The Central Coast of British Columbia is home to a vast and glorious land of untouched beauty. Islands thick with ancient cedars and turbulent rivers teeming with wild salmon, rare white bears, swimming wolves, stellar seals, orca whales and numerous other rare and unique species of both plant and animal.

   These are the ancestral homes to indigenous peoples, such as the Kitasoo and Xai' xais who have been the guardians and protectors of this unique and untouched temperate rainforest for thousands of years. Their existence both culturally as well as economically has been dependent on the sea. Not only for sustenance and travel, these waters have also provided a barrier to the outside world. 

   Recently named the Great Bear Rainforest and stretching for more than 250 miles along the central coast of British Columbia the 21 million acre wilderness is often called the Galapagos of the North. Known for being one of most bio-diverse places on the planet, this one of a kind ecosystem has now become the center of an environmental crisis. 

   In the Great Bear Rainforest, bears fish for salmon during the fall spawning runs. Their preference is for the calorie rich eggs, and so the remaining uneaten parts of the  fish are left for scavengers such as eagles and wolves. What bits of salmon that are still left behind quickly decay to become rich fertilizer for the trees and plants. In turn, the fruits and seeds from these plants feed the bears and other animals and birds during the rest of the year...and so the cycle continues. If there is no salmon, there are no bears or wolves, and without the bear and wolves there can be no forest. Salmon and herring eggs also produce a food source for the marine life, as well. So the health and welfare of the entire Great Bear ecosystem is dependent on the entire system working in harmony. Just one change can create an unfathomable disaster.

   Please come and meet the inhabitants of the Great Bear Rainforest and enjoy the beauty of this incredible land.

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We wish to thank: Ian McAllister and Pacific Wild, the Kitasoo Xai'xais Band Council, Raincoast Conservation Foundation, Spirit Bear Lodge, and the myriad of other groups and organizations who we have quoted or used images from on these pages. Your undying dedication and hard work towards the protection of the Great Bear Rainforest and the First Nations Bands is commendable and appreciated.