| High
in the Rocky Mountains of Mount Robson Provincial Park, trickles
of glacier-fed water flow together to form the humble beginnings
of the mighty Fraser River. These waters will flow approximately
1370 km over widely varied terrain, from the rugged Rocky Mountain
Trench through the gently rolling Interior Plateau and into the
Fraser Valley on the lower mainland before finally pouring into
the ocean at Vancouver.
Location of
the Fraser River drainage basin (green) and the Fraser Headwaters
study area (outlined in red) within British Columbia.
The Fraser
River watershed is a complex system that provides many ecosystem
services: clean drinking water for its many human inhabitants,
spawning grounds for salmon, critical habitat for many other species,
and cultural and heritage areas. The health of the river is dependent
on the health of the ecosystems through which it flows-mountains,
forests, and plains. The Fraser Headwaters, birthplace of the
river, is a critical part of the watershed; what happens here
will affect ecosystems downstream.
Working with
the Fraser Headwaters Alliance, a non-profit grassroots conservation
organization based in the Robson Valley, the Silva Forest Foundation
prepared landscape-level ecosystem-based mapping for 1.3 million
hectares (13,000 km2) in east-central British Columbia close to
the BC-Alberta border. The study area runs approximately parallel
to the Rocky Mountain Trench, stretching from Valemount in the
southeast to Sinclair Mills in the northwest, and from the height
of land in the Rocky Mountains down across the trench and up to
the height of land in the Columbia Mountains.
The project
was exciting for a number of reasons. First, maintaining the health
of the headwaters is critical to ensuring the ecological integrity
of the Fraser River, one of the last large salmon-spawning rivers
in North America. Secondly, the headwaters is surrounded by a
number of large protected areas: Mount Robson, Willmore, and Kakwa
Wilderness Provincial Parks, and Jasper National Park to the northeast
in the Rocky Mountains; and Bowron Lake, Cariboo Mountains, and
Wells Gray Provincial Parks to the southwest in the Columbia Mountains.
As presently configured, these parks are not sufficient to protect
the ecological functioning of the Fraser Headwaters, but if connected
through a network of smaller core reserves and corridors, they
provide the ideal starting point for ecosystem-based management.
Finally, this was the first project undertaken by the Silva Forest
Foundation over such a large area. Ecosystem-based planning is
a nested approach undertaken at multiple scales. The Fraser Headwaters
provides the opportunity to integrate ecosystem-based plans done
at different spatial scales because SFF has previously completed
ecosystem-based mapping for two watershed areas of approximately
100,000 hectares each within the larger Fraser Headwaters area.
Six maps were
produced as part of the Fraser Headwaters analysis and plan:
(Note that the detail of the original, full format
(45" x 36") maps is not visible on the web versions.)
Map
1: The Fraser Headwaters highlights the topography of
the area and illustrates the very rugged mountainous landscape.
One-third of the area lies above treeline; a further third is
composed of high elevation forests. Cold climate, heavy snowfalls,
thin soils, and steep terrain are major ecological limits.
Map
2: Landscape Diversity shows the distribution of forest
types in the Fraser Headwaters. The highest diversity is found
at lower elevations within the Rocky Mountain Trench. Most of
the side valleys are less diverse, although exceptions to this
pattern occur in a few places, such as the Raush River Valley.
Map
3a: Ecological Risk In Detail and Map3b:
Ecological Risk In Summary show areas with high
sensitivity to disturbance, such as wetlands, steep slopes, high
quality caribou habitat, and riparian ecosystems. Over 70% of
the study area was identified as high ecological risk.
Map
4: Antique and Old Growth Forests highlights the location
of the oldest forest stands within the Fraser Headwaters. Over
60% of the forests are old growth. The oldest of these forests,
located in very humid locations at low elevations, are termed
antique forests. Unique to British Columbia, and perhaps North
America as a whole, antique forests function as biological storehouses
and centres of dispersion of biological diversity.
Map
5: Human Disturbance shows the extent of human activity
on the landscape, including past and planned logging, roads, railroads,
and cleared and private land.
Map
6: Protected Areas Network (PAN) synthesizes the information
and analysis presented in Maps 1-5. The PAN shows those areas
that must be set aside in order to protect ecosystem functioning
at the landscape level. The PAN includes two main components:
Proposed Full Protection and Proposed Conservation Emphasis.
The Proposed
Full Protection areas include a corridor along the Rocky Mountain
Trench protecting the antique forests, and two major linkages
connecting the Rocky and Columbia Mountains across the trench.
The first linkage runs from the Raush River valley across the
Fraser and up the Chalco Creek drainage. The second linkage includes
the Goat River and the lower Morkill River watersheds. These linkages
promote movement through the Fraser Headwaters area and between
the large protected areas that border it on both sides.
The Proposed
Conservation Emphasis areas buffer the Full Protection areas and
provide additional connectivity in the landscape. Although they
do not require full protection, more stringent ecosystem-based
guidelines for human use will need to be developed for these areas.
Several main Conservation Emphasis areas were identified: a long
corridor extending the length of the Rocky Mountain Trench, which
will facilitate species movement along the Fraser; and a loop
following the lower Morkill, upper McGregor, and lower Torpy Rivers,
which will maintain the flow of energy between the McGregor and
Fraser River systems.
Areas that
fall outside the PAN require further ecosystem-based planning
at the watershed level. Such planning has already been carried
out by the Silva Forest Foundation for two watershed units within
the Fraser Headwaters: Horsey Creek/Small River/Kiwa Creek, and
Raush River. Human use zoning and more detailed planning can now
proceed in these two areas, while further planning at the watershed
level needs to be carried out in all areas not protected within
the PAN.
The Fraser
Headwaters Alliance (FHA) and SFF plan to present the maps and
report this fall to local community groups, First Nations, and
government agencies. The Ministry of Forests in the Robson Valley
district is currently undertaking an Enhanced Forest Management
Pilot Project. FHA has been invited to present this project as
one possible future scenario. The project also falls within the
boundary of the Yellowstone to Yukon (Y2Y) project and may therefore
contribute to protected areas planning at even broader scales.
What does
the future hold for the Fraser Headwaters? Ultimately, maintaining
the ecological integrity of the Fraser Headwaters will depend
on the commitment of local communities to adopt an ecosystem-based
approach and adapt it to local values and needs.
- text written by Jeanine Rhemtulla
The Fraser
Headwaters project was funded by the Lazar Foundation, W. Alton
Jones Foundation, Tides Canada Foundation, and Wilburforce Foundation. |
