Nechako Canyon Protected Area

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Nechako Canyon Protected Area
Canada British Columbia location map 2.svg
Red pog.svg
Location Bulkley-Nechako RD, British Columbia
Coordinates 53°37′59″N124°55′34″W / 53.633°N 124.926°W / 53.633; -124.926
Area1,246 ha (4.81 sq mi)
Designation Protected Area
Established6 July 2000
Governing body BC Parks
Website Nechako Canyon Protected Area

Nechako Canyon Protected Area is a protected area of the BC Parks system, located on the Nechako River between Knewstubb Lake (formed by the Kenny Dam of the Nechako Diversion) and Cheslatta Falls at the mouth of the Cheslatta River. The Nechako Canyon, also known as the Grand Canyon of the Nechako, is carved into a lava plateau and features erosive formations such as rock walls, overhanging cliffs, pinnacles and other formations, and the protected area includes Cheslatta Falls. [2]

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The Nechako Plateau is the northernmost subdivision of the Interior Plateau, one of the main geographic regions of the Canadian province of British Columbia. It spans the basin of the Nechako River and its tributaries the Stuart River and Endako Rivers, and is bounded on the south by the West Road River, south of which is the Chilcotin Plateau and on the north by the Nation River and the valleys of Babine and Takla Lakes, beyond which are the Omineca Mountains (N) and Skeena Mountains (NW). To the west, it abuts the various ranges of the Hazelton Mountains while on its east it is bounded by the pass between Prince George, British Columbia and the Parsnip Arm of Williston Lake, beyond which is the McGregor Plateau, which skirts the Northern Rockies. Some classification systems include the plateau area on the east bank of the Fraser River beyond the city of Prince George; this area neighbours the northernmost reaches of the Quesnel Highland and Cariboo Mountains.

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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.

The Nechako Reservoir, sometimes called the Ootsa Lake Reservoir, is a hydroelectric reservoir in British Columbia, Canada that was formed by the Kenney Dam making a diversion of the Nechako River through a 16-km intake tunnel in the Kitimat Ranges of the Coast Mountains to the 890 MW Kemano Generating Station at sea level at Kemano to service the then-new Alcan aluminum smelter at Kitimat. When it was constructed on the Nechako River in 1952, it resulted in the relocation of over 75 families. It was one of the biggest reservoirs built in Canada until the completion of the Columbia Treaty Dams and the W.A.C. Bennett Dam that created Lake Williston. The water level may swing 10 feet between 2790 and 2800 feet.

The Nechako Canyon, also known as the Grand Canyon of the Nechako, is a canyon on the Nechako River in the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada, located between Cheslatta Falls and Knewstubb Lake, which lies immediately above the Kenny Dam, which forms the Nechako Reservoir. Cheslatta Falls, 18 m in height, is the final leg of the Cheslatta River and cascades into the Nechako at its confluence. The river-bed in the canyon is mostly dry due to the Nechako's diversion. The canyon is carved into a lava plateau and features erosive formations such as rock walls, overhanging cliffs, pinnacles and other formations, and is protected by the Nechako Canyon Protected Area, which includes Cheslatta Falls.

The Cheslatta Carrier Nation or Cheslatta T'En, of the Dakelh or Carrier people (Ta-cullies, meaning "people who go upon water" is a First Nation of the Nechako River at the headwaters of the Fraser River.

The Nechako Region is the second-largest economic development region in British Columbia and covers an area of 200,023 km2, from the Nechako plateau, in central British Columbia, northward to the border with Yukon Territory.

The Cheslatta River is a tributary of the Nechako River, one of the main tributaries of the Fraser River, in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It flows through the Nechako Plateau. Before the construction of Kenney Dam in the early 1950s the Cheslatta was a minor tributary of the Nechako. Today the Nechako River is dry above the Cheslatta, which provides all its source water.

References

  1. "Nechako Canyon Protected Area". Protected Planet. Retrieved 2020-09-15.
  2. BC Parks info page on Nechako Canyon Protected Area