Great Bear Rainforest

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A view of Kitlope Lake in the Kitlope Heritage Conservancy.

The Great Bear Rainforest (also known as the Central and North Coast forest)[1][2] is a
temperate rain forest on the Pacific coast of British Columbia, Canada comprising 6.4 million
hectares.[3] It is part of the larger Pacific temperate rainforest ecoregion, which is the largest
coastal temperate rainforest in the world.[2][4]

The Great Bear Rainforest was officially recognized by the Government of British Columbia in
February 2016, when it announced an agreement to permanently protect 85% of the old-growth
forested area from industrial logging.[4][5] The forest was admitted to the Queen's Commonwealth
Canopy in September of the same year.

Contents
 1 Geography
 2 Ecology
 3 History
o 3.1 Campaign for protection
o 3.2 Government recognition and protection
o 3.3 Fuel spill
 4 See also
 5 References
 6 Further reading
 7 External links

Geography
The size of the Great Bear Rainforest, also called the North and Central Coast land use planning
area or the Central and North Coast LRMP area, is roughly 32,000 km2 (12,000 sq mi).[6] As part
of the 2006 North and Central Coast Land Use Decision three new land use zones were created:
Protected Areas; Biodiversity, Mining, and Tourism Areas (BMTAs); and Ecosystem-based
Management Operating Areas (EBMs). As of 2009, approximately 16,000 km2 (6,200 sq mi) of
the region has been designated as protected areas (in a form called conservancies[7]), and
3,000 km2 (1,200 sq mi) as BMTAs. Commercial timber harvesting and commercial hydro-
electric power projects are prohibited within BMTAs.[8][9]

The Great Bear Rainforest extends from the Discovery Islands in the south to the BC-Alaska
boundary in the north. It includes all offshore islands within this range except Vancouver Island
and the archipelago of Haida Gwaii. Its northern end reaches up Portland Canal to the vicinity of
Stewart. To the south it includes Prince Rupert, most of Douglas Channel, half of Hawkesbury
Island, and part of Gardner Canal. Kitimat is outside the region, to the east. Farther south, the
region includes all of the coast west and south of the Fiordland Conservancy, Kitlope Heritage
Conservancy Protected Area, Tweedsmuir North and Tweedsmuir South Provincial Parks—
which includes Dean Channel, Burke Channel, Rivers Inlet, and the communities of Bella Bella,
Bella Coola, and Hagensborg. The southern end of the region includes Knight Inlet and Bute
Inlet.[10][11]

Ecology

A Kermode bear from the Great Bear Rainforest

The Great Bear Rainforest is one of the largest remaining tracts of unspoiled temperate rainforest
left in the world.[12] The area is home to species such as cougars, wolves, salmon, grizzly bears,
and the Kermode ("spirit") bear, a unique subspecies of the black bear, in which one in ten cubs
displays a recessive white coloured coat.

The forest features 1,000-year-old western red cedar and 90-metre Sitka spruce.[13]

Coastal temperate rainforests are characterized by their proximity to both ocean and mountains.
Abundant rainfall results when the atmospheric flow of moist air off the ocean collides with
mountain ranges. Much of the Pacific coastline of North America shares this climate pattern,
including portions of Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and Northern California.