Rare stretch of British Columbia rainforest set aside for permanent protection

Rare stretch of British Columbia rainforest set aside for permanent protection

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Located in the Selkirk Mountains, the Incomappleux Valley is a rare 1,000-year-old interior temperate rainforest.

The Incomappleux River Valley is a vast and largely untouched area of ​​rare inland temperate rainforest, a unique ecosystem found in only one of the few regions on Earth. These forests contain some ancient trees ranging from 800 to 1,500 years old.
The Incomappleux River Valley is a vast and largely untouched area of ​​rare inland temperate rainforest, a unique ecosystem found in only one of the few regions on Earth. These forests contain some ancient trees ranging from 800 to 1,500 years old. Photo by Paul Zizka

The province has committed to protecting the remaining untouched fringes of rare inland temperate rainforest in the Incomappleux Valley, east of Revelstoke, in an agreement brokered by the Nature Conservancy of Canada.

The agreement, launched by Prime Minister David Eby and Environment Minister George Heyman in Victoria on Wednesday, calls for the protection of 750 square kilometers of the valley, 580 square kilometers as official conservation and 170 square kilometers as a restricted development zone.

Nestled in the Selkirk Mountains 18 miles east of Revelstoke, the valley is scarred by logging along its lower reaches, but its upper reaches bordering Glacier National Park include 1,000-year-old virgin stands of western red cedar and fir. which are home to endangered wildlife species, including grizzly bears and mountain caribou.

“Incomappleux is one of the greatest treasures,” Eby said. “It is home to ancient cedars and four-meter-diameter hemlock trees,” which the 6-foot-5-inch prime minister quipped is “two of me to a side.”

And it’s home to 250 species, including rare lichens and rare bats. Eby characterized the conservancy as “one of the most important protected areas established in the province in a decade.”

Conservation groups, including the Valhalla Wilderness Society, have campaigned for decades to protect the Incomappleux and raised the issue with Environment Minister George Heyman “continuously almost from the first day I held this position,” he said.

Incomappleux Valley was one of nine old-growth areas identified for immediate deferral under the province’s old-growth strategic review and former forestry minister Doug Donaldson set aside 440 square kilometers to be considered for more formal protection.

The Incomappleux River Valley is a vast and largely untouched area of ​​rare inland temperate rainforest, a unique ecosystem found in only one of the few regions on Earth. These forests contain some ancient trees ranging from 800 to 1,500 years old.
The Incomappleux River Valley is a vast and largely untouched area of ​​rare inland temperate rainforest, a unique ecosystem found in only one of the few regions on Earth. These forests contain some ancient trees ranging from 800 to 1,500 years old. Photo by Paul Zizka

The Nature Conservancy of Canada weighed in on the discussions in 2018, acknowledging that it could play a role as “facilitator and collaborator (to) bring industry, governments and nations together”, according to Nancy Newhouse, vice president of the BC organization.

The conservancy is well known for negotiating the purchase of private land for conservation, but Newhouse said it also works with companies to preserve connected ecosystems on public lands.

In this case, the conservation group raised $4 million through Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Nature Canada fund, mining company Teck Resources, and two private foundations, the Washington, DC-based Wyss Foundation and the Seattle-based one. Wilburforce Foundation.

And the Interfor logging company relinquished its logging rights within the valley under logging licenses in exchange for payment under the terms of the agreement.

Newhouse described the initiative as “a very important project in terms of alignment with the global biodiversity framework,” under which Canada has committed to conserving 30 percent of its land as a means of protecting biodiversity.

From the perspective of regional First Nations, establishing conservancy means that “we are entering perhaps what should be just a springboard to improve what is actually happening” in their traditional territories, said Kukpi7, James Toma of Skw’ . lax te Secwépemcúlecw Nation.

However, while large parts of Incomappleux with significant ecological values ​​are protected, much of the valley “is completely logged,” said forest ecologist Rachel Holt.

Holt, who served on former Prime Minister John Horgan’s panel of old-growth experts, said groups have fought to preserve those high-value areas of Incomappleux for a long time, “which should have been, without a doubt,” under the existing policy.

“However, great conservation is a positive step that will allow restoration of those ecosystems to happen,” Holt said. “That’s all good.”

As a first step, Holt said protecting Incomappleux was a relatively easy decision because there was a rock slide about a decade ago that cut off road access to much of the valley “so it wasn’t about to be logged.”

The Incomappleux River Valley is a vast and largely untouched area of ​​rare inland temperate rainforest, a unique ecosystem found in only one of the few regions on Earth. These forests contain some ancient trees ranging from 800 to 1,500 years old.
The Incomappleux River Valley is a vast and largely untouched area of ​​rare inland temperate rainforest, a unique ecosystem found in only one of the few regions on Earth. These forests contain some ancient trees ranging from 800 to 1,500 years old. Photo by Paul Zizka

He added that Incomappleux is bordered by other landscapes that have equally high value as habitat where he hoped existing policy could also be used to reduce logging.

“What we have to do now is move these concepts forward and make some of the tougher decisions,” Holt said.

Throughout the province, “all the valley floors, all the different low-elevation ecosystems are very underrepresented in our protected areas,” Holt said.

“And that’s where the tough decisions are going to be to protect old growth that is absolutely irretrievable,” Holt said.

The Incomappleux River Valley is a vast and largely untouched area of ​​rare inland temperate rainforest, a unique ecosystem found in only one of the few regions on Earth. These forests contain some ancient trees ranging from 800 to 1,500 years old. photo by Paul Zizka
The Incomappleux River Valley is a vast and largely untouched area of ​​rare inland temperate rainforest, a unique ecosystem found in only one of the few regions on Earth. These forests contain some ancient trees ranging from 800 to 1,500 years old. photo by Paul Zizka jpg

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