The Tahltan River is a

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...

of the

Stikine River The Stikine River is a major river in northern British Columbia (BC), Canada and southeastern Alaska in the United States. It drains a large, remote upland area known as the Stikine Country east of the Coast Mountains. Flowing west and south f ...

in northwest part of the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

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 flows generally east and southeast about Length measured using Google Maps path tool, BCGNIS coordinates, topographic maps, an
TopoQuest
/ref> to join the Stikine River at Tahltan, British Columbia. The lower Tahltan River marks the boundary between the

Tahltan Highland The Tahltan Highland is an upland area of plateau and relatively lower mountain ranges in British Columbia, Canada, lying east of the Boundary Ranges and south of the Inklin River (the east fork of the Taku River). Its eastern boundary is formed by ...

and the

Nahlin Plateau The Nahlin Plateau is a plateau in northwestern British Columbia, Canada, located between the Sheslay River and Tuya River on the west and east and the Nahlin River and the Stikine River to the north and south. It is a subplateau of the Stikine Pl ...

, both of which are part of the larger

Stikine Plateau The Stikine Plateau is a plateau in northern British Columbia, Canada. It lies between the Boundary Ranges of the Coast Mountains on the west and southwest and the Cassiar Mountains along its northeast, and between the Skeena Mountains on its sout ...

region. The Tahltan River's watershed covers , and its mean annual discharge is . The mouth of the Tahltan River is located about northeast of

Telegraph Creek Telegraph Creek is a small community located off Highway 37 in northern British Columbia at the confluence of the Stikine River and Telegraph Creek. The only permanent settlement on the Stikine River, it is home to approximately 250 members of Tah ...

, British Columbia, about east 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 ...

, and about southeast of

Whitehorse Whitehorse () is the capital of Yukon, and the largest city in Northern Canada. It was incorporated in 1950 and is located at kilometre 1426 (Historic Mile 918) on the Alaska Highway in southern Yukon. Whitehorse's downtown and Riverdale areas ...

, Yukon. The Tahltan River's 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 35.0%

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' ...

, 29.6%

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 ...

, 14.0% barren, 9.1%

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 ...

, 8.5%

mixed forest Temperate broadleaf and mixed forest is a temperate climate terrestrial habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature, with broadleaf tree ecoregions, and with conifer and broadleaf tree mixed coniferous forest ecoregions. These fo ...

, and small amounts of other cover. The Tahltan River is named for 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 and is in their traditional territory.

Geography

The Tahltan River originates in high glaciated peaks on the east edge of the

Boundary Ranges The Boundary Ranges, also known in the singular and as the Alaska Boundary Range, are the largest and most northerly subrange of the Coast Mountains. They begin at the Nass River, near the southern end of the Alaska Panhandle in the Canadian p ...

and the west edge of the Tahltan Highland. It first flows south and southeast then east and northeast, gathering many unnamed tributary streams. After passing north of Tahltan Lake it is joined by Johnny Tashoots Creeks, which flows from Tahltan Lake. The Tahltan River is then joined by Harper Reed Creek and Lovell Creek, both flowing from the north, then Tutesheta Creek, flowing from the south. After flowing north briefly the Tahltan River is joined by its main tributary, the Little Tahltan River near the

Indian reserve In Canada, an Indian reserve (french: réserve indienne) is specified by the '' Indian Act'' as a "tract of land, the legal title to which is vested in Her Majesty, that has been set apart by Her Majesty for the use and benefit of a band." Ind ...

of Tahltan Forks 5, of the

Tahltan First Nation The Tahltan First Nation, also known as the Tahltan Indian Band, is a band government of the Tahltan people. Their main community and reserves are located at Telegraph Creek, British Columbia. Their language is the Tahltan language, which is an ...

. Turning east and southeast, the Tahltan River is joined by numerous tributaries including Bear Creek, Beatty Creek, Newell Creek, Middle Creek, and Hartz Creek. In its last few kilometres the Tahltan River flows south to join the Stikine River in the

Grand Canyon of the Stikine The Grand Canyon of the Stikine is a stretch of the Stikine River in northern British Columbia, Canada. It has been compared to the Grand Canyon, Grand Canyon of the Colorado. The canyon is home to a large population of mountain goats and other w ...

, at the locality of Tahltan and the Tahltan Indian Reserve Tahltan 1.

History

The historic

Yukon Telegraph Trail The Yukon Telegraph Trail, also known simply as the Telegraph Trail, is a historic pathway in the Canadian province of British Columbia that extends from the village of Ashcroft in the south to the community of Atlin in the north. It was used for ...

runs through the Tahltan River's watershed, following the Tutesheta Creek tributary and crossing the Tahltan River near the Little Tahltan River confluence.

Ecology

The Tahltan River is a major contributor to the Stikine River's salmon runs and the most significant contributor of

Chinook salmon The Chinook salmon (''Oncorhynchus tshawytscha'') is the largest and most valuable species of Pacific salmon in North America, as well as the largest in the genus ''Oncorhynchus''. Its common name is derived from the Chinookan peoples. Other ve ...

sockeye salmon The sockeye salmon (''Oncorhynchus nerka''), also called red salmon, kokanee salmon, blueback salmon, or simply sockeye, is an anadromous species of salmon found in the Northern Pacific Ocean and rivers discharging into it. This species is a P ...

, and other

salmonids Salmonidae is a family of ray-finned fish that constitutes the only currently extant family in the order Salmoniformes . It includes salmon (both Atlantic and Pacific species), trout (both ocean-going and landlocked), chars, freshwater whit ...

steelhead trout Steelhead, or occasionally steelhead trout, is the common name of the anadromous form of the coastal rainbow trout or redband trout (O. m. gairdneri). Steelhead are native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific basin in Northeast Asia and N ...

. Spawning habitat is found throughout the Tahltan's watershed. Decheeka Falls, located about upstream of the Little Tahltan confluence, sometimes acts as a barrier to fish migration. In 2014 a large rock slide partially filled in the Tahltan River about above the Stikine River confluence. This slide created a partial barrier to salmon migration. In 2018 large scale remediation efforts were completed, widening the river's channel and distributing rock debris downstream. This has improved fish migration although the slide debris may still be a significant barrier under certain flow conditions.

References

External links

* * {{cite journal , last= Teit , first= James A. , date= 1919 , title= Tahltan Tales , work= The Journal of American Folklore , volume= 32 , issue= 124 , pages= 198–250 , jstor= 534980 Cassiar Land District Rivers of British Columbia Stikine Country Tahltan Tahltan Highland Tributaries of the Stikine River

Geography

History

Ecology

See also

References

External links