Old-growth Forest Series: British Columbia (The Great Bear Rainforest)

About the Great Bear Rainforest

Nestled between snow-capped mountains and the Pacific Ocean on the west coast of British Columbia (BC) lies the largest coastal temperate rainforest left in the world. Hundreds of lush hidden valleys hold trees so ancient and enormous that you'd expect dinosaurs to be roaming within it. Living in the Great Bear Rainforest is a treasure trove of unique species, including a rare white form of the Black Bear, known as Spirit or Kermode bears, which are found nowhere else on earth. Many other animals such as Grizzly Bears, Elk, Wolves, Cougars and a small seabird called the Marbled Murrelet (which only nests on the branches of giant old-growth trees) can also be found here. In fact, the entire ecosystem thrives on the annual run of salmon, where the fish provide food and nutrients to almost all the forest's species, including it's trees.

The ancient trees of the Great Bear Rainforest

The trees in the Great Bear Rainforest live to over 1000 years old, and grow larger than 90m tall. Most of the people on earth would find it hard to imagine trees this large, but standing at the base of one of them and looking up is something you'd never forget. It seems almost all the trees in this forest are giants, but two that stand out (literally) are the Western Red Cedar and Sitka Spruce.

Clearcut logging and a dirty oil pipeline

Clearcutting is a logging method where every tree in an area of forest is felled, leaving an expanse of dead stumps that are piled up and burnt. Unfortunately, the British Columbian Government supports the logging of old-growth forests, although they do their best at saying they're protecting all that remains. As a biologist in BC, it is always very disheartening to be studying rare wildlife in an area of old-growth, only to return a month later to see the forest has been completely levelled. There is no chance the nesting owls survived. This continues to happen in the Great Bear Rainforest.

Now there is a proposal of an oil pipeline, from Alberta's 'tar sands' to the British Columbian coast, that would run through the heart of the Great Bear Rainforest. It really isn't hard to imagine an oil spill occurring, as the area has some of the most extreme and unpredictable weather on earth, and the coastline of the rainforest has some of the roughest ocean water movements possible. Ships do sink here. Read more...

How you can help

The best way we can help British Columbia's forests is to vote for political parties striving to ban the logging of old-growth. You can also support local organisations that are really pushing for the protection of BC's old-growth (including the Great Bear Rainforest), such as the Ancient Forest Alliance, the Raincoast Conservation Foundation and The Nature Conservancy. Support these groups and you will make a difference.

Related Posts:

• Dirty oil and The Great Bear Rainforest. Is it worth the risk?
• Old-growth Forest Series: Tasmania (The Styx Valley)
• Old-growth Forest Series: Western Australia (The Wandoo Woodlands of the Wheatbelt)