Bugaboo Rainforest
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Deep in the Columbia Mountains is a wilderness area encompassing over 500,000 hectares of unprotected and extremely rare inland rainforest, typified by narrow river valley and lined with corridors of towering oldgrowth cedar and hemlock.
The rainforests in this region, some of the wettest of this rare ecosystem, are spectacular to behold. Comprised of trees surpassing 1,000 years of age, the lushness of this ecosystem is reminiscent of BC’s world-famous coastal temperate rainforests.
Huge ferns, spiky Devil’s club, mountain boxwood and herbs such as Queen’s cup populate the abundantunderstory of this low elevation forest. Widely spaced trees, notable for both their size and age, help anchor this unique ecosystem that is home to a plethora of species such as mountain goats, grizzlies, wolves, wolverines, and many species of owls.
Unfortunately, these high-biodiversity, high-productivity, low elevation rainforest valleys — the areas that are most important to old-growth dependent species for critical habitat and connectivity corridors — are the very areas that are easiest to access, and hence the first to fall to chainsaws.
The awesome inspiring Howser Spires tower above East Creek in the heart of the Bugaboo proposal. Photo credit: Joe Foy
The huge cedars of Incomappleux Valley in the Bugaboo National Park are scheduled to be logged by Pope & Talbot Ltd. Photo credit: Jeremy Sean Williams
Already, because of habitat loss predominately caused by logging and industrial development, the Columbia Mountain region has 85 wildlife species listed as threatened or endangered provincially, including 51 bird species, 19 mammals and 13 reptiles. Additionally, 88 plant species and 8 plant communities are at risk.(8)
The establishment of Bugaboo Rainforest National Park would create an ecologically viable protected area in one of the rarest ecosystems on Earth.
The Purcell Alliance for Wilderness, the Wilderness Committee and Valhalla Wilderness Society are proposing to turn this 500,000 hectare area into the Bugaboo Rainforest National Park, the protection of which would link together 1.2 million hectares of critically endangered forest and would provide essential connectivity corridors between existing high mountain parks.
Although several provincial and federal parks are located in this geoclimatic zone, the parks are too small and isolated to maintain their biodiversity, and in fact many parks serve unwittingly as “islands of extinction,” where small isolated protected areas are surrounded by industrial activity. Over time, as areas surrounding the park become degraded, the ecological integrity of the park is eroded.
A recent study of western North American national parks found that in all but the largest of protected areas, wildlife populations became isolated and susceptible to natural catastrophes and genetic inbreeding resulting in the loss of species over time.(9) Already, over 50 species of mammals have disappeared from North American parks because of this phenomenon.
In addition to being too small, parks in the area also fail to adequately represent the Interior Cedar Hemlock (ICH) ecozone which typifies the ecologically valuable, low elevation, oldgrowth inland rainforest. In fact, only 9% of the province’s ICH ecozone is protected, while 23% of BC’s rocky mountain tops and glaciers (what wilderness advocates refer to as ‘rock and ice’) enjoy park status.(10)
Glacier National Park (see map left) is a case in point. Ironically, although the park is located in the geographic centre of the wettest and most productive sections of the globally rare inland rainforest, fully 50% of Glacier National Park is found above the treeline, much of it ‘rock and ice.’
Meadow Creek Cedar Co. clearcut in Skinner Valley on the edge of proposed Bugaboo National Park Photo credit: Jeremy Sean Williams
The establishment of Bugaboo Rainforest National Park would create an ecologically viable network of protected areas in one of the rarest ecosytems on earth. If this is to happen we need to act quickly, as extensive stands of old-growth inland rainforest have already been cut or are slated to be imminently logged.
Part of the Canadian identity is our relationship with the natural environment that surrounds us. Our appreciation for wilderness extends beyond hiking and camping to include the complex interconnection between healthy forests, clean water, fresh air, and endangered species habitat. We understand that this fragile web of life is as much a part of the Canadian identity as are its people.
Handing this legacy, untarnished and unspoiled, to future generations requires vision and the wisdom to protect the lands, waters and species on which this legacy depends. The proposed Bugaboo Rainforest National Park is part of this vision. In providing for a protected area that links together geographically isolated parks in one of the rarest ecosystems on earth, we are handing our children both a glorious wilderness area and the hope of a sustainable future.
