HELP CREATE B.C. WILDERNESS AND PARKS SYSTEMS

Wilderness Committee Educational Report Vol.10 - No.02, February 1991

Where is the LARGEST unlogged temperate RAINFOREST in the world?

ANSWER TO THE QUESTION:

THE KITLOPE

In the autumn of 1990 a wilderness research organization based in Washington D.C. issued a news release that signalled the end of a great search.

Conservation International researchers had been pouring over satellite photographs, studying government maps, talking to native elders, fishermen, loggers, hunters and environmentalists in a quest to discover the largest intact temperate rainforest in the world. The wilderness group had looked at valleys from Alaska to Chile. In the lower 48 states the largest intact watershed found was Cummins Creek Oregon, 3,500 ha. In Alaska several partially intact 20,000 ha watersheds were discovered. Almost everywhere a network of clearcuts and logging roads was found to be carving up the wilderness into smaller and smaller pieces.

Then, in British Columbia an amazing complex of wilderness watersheds was discovered tucked away at the end of a spectacular fiord. When the numbers were crunched the researchers couldn't believe their eyes! The Kitlope watershed and adjoining Kowesas and Tsaytis watersheds contained an astonishing 500,000 ha. of untouched wilderness.

In the summer of 1990, Conservation International teamed up with the Wilderness Committee to conduct an expedition into the remote Kitlope country. What we discovered exceeded our wildest expectations.

The Kitlope, located just south of the town of Kemano at the end of the Gardener Canal, has been protected from logging so far by its inaccessibility. With the glacier-covered spine of the Coast Mountains at its back door and a maze of coastal inlets and islands at its front, the Kitlope has been a well-kept secret, until now.

Here is a sample of what the Conservation International/WCWC team discovered...

  • Glacier carved sheer rock walls rise out of the primeval forest in a spectacular show of hanging ice fields and waterfalls. The powder blue Kitlope river snakes its way from side to side creating great sweeping sand and gravel bars. Tributary river valleys lead to wilderness strongholds. Pictographs, abandoned village sites and trade trails give the Kitlope a mysterious, timeless aura.
  • The Kitlope watershed encompasses an array of extremely diverse habitats, including high country tundra and valley bottom temperate rainforest. This mosaic results in highly varied fish and wildlife population including wolf, grizzly, moose, oolichan (candle fish) and salmon.
  • This is the Kitamaat native people's ancestral territory. The Kitlope has had a history of continuous human habitation extending back to the beginning of time. The last family left the Kitlope only 20 years ago and the people still travel there to fish, hunt and collect healing plants. The Kitamaats consider the wilderness valley a sacred place and have declared that the valley should remain wilderness for all time.
  • The Kitlope is presently part of Tree Farm Licence 41, held by logging company Eurocan. The B.C. government granted the TFL to Eurocan for the price of one dollar in 1980 without the permission of the Kitamaats. Logging road construction in the Kitlope could begin as early as this year, if conservation efforts fail.
  • The B.C. Parks Ministry has just announced that it is studying the Kitlope for possible inclusion into the B.C. provincial park system. Please include comments about the Kitlope in your letter to the Parks Minister regarding the parks/wilderness planning process currently underway.

    • Your Wilderness Committee accords preservation of the Kitlope watershed the highest priority. For the full Kitlope story you'll have to wait for the eight page full-colour Kitlope educational newspaper which will be published before the end of February.