The North Coast area covers 1.95
million hectares encompassing the North Coast Forest District which includes
Provincial Parks, recreation areas, Tree Farm License 25 and the North Coast
Timber Supply Area (TSA). The North Coast area is about half the
size of Vancouver Island.
Total population of the
area is approximately 21,000 residents (1991), of which 16,620 (nearly 80%) live
in Prince Rupert. Other communities in the North Coast include Port
Edward, Lax Kw'alaams (Port Simpson), Kitkatla, Hartley Bay, Metlakatla,
Kincolith, Lakalzap (Greenville), Alice Arm, Kitsault and Oona River.
A number
of parks exist within the North Coast area. The largest Provincial
Park is the Khutzeymateen Grizzly Bear Reserve (44,300 ha) which is
located northeast of Prince Rupert. Other smaller Provincial
Parks include Diana Lake, Prudhomme Lake, Green Inlet and Kitson
Island. There are also three marine parks including
Klewnuggit Inlet, Union Passage and Lowe Inlet Provincial Park as
well as ecological reserves throughout the North Coast.
These parks and protected areas provide popular tourism destinations
as well as valuable wildlife habitat and recreation resources.
Work Channel - photo by Bob Cuthbert, NCFD
The North Coast Forest
District contains 3 different biogeoclimatic zones including Coastal
Western Hemlock, Mountain Hemlock and Alpine Tundra. The most
common of these zones within the district is the Coastal Western
Hemlock with 7 different subzone variations throughout this diverse
area.
The North Coast also
contains a number of wildlife species including Kermode bears,
grizzly bears, marbled murrelets, Keen's long-eared myotis, and the
horned puffin.
Recreational
opportunities are abundant in the North Coast area. Visitors from
all over North America and Europe come to the North Coast for
halibut and salmon fishing, pleasure boating, sea-kayaking and
wildlife viewing, hunting, camping, hiking and scuba-diving.
The North Coast has a
number of transportation links with Prince Rupert being the
administrative hub of the region and the terminus for both the
Alaska Ferry (from Ketchikan) and BC Ferries, from Port Hardy on
Vancouver Island and Skidegate in the Queen Charlotte Islands.
Prince Rupert also has an airport (located on Digby Island) and is
the western terminus for the CN Railway. VIA Rail provides
service to and from Jasper, Alberta, three times a week, with an
overnight stay in Prince George. The Yellowhead Highway
(Highway 16) connects Prince Rupert with Terrace, Smithers, Prince
George and the rest of the province.
A Closer Look at the North
Coast Forest District
The North Coast
Forest District stretches from Klemtu in the south to near Stewart
in the north and is approximately 400 kilometers long by 90
kilometres wide. It is characterized by steep, rugged terrain
and numerous narrow inlets.
This map gives a
snapshot of the available forest for harvesting in the North Coast
Forest District. Only 6% of the North Coast Forest District is
considered operable or available for logging over a 100 year
rotation.
Maps like this, created
from digital topographic data and inventory information, are being
used in ongoing Land and Resource Management Plans throughout the
province. Comprehensive and current inventories of resource
use are essential for this process.
(Double
click on the map to view a larger version of this map).
How is the Land Being
Used?
The North Coast TSA
The North Coast Timber
Supply Area (TSA) covers 1,947,531 ha, however, 94% of this is not
available for public forest management. This is due to
factors such as the presence of rock, ice and alpine, or because it
is an environmentally sensitive area, private land or an inoperable
area.
The remaining 6%
of the TSA (114,000 ha) is all that is available for long-term
integrated forest management. Already, under the Forest
Practices Code, part of this 6 percent will be protected as
sensitive areas, Riparian Management Areas and Wildlife Tree
Patches. The protection of biodiversity, wildlife and their
associated habitats remains an important consideration in all forest
development plans.
In the southern
portion of the North Coast Forest District, on Princess Royal
Island, there is a resident Black Bear population with a unique
appearance. A genetic mutation, occurring within this
population, produces a white color variation in the fur. Hence, this
coastal Black Bear will have individuals with white colored coats.
These bears are not albino but merely Black bears with white fur.
Since the bears were seldom seen by the public over the years, they
have often been called “ghost bears” or “spirit bears”.
The
scientific name is Ursus Americanus Kermodei, or Kermode Bear, after
past director of the Royal British Columbia Museum, Frank Kermode.
Kermode Bear - Photo by Kevin
Hill, NCFD
Next
Steps: Sustaining the North Coast Rainforest
Landscape Unit
Planning
Landscape Unit Planning
has now begun in the North Coast. This process is a joint effort
between the Ministry of Forests and the Ministry of Environment,
Lands and Parks. The intent of this regional strategy is to
provide a focus for integrating resource management activities and
conservation measures. Landscape units are areas of land
and water for planning resource management activities over the long
term.
Land and Resource
Management Planning
The Central Coast Land
and Resource Management Plan (LRMP) started in the summer of 1997.
A portion of the North Coast Forest District, Princess Royal Island
and Block 5 of Tree Farm License 25, is included in the Central
Coast LRMP.
The comprehensive Land
and Resource Management planning process will involve First Nations,
environmental groups, industry, communities, government,
recreationists and others who strive to make recommendations on land
use which meet the needs of all interests. Land and Resource
Management Plans are completed or underway in 12 other areas of
British Columbia.
The North Coast Forest
District is scheduled to begin its own LRMP over the next few years,
following the completion of other plans elsewhere in the Prince
Rupert Forest Region.
Protected Areas
Strategy
The North Coast Forest
District has 52,873 ha in existing protected areas. One of
these areas is the Khutzeymateen Provincial Park and grizzly bear
reserve. Through the Protected Areas Strategy (PAS), other
areas with high cultural, wildlife habitat, recreational and/or
visual values are being considered for permanent protection from
development or harvesting.
Forest Practices Code
Under the new
"Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act", all forest
companies are now expected to be in full compliance with the code by
1997, and enforcement teams are now in place to ensure this is
happening. The British Columbia Forest Practices Code is one
of the most environmentally sensitive and comprehensive pieces of
forest practices legislation in the world.
Cooperation with
First Nations
All First Nations in the
North Coast TSA have filed land claims and are concerned with
current and future land use activities and the impacts that these
activities may have on the forest environment.
In the North Coast area,
locations with significant wildlife, environmental, recreational,
cultural/archaeological and visual quality are identified and forest
management then adjusted to maintain the identified values. As
well, Traditional Use Studies are underway and the Ministry of
Forests is continually carrying out consultation on various levels
of planning with First Nations. The Ministry of Forests
is encouraging forest companies to enter into joint venture
agreements with First Nations of the North Coast. |
The
remaining AAC is apportioned to Forest Service Reserve. In addition
Western Forest Products
has a portion of their Tree
Farm Licence 25 in the North Coast covered under Block 5. 
