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| Overview Here, under jagged mountain peaks, glacier-fed rivers carve narrow rainforest valleys, emptying into hundreds of fjords. Within the valleys, moss-laden ancient forests reach nearly a hundred metres tall and hundreds of years back in time. This untamed territory is home to soaring eagles, graceful whales, mighty grizzlies, and - at the centre of it all - wild salmon runs. The most unique and elusive inhabitant of all is the Kermode Bear, a creamy white variety of the black bear known to First Nations (indigenous people) as the "Spirit Bear" for its shy, spectre-like appearance. Numbering less than 400, Spirit Bears are found only here, in the Great Bear Rainforest. This wild and rugged country stretches along a thin band of Canada"s west coast for nearly 500 kilometres -- from Knight Inlet on the south-central coast of British Columbia, Canada, to the Alaskan Panhandle. An area the size of Switzerland, the Great Bear Rainforest covers almost 7 million hectares of mountains, rivers, valleys, fjords, islands and coastline. The temperate rainforests of the Pacific coast once stretched from northern California to Alaska. Today, only Alaska and British Columbia still contain large, undisturbed tracts. Covering scarcely one two-thousandth of the earth"s land surface, these forests represent an extremely rare ecosystem, more endangered than tropical rainforests. The Towering Giants The valley floors of the Great Bear Rainforest are home to some of the world's most majestic trees. Douglas fir and Sitka spruce can measure 95 metres (300 feet) tall. The western red cedar can grow six metres (19 feet) in diameter. These huge towers house several different plant, insect and animal species, and cycle water from the moist air to parasitic plants and the earth below. After their roots become lifeless, trees continue to play an integral part in the forest ecosystem, providing food and habitat for beetles, squirrels, woodpeckers, newts and others for several centuries to come. Under the towering giants grow coral root, a variety of orchids, berries, salal bushes and various types of ferns. A Creatures' Paradise The lush rainforest attracts and array of animals and birds. While swallows, chickadees, martens and owls stick to the forests and meadows, sea birds including the Marbled Murrelet, Harlequin Ducks and the Bald Eagle visit the coast to nest. The Marbled Murrelet, now classified as 'threatened with extinction,' is wholly dependent upon this temperate rainforest. While it spends its entire life at sea, during mating season it moves inland to build its nest in the high branches of the ancient rainforest. The Great Bear is home to many, including black tail deer, elk, bushy tailed woodrats, martens, bats and Northern flying squirrels, as well as mountain goats that descend their peaks every winter to eat the moss growing in forest streams. In the waterways, varieties of frogs, newts and the Pacific giant salamander hunt for food. Off shore, Orcas, porpoises, Humpback whales, seals and sea lions follow schools of fish. This coastal underworld is rich with mollusks, seaweeds, crustaceans and planktons. The Great Bears Grizzly bears thrive in this untrammeled wilderness. Males, in particular, travel widely across large areas in search of food, den sites, and a mate. Consequently, the health of a grizzly population is a good indicator of the health of the entire forest ecosystem. Logging in the southern Great Bear Rainforest already has radically altered or degraded much of their best habitat. Grizzlies reproduce at a slow rate - a female may have eight cubs in a 25-year life span. So once a population begins to decline, it takes many years to recover. The British Columbia Ministry of Environment has placed grizzly bears on its species-at-risk list. After months of hibernation, the large bears forage for berries like bunchberries, blueberries, salmonberries, huckleberries, as well as devils club and clams. During the height of the spawning season, salmon make up to 95% of a bears late-fall diet providing them with the necessary fat stores they will need to successfully reproduce and survive the winter. Salmon: Lifeblood of the Rainforest From mid-summer to late fall, teeming masses of coho, chinook, sockeye, pink, chum, and steelhead churn their way up the rivers and streams that flow through B.C.'s temperate rainforests. The lifecycle of the wild salmon brings them back to their birthplace to lay their eggs and die. Upon their return bears preparing for winter hibernation - joined by wolves, eagles and other animals - feast on the salmon. Bears drag the fish carcasses up the forested slopes, adding valuable nutrients to the soil in the process. Thus, a healthy salmon population is one of the keys to the health of the entire rainforest ecosystem. Salmon are a source of food and tradition in First Nations communities and generate employment throughout the BC coast. People, animals and plants are all dependent on this one species, a migratory fish that returns to the rainforest but once a year. The survival of Pacific salmon depends on a supply of clean, cold water, good spawning and rearing habitat and streamside vegetation to provide both shade and insects for food. Clearcutting often occurs up to the banks of these sensitive streams; clearcuts and logging roads can also erode entire hillsides, clogging and fouling vital spawning beds. People of the Great Bear Rainforest The ecologically diverse landscape the Great Rainforest region is the ancestral homeland of the complex, varied cultures of numerous coastal First Nations (the indigenous people of Canada). Today, First Nations' culture, history, spirituality and identity are intimately with the land, forests and waters of the coast, making protection of ancient forests (and, sustainable management where ecologically acceptable) not only for protecting biodiversity, but also for ensuring cultural survival. These nations include the Nuxalk, Heiltsuk, Kwakwaka'wakw, Tsimshian (including the Gitga'at, Kitasoo/Xai'xais, and others), Haisla, and Oweekeno. They have lived off this land since the glaciers of the last Ice Age receded from the continent. One of the earliest Northwest Coast villages identified by archaeologists is Namu, a 10,000-year-old site in Heiltsuk and Nuxalk Territory in the heart of the Great Bear Rainforest. The abundance of the region's land and sea supported the emergence of highly sophisticated, organized cultures and an intricate trade network. These people lived without the aid of agriculture - one of the very few complex societies in the world to have done so - and developed a striking, intricate style of art admired worldwide. Industrial clearcut logging has threatened some of the core values of many of these First Nations. One such value is the importance of the cedar tree. The habitat of cedar, the climax the temperate rainforest, equals the range of Northwest Coast culture. The two are inextricably linked. Cedar has been utilized by First Nations for items like clothing, shelter, tools and transportation, as well as for artistic, ceremonial and spiritual activities. Canoes, woven clothing, nets, twine, baskets, boxes and totem poles are only a few examples. So important is cedar to Northwest Coast cultures that red and yellow cedar each has its own creation myth. At the same time, cedar products are among the most economically valuable on the wood market, and Canada's Pacific coast remains a major timber source for this increasingly threatened species. When Europeans explored and settled the continent, epidemics of disease swept into the region, decimating First Nations populations. Colonial powers attempted to silence First Nations. The potlatch, one of the most important practices of Northwest Coast cultures, was outlawed until 1951. Politically, First Nations continue to fight for recognition of rights and title to their ancestral lands, in some cases taking it to the United Nations level. No formal treaties were ever signed and this issue remains one of the most controversial political debates not only on the coast, but also throughout British Columbia, Canada and the world. |