“...past a boulder garden of tumbling rapids and deep Coho salmon pools, we come upon a breathtaking serpentine river system weaving its way through chest high sedges. An extensive rainforest covers the valley, which is crisscrossed in every direction with bear trails.” (Ian McAllister, The Great Bear Rainforest, 1997)

Johnston Creek

Located in the traditional territory of the Oweekeno First Nation, emptying into Rivers Inlet on the west coast of Canada, Johnston Creek is approximately 7,500 hectares in size (equivalent to a rectangle 15 km long by 5 km wide). The Johnston is one in a cluster of 12 pristine valleys --Lockhart-Gordon, lower Draney, Allard, Johnston, Sandell, Dallery, Doos, Phinney-Reeve, Ashlum, Amback and Walkus Lake are the others. These are the last intact systems in the Rivers Inlet / Drainey Inlet / Oweekeno Lake area.

The Johnston Creek valley is characterized by rich, low elevation, ancient rainforest and a deep slow moving river. While there has been a small amount of historical logging, magnificent old growth cedar trees are still adjacent to the entrance of the creek. High concentrations of inland lingby sedge meadows provide important fish, wildlife, and waterfowl habitat. In addition, the estuary was assigned a 7 out of 10 biological ranking in a rating scheme for BC's major coastal wetlands (Hunter, Summers and Davies).

All pristine valleys have extremely high biological value, however, the Johnston has been identified as the best grizzly bear habitat within the Rivers Inlet / Drainey Inlet / Oweekeno Lake area. This is largely due to an abundant, easily accessible and diverse food supply which includes seaweed, grasses and sedges in the spring and early summer, and berries and salmon in late summer and fall. In 1992, a research group spotted a total of 14 grizzly bears fishing for salmon at the river mouth in one day.