Globally unique rainforest
In British Columbia, it's not only the coastal forests that are wet. When air masses hit the westside of the Rockies they spill their pent up moisture in a big way, creating the only Inland Temperate Rainforest on Earth.
Inland temperate rainforest
Hundreds of miles inland from the fabled rain-drenched coast of British Columbia, wet weather systems from the Pacific Ocean collide with the Columbia and Rocky Mountains to create a globally unique forest ecosystem that has come to be known as the Inland Temperate Rainforest.
Covering 40 million acres, and stretching 700 miles in a broad arc from central Idaho to Prince George, the Inland Temperate Rainforest support forests that rival the richness and diversity of BC’s renowned coastal stands.
High humidity, heavy rainfall, and deep snow result in lush, green valleys cloaked with red cedar and western hemlock, some over 1,000 years old. These magnificent “legacy stands,” generally found in lower elevations, shade a diverse understory of shrubs, herbs, ferns, mosses, and lichens.
The Inland Temperate Rainforest is also birthplace of two of the mightiest and most important watersheds in North America and the world—the Columbia and Fraser Rivers. The free-flowing Fraser still supports massive runs of wild salmon, including the world-famous Adams and Horsefly Rivers and Quesnel Lake sockeye salmon.
Higher up the steep mountainsides park-like Englemann spruce-subalpine fir forests shade azalea, rhododendron, and a wide variety of berries. Fire-prone lodgepole pine forests are found on drier slopes. Above it all tower the rocky crags and ridges that attract hikers and climbers from around the world to this very special place.
Abundant life
For centuries the Inland Temperate Rainforest has provided food and shelter for First Nations peoples. It is a source of abundant fish and wildlife, clean drinking water for dozens of communities, and recreational opportunities and spiritual renewal for thousands of residents, Canadian and American citizens and overseas visitors.
The ecosystem supports 100s of unique species of invertebrates, plants, and lichens. And dozens of larger animals, including moose, elk, wolves, wolverine, marten, fisher, lynx, bats, mountain goats, and many other animals in addition to some of the last inland watersheds where grizzly bears still feed on wild ocean-going salmon. The clear, glacial streams, lakes, and wetlands harbor an incredible diversity of fish, amphibians, and other aquatic life, including threatened bull trout and land-locked kokanee salmon. It is also home to the endangered mountain caribou, a variety of woodland caribou found nowhere else in the world.
At risk, but change is in the air
Logging, road-building, and flooding from dams have radically changed these once unbroken forests, making them less hospitable for caribou and likely for many other species as well. But a recovery plan for the rare mountain caribou spells some relief for key parts of the Inland Temperate Rainforest.
