Kitsu Creek is a tributary of Mess Creek and part of the Stikine River

watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...

in northwest part of the province of British Columbia, Canada. It flows generally northwest and north for roughly Lengths and distances measured using BCGNIS coordinates, topographic maps, online map servers, an
Toporama
/ref> to join Mess Creek, a tributary of the Stikine River. Kitsu Creek's mean annual

discharge Discharge may refer to Expel or let go * Discharge, the act of firing a gun * Discharge, or termination of employment, the end of an employee's duration with an employer * Military discharge, the release of a member of the armed forces from serv ...

is estimated at . Its

covers and is entirely in

Mount Edziza Provincial Park Mount Edziza Provincial Park is a provincial park in Cassiar Land District of northern British Columbia, Canada. It was established on 27 July 1972 to protect the Mount Edziza volcanic complex and the surrounding Tahltan Highland. Geography The p ...

. The watershed's

land cover Land cover is the physical material at the surface of Earth. Land covers include grass, asphalt, trees, bare ground, water, etc. Earth cover is the expression used by ecologist Frederick Edward Clements that has its closest modern equivalent being ...

is classified as 42.5%

barren Barren primarily refers to a state of barrenness (infertility) Barren may also refer to: Places * Barren, Missouri *Barren County, Kentucky * Barren Island (Andaman Islands) *Barren Island, Brooklyn *Barren River Lake Other uses * ''Barren Count ...

, 28.7%

conifer forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

, 11.4%

shrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity. It m ...

, 11.0% snow/ glacier, 5.7%

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of t ...

, and small amounts of other cover. The mouth of Kitsu Creek is located about south of Telegraph Creek, British Columbia, about southwest of Dease Lake, British Columbia, and about southeast of

Juneau, Alaska The City and Borough of Juneau, more commonly known simply as Juneau ( ; tli, Dzánti K'ihéeni ), is the capital city of the state of Alaska. Located in the Gastineau Channel and the Alaskan panhandle, it is a unified municipality and the se ...

. Kitsu Creek is in

, which lies within the traditional territory of the Tahltan First Nation, of the

Tahltan The Tahltan or Nahani are a First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group who live in northern British Columbia around Telegraph Creek, Dease Lake, and Iskut. The Tahltan constitute the fourth division of the ''Nahane' ...

people. Kitsu Creek was named in association with

Kitsu Peak Kitsu Peak is the highest summit of the Spectrum Range at the southern end of the Mount Edziza volcanic complex in northwestern British Columbia, Canada. It is bounded on the west by Nagha Creek valley, on the northwest by the Kitsu Plateau, on ...

and

Kitsu Plateau The Kitsu Plateau is a lava plateau in northern British Columbia, Canada, located east of Mess Lake in Mount Edziza Provincial Park. It is named in association with Kitsu Peak and Kitsu Creek. ''Kitsu'' in the Tahltan language is the word fo ...

. The name comes from a Tahltan word for the Northern Lights.

Geography

Kitsu Creek originates on the north side of Kitsu Peak in the

Spectrum Range The Spectrum Range, formerly called the Spectrum Mountains and the Rainbow Mountains, is a subrange of the Tahltan Highland in the Stikine Country of northwestern British Columbia, 20 km west of the Stewart-Cassiar Highway, south of Mount ...

about south of Mount Edziza. It flows northwest on the Kitsu Plateau, cascades down the

Mess Creek Escarpment The Mess Creek Escarpment is an escarpment in northwestern British Columbia, Canada, located on the east side of Mess Creek below Mess Lake and southeast of Telegraph Creek. It forms the central-western flank of the Mount Edziza volcanic complex, ex ...

and then flows north to Mess Creek just north of Mess Lake. It is joined from the south by its one named tributary, Nagha Creek. Kitsu Creek's watershed is in the southern part of the Mount Edziza volcanic complex.

References

{{Mount Edziza volcanic complex Cassiar Land District Rivers of the Mount Edziza volcanic complex Tributaries of Mess Creek Stikine Country Tahltan Tahltan Highland Spectrum Range

Geography

See also

References