British Columbia's Inland Rainforest
Nestled in the Columbia Mountains in the southeastern portion of British Columbia exists a forest ecosystem found nowhere else on earth. Typified by a rich tapestry of lush green mosses and ferns, towering redcedar and ancient western hemlock, this incredibly rare ecosystem is the world’s only inland temperate rainforest.(1)
Alpine meadow in the Goat Valley near Prince George. Photo credit: Jeremy Sean Williams
Extending from just south of Prince George into Northern Idaho, on the windward side of the Rocky and Columbia Mountains, this ancient rainforest is unique not only for its geographic rarity but also for its tremendous biological diversity. Grizzly bears, bull trout, wolverines, fishers, northern pygmy owls and BC’s reclusive mountain caribou are just a handful of the hundreds of oldgrowth associated species that call BC’s inland temperate rainforest home. The wettest areas of inland rainforest, the Interior Cedar Hemlock zone, also has the highest diversity of tree species in the province, with some of the world’s largest remaining giant redcedar and western hemlock, making it one of the most productive forest zones in all of Canada.(2)
The conditions for this forest are created when wet weather systems, originating over 500 kilometres away in the Pacific Ocean, are stalled by the immense rock faces of the East Columbia and Rocky Mountains. The resulting precipitation manifests as moist weather systems in the summer and high snowfall in the winter, creating one of the most humid ecosystems in the province. Accordingly, the inland rainforest shares many similar ecological features with BC’s world-renowned coastal rainforests: a luxuriant green understory typified by moss and ferns and a forest canopy populated with impressively large oldgrowth trees.
Inland Forest Map
Part of an intricate web of life, every aspect of the inland rainforest has developed over millennia to nurture the myriad plants and animals that rely upon this delicate ecosystem. For example, veteran ‘wildlife’ trees, ancient trees that are often stricken with diseases such as heartrot, provide essential resting, denning and nesting cavities for bears, woodpeckers, bats, fishers, owls and even wolverines. The inland rainforest is home to thousands of species who have specifically adapted to the particular attributes of these moist oldgrowth forests — species who need the ancient trees, oldgrowth lichens, shady salmon streams and mossy understory to survive.
Sadly, this unique ecological wonder is struggling to survive. Due to the inland rainforest’s tremendous biodiversity and unique ecological conditions, conditions which produce large trees with high quality wood, these forests are much sought after by logging companies.
Once logged, this fragile ecosystem will likely never recover. Recent studies have shown that the special characteristics of the inland rainforest are unlikely to regenerate, as this forested ecosystem was formed long ago, in a cooler, wetter period in the earth’s history.
Already fractured by industrial logging practices which have targeted the oldest, most valuable trees, the integrity of the inland rainforest is under imminent threat from expanded logging operations. After just a hundred years of industrial logging, only a handful of large valleys and watersheds remain intact, and it is these few remaining biologically rich, easily accessible valley bottoms that are being targeted by logging corporations. If we lose the fight to save these remaining watersheds and valleys, the inland rainforest - a natural wonder unique to British Columbia - will be destroyed in our lifetime.
The Need for Connectivity
In 1985 Dr. William Newmark, an American conservation biologist, released a groundbreaking study on species extinction in protected areas in North America. Newmark found that in all but the very largest of North American parks, large mammals gradually disappear because small isolated populations of wildlife “are vulnerable to atural catastrophe, genetic inbreeding and other adverse phenomena.”(12) Today, many ecologists consider the decline of landscape connectivity as one of the greatest threats to biodiversity.(13)
"Healthy diverse ecological systems require connectors to keep them alive and functioning
... an important way to meet the habitat needs of forest and range life is to ensure that
ecosystems are still connected to each other.”(11)
For our children to see grizzlies in the wild or marvel at the shimmer of a salmon in a shaded stream, we must prevent “islands of extinction.” We must increase the amount of protected areas in British Columbia and link these areas through connectivity corridors to ensure viable and functioning ecosystems.
