 and is a subrange of the Hazelton Mountains which in turn form part of the Interior Mountains.

. Icefields and glaciers occupy the higher elevations. The valley floors of the park are narrow, most being between one and two kilometres wide. Many, such as the Gamsby valley, are covered by braided channels of gravel deposited by the rivers. The park has one major lake, Kitlope, which is fed by the Tezwa River and enters the Kitlope River near its

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...

. The park is part of a large continuous area of protected wilderness.

, which abuts Kitlope in the northeast, is the largest protected area in the province. The

Fiordland Conservancy The Fiordland Conservancy, also known as the Fiordland Recreation Area formerly, and since also as the Fiordland Conservation Area, is a conservancy in British Columbia, Canada. It preserves a portion of the province's coast containing glacial fj ...

protects over 80,000 hectares of coastal

fjords In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Icela ...

on the KHC's western boundary. Together the major parks and several smaller reserves represent over 2.3 million hectares of undeveloped land in a variety of ecological zones.

References

External links

Map of the Conservancy, BC Parks
{{British Columbia parks Conservancies of British Columbia Provincial parks of British Columbia North Coast of British Columbia 1996 establishments in British Columbia Protected areas established in 1996