The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river forms in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada. It flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state of Oregon before emptying into the Pacific Ocean. The river is 1,243 miles long, and its largest tributary is the Snake River. Its drainage basin is roughly the size of France and extends into seven states of the United States and one Canadian province. The fourth-largest river in the United States by volume, the Columbia has the greatest flow of any river entering the Pacific outside of Asia, and the 36th greatest discharge of any river in the world.
Clayoquot Sound is located on the west coast of Vancouver Island in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is bordered by the Esowista Peninsula to the south, and the Hesquiaht Peninsula to the North. It is a body of water with many inlets and islands. Major inlets include Sydney Inlet, Shelter Inlet, Herbert Inlet, Bedwell Inlet, Lemmens Inlet, and Tofino Inlet. Major islands include Flores Island, Vargas Island, and Meares Island. The name is also used for the larger region of land around the waterbody.
The Kootenay River or Kootenai River is a major river of the Northwest Plateau in southeastern British Columbia, Canada, and northern Montana and Idaho in the United States. It is one of the uppermost major tributaries of the Columbia River, the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean. The Kootenay River runs 781 kilometres (485 mi) from its headwaters in the Kootenay Ranges of the Canadian Rockies, flowing from British Columbia's East Kootenay region into northwestern Montana, then west into the northernmost Idaho Panhandle and returning to British Columbia in the West Kootenay region, where it joins the Columbia at Castlegar.
The marbled murrelet is a small seabird from the North Pacific. It is a member of the family Alcidae, which includes auklets, guillemots, murres and puffins. It nests in old-growth forests or on the ground at higher latitudes where trees cannot grow. Its population has declined since humans began logging its nest trees in the latter half of the 19th century. The decline of the marbled murrelet and its association with old-growth forests—at least in the southern part of its range—have made it a flagship species in the forest protection movement.
The Headwaters Forest Reserve is a group of old growth coast redwood groves in the Northern California coastal forests ecoregion near Humboldt Bay of the U.S. state of California. Comprising about 7,472 acres (30.24 km2), it is managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) as part of the National Landscape Conservation System.
British Columbia is the westernmost province of Canada, bordered by the Pacific Ocean. With an area of 944,735 km2 (364,764 sq mi) it is Canada's third-largest province. The province is almost four times the size of the United Kingdom and larger than every United States state except Alaska. It is bounded on the northwest by the U.S. state of Alaska, directly north by Yukon and the Northwest Territories, on the east by Alberta, and on the south by the U.S. states of Washington, Idaho, and Montana. Formerly part of the British Empire, the southern border of British Columbia was established by the 1846 Oregon Treaty. The province is dominated by mountain ranges, among them the Canadian Rockies but dominantly the Coast Mountains, Cassiar Mountains, and the Columbia Mountains. Most of the population is concentrated on the Pacific coast, notably in the area of Vancouver, located on the southwestern tip of the mainland, which is known as the Lower Mainland. It is the most mountainous province of Canada.
Pitt Lake is the second-largest lake in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia. About 53.5 km2 (20.7 sq mi) in area, it is about 25 km (16 mi) long and about 4.5 km (2.8 mi) wide at its widest. It is one of the world's relatively few tidal lakes, and among the largest. In Pitt Lake, there is on average a three-foot tide range; thus Pitt Lake is separated from sea level and tidal waters during most hours of each day during the 15 foot tide cycle of the Pitt River and Strait of Georgia estuary immediately downstream. The lake's southern tip is 20 km (12 mi) upstream from The Pitt River confluence with the Fraser River and is 40 km (25 mi) east of Downtown Vancouver.
Broughton Archipelago Provincial Park is the largest marine provincial park located in British Columbia, Canada. The park is located in the Queen Charlotte Strait around 30 kilometres (19 mi) east of Port McNeill, a town situated on Vancouver Island. In terms of its functions, the park offers tourism opportunities such as kayaking and whale watching, preserves a wide array of wildlife including many at-risk species, and has a long history of use by First Nation peoples.
Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park, originally Carmanah Pacific Provincial Park, is a remote wilderness park located inside traditional Ditidaht First Nation ancestral territory. The park covers a land area of 16,450 ha (63.5 sq mi) immediately adjacent to Pacific Rim National Park Reserve's West Coast Trail on the south-western, coastal terrain of Vancouver Island. The provincial park comprises the entire drainage of Carmanah Creek, and a good portion of the lower Walbran River drainage, both of which independently empty into the Pacific Ocean. The park is named after the Anglicized diitiid?aatx word kwaabaaduw7aa7tx, or Carmanah, meaning "as far up as a canoe can go" and John Thomas Walbran, a colonial explorer and ship's captain. Access to the park is by gravel logging road from Port Alberni, Lake Cowichan, or Port Renfrew.
Desolation Sound Marine Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada located along Desolation Sound. The park is distinguished by its many picturesque sheltered coves and anchorages, frequented by yachts and pleasure craft. The scenery consists of waterfalls, rugged glaciated peaks, and steep forested slopes that fall into the ocean.
Apodaca Provincial Park is a provincial park located on the central eastern shoreline of Bowen Island, British Columbia, Canada.
Height of the Rockies Provincial Park is a provincial park in the Canadian Rockies of south eastern British Columbia, Canada. It is located west of the Continental Divide, adjacent to Elk Lakes Provincial Park.
Spipiyus Provincial Park is a 29.79 square kilometres (11.50 sq mi) provincial park in British Columbia, Canada. The park is north of Halfmoon Bay on the Sechelt Peninsula. It protects pockets of old-growth forest that are habitat for the marbled murrelet.
The Western Canada Wilderness Committee is a non-profit environmental education organization that aims to protect Canada's wild spaces and species. Paul George, along with Richard Krieger, were the founding directors, and formed the Wilderness Committee in the province of British Columbia in 1980. It now has a membership of over 30,000 people with its head office in Vancouver and field offices in Victoria, British Columbia; Winnipeg, Manitoba; and Toronto, Ontario.
The Kenney Dam is a rock-fill embankment dam on the Nechako River in northwestern British Columbia, built in the early 1950s. The impoundment of water behind the dam forms the Nechako Reservoir, which is also commonly known as the Ootsa Lake Reservoir. The dam was constructed to power an aluminum smelter in Kitimat, British Columbia by Alcan, although in the late 1980s the company increased their economic activity by selling excess electricity across North America. The development of the dam caused various environmental problems along with the displacement of the Cheslatta T'En First Nation, whose traditional land was flooded.
West Coast Environmental Law (WCEL) is an environmental law and public advocacy organization based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada that does reform for environmental policies in British Columbia and the rest of Canada.
Widgeon Valley National Wildlife Area is a National Wildlife Area located near the south end of Pitt Lake in British Columbia, Canada. The property was purchased by the Nature Trust of British Columbia in 1973 and declared a National Wildlife Area by the Canadian Wildlife Service in October of that year. The Widgeon Valley National Wildlife Area is a biologically diverse marsh wetland. It is the traditional territory of various First Nations groups. The Widgeon Valley Wildlife Area is a protected wildlife area that is home to a number of sensitive waterfowl and fish species. The public uses the channels through the Widgeon Valley National Wildlife Area for recreational canoeing, anywhere else within the protected area is strictly off-limits to the public. There are future plans to develop interpretive trails through the park and open it to the public.
Koeye River is a river in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It originates in the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains, and flows about 35 km (22 mi) west to Fitz Hugh Sound, south of Bella Bella. The river's watershed is about 18,000 ha.
Scott Islands Marine National Wildlife Area is a National Wildlife Area off the northwestern tip of Vancouver Island in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Covering an area of 11,570.65 km2 (4,467.45 sq mi), it is the second largest protected area in British Columbia after Offshore Pacific Seamounts and Vents Closure and is the largest national wildlife area in Canada.
The Marine West Coast Forest is a Level I ecoregion of North America designated by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) in its North American Environmental Atlas. The region includes parts of Alaska, the Yukon, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and California.
