The Morice River is the outflow of Morice Lake south west of

Houston, British Columbia Houston ( ) is a forestry, mining and tourism town in the Bulkley Valley of the Northern Interior of British Columbia, Canada. Its urban population is approximately 3600 people, with approximately 2000 in the surrounding rural area. It is known ...

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 ...

. Morice Lake and Morice River are named after Father

Adrien-Gabriel Morice Adrien-Gabriel Morice (27 August 1859 – 21 April 1939) was a missionary priest belonging to the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. He served as a missionary in Canada, and created a writing system for the Carrier language. Early life Father Morice wa ...

br>Geographic Name details
The Morice has many small creeks joining it along its length, but retains the clear glacial hue for its length. The Morice river continues on to the town of Houston at which point the river is joined by a small tributary river called "The Little Bulkley" and the two rivers joined become the Bulkley River. They become the Bulkley, not the Morice despite the fact the Morice is larger. This was done by Poudrier, a government cartographer who, it is rumoured, never saw the region.

Status

The Morice River was listed as the 6th most endangered river in British Columbia due to the proposed

Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines The Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines were a project to build a twin pipeline from Bruderheim, Alberta to Kitimat, British Columbia. The eastbound pipeline would have imported natural gas condensate and the westbound pipeline would have expo ...

which would have carried diluted bitumen. The report was issued by the Outdoor Recreation Council of British Columbia.

The Northern Gateway Pipeline did not make substantial progress following approval with 209 conditions. Subsequently the approval was quashed by the courts.

The Morice River is also crossed by the approved

Coastal GasLink Pipeline The Coastal GasLink pipeline is a TC Energy natural gas pipeline under construction in British Columbia, Canada. Starting in Dawson Creek, the pipeline's route crosses through the Canadian Rockies and other mountain ranges to Kitimat, where t ...

which will carry natural gas. Some hereditary chiefs of the

Wetʼsuwetʼen The Wetʼsuwetʼen ( ) are a First Nation who live on the Bulkley River and around Burns Lake, Broman Lake, and François Lake in the northwestern Central Interior of British Columbia. The endonym Wetʼsuwetʼen means "People of the Wa Dzun ...

oppose the pipeline on the grounds that it will disrupt salmon populations and decrease water quality. The crossing of the Morice is planned to be accomplished by trenchless crossing, though crossing of tributaries are not using this method, leading to concern of increased turbidity. The

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

name for the Morice river is Wedzin Kwa.

References

External links

Morice River Pictures
{{authority control Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako Rivers of British Columbia Skeena Country