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Bc newjpg
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America
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North America <br /> Western Canada
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--<br />
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3rd among provinces
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944,735
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364 764
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979
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21
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27,000
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16,800
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states Alaska , Washington , Idaho , Montana Canadian provinces Alberta , Yukon and Northwest Territories
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Mount Fairweather <br />4,663 m (15,299 ft)
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Pacific Ocean <br />sea level
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Fraser River <br />1,368 km (850 mi)
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Williston Lake <br /> 1,761 km<sup>2</sup> (680 sq ft)
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British Columbia is the westernmost province of
Canada , bordered by the
Pacific Ocean . It is bound on the northwest by the
U.S. State of
Alaska , directly north by
Yukon and the
Northwest Territories , on the east by
Alberta , and on the south by the U.S. states of
Washington ,
Idaho , and
Montana . The southern border of British Columbia was established by the
1846 Oregon Treaty . The province is dominated by
Mountain Range s, among them the
Canadian Rockies but dominantly the
Coast Mountains and the
Columbia Mountains . Most of the population is concentrated on the
Pacific coast, notably in the area of
Vancouver , located on the southwestern tip of the mainland.
British Columbia's capital is
Victoria , at the southeast tip of
Vancouver Island . Its most populous city is
Vancouver . Other major cities include
Surrey (the second-largest),
Burnaby ,
Coquitlam ,
Richmond ,
Delta , and
New Westminster in the
Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD);
Abbotsford ,
Langley ,
Maple Ridge ,
Mission and
Chilliwack , in the central and upper Fraser Valley;
Nanaimo on Vancouver Island; and
Kelowna and
Kamloops in the "
Interior ."
Prince George is the major city nearest the centre of the province; however, a small town called
Vanderhoof , 100 km to the west, is much nearer the geographic centre.
- Total area is 944,735 km&2
- Land area is 925,186 km&2
- Water area is 19,549 km&2 (2.1%)
The
Canadian Rockies and the
Inside Passage's Fjord s provide some of British Columbia's renowned and spectacular scenery. These landforms provide the backdrop and context for a growing outdoor adventure and
Ecotourism industry. In the southwestern corner of B.C., the Lower Fraser Valley forms a flat, fertile triangle of intensively used land. The
Okanagan is one of only three wine-growing regions in
Canada and also produces
Cider s. While exports are minimal, BC wines are highly-prized and ranked well internationally. The city of
Penticton and the small towns
Oliver , and
Osoyoos have some of the warmest summer climates in Canada, although the hottest spots are the towns of
Lillooet and
Lytton in the
Fraser Canyon . Much of
Vancouver Island is covered by a temperate
Rain Forest , one of a mere handful of such
Ecosystem s in the world (notable others being on the
Olympic Peninsula of Washington and in
Chile . One-third of the province consists of barren
Alpine Tundra ,
Icefield s, and
Glacier s.
(R), part of the
Coast Mountains as seen from the
Cheakamus Canyon ]]
The younger ranges of the Canadian Rockies were uplifted during the late all of British Columbia was covered by ice (except
Queen Charlotte Islands ).
B.C.'s Eastern Mountain System comprises of the dominering Canadian Rockies, with the
Cariboo ,
Selkirk ,
Monashee , and
Purcell ranges of the
Columbia Mountain system in the south. The Canadian Rockies incorporates the Canadian segment of the North American
Rocky Mountains Range . The southern end in Alberta and British Columbia borders Idaho and Montana of the United States. The northern end is at the
Liard Plain in British Columbia.
The Western Mountain System's
Coast Mountains are the westernmost range of the
Pacific Cordillera , running along the western shore of the North American continent, extending south from the Alaska Panhandle and covering most of coastal British Columbia. The range is covered in dense temperate rainforest on its western exposures, the range rises to heavily glaciated peaks, including the largest temperature-latitude icefields in the world, and then tapers to the dry interior plateau on its eastern flanks, or to the subarctic boreal forest of the Skeena Mountains and Stikine Plateau.
Mount Waddington (4016 m) is the highest mountain within B.C. and
Fairweather Mountain in the
Saint Elias Mountains on the B.C. and Alberta border has the highest point. Much of the B.C. coast has a fjord scenery, due to the many islands along the Pacific coast being the highest points of a partly submerged mountain range.
''Sources
Statistics Canada ,
peakbagger.com ''
(on the right half of the image) during the winter, as seen from space. The photo illustrates well the elongated lakes in B.C.]]
Fraser River forms an important transportation corridor when it drains much of central and southern British Columbia flowing to the Pacific Ocean. Other major rivers include the upper
Columbia River and the
Kootenay River . In the northern B.C. the
Stikine ,
Nass and
Skeena rivers flow toward the Pacific Ocean, and
Peace River flows northeast toward the
Arctic Ocean .
Hydroelectric resources in B.C. are highly developed with large plants along the rivers operating pulp and paper mills. The Fraser, Nass, and Skeena rivers have not been dammed in order to protect the salmon runs on them. Rivers and their valleys have for a long time provided routes through the mountains for people in B.C.
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Long, narrow lakes are found throughout the valleys of the southern and central interior. Among these are
Atlin ,
Kootenay ,
Okanagan ,
Quesnel , and
Shuswap lakes. Several high dams have impounded large reservoir lakes like
Kinbasket Lake , particularly on the Columbia (see
Hydroelectric Dams On The Columbia River ) and Peace rivers.
Williston Lake , on the Peace River, is the province’s largest freshwater body.
]]
''Source
Statistics Canada ''
''Sources
Statistics Canada ,
WLD ,
anglersatlas.com ''
More northerly portions of the province's mainland have snowy, cold winters; however, southern portions and Vancouver Island are temperate in many places, where the climate is moderated by the
Japan Current of the Pacific Ocean. In the
Interior , summer temperatures can be quite warm, even notably hot and there are large semi-arid areas and a few localities classifiable as
Pocket Deserts , including at the towns of
Osoyoos and
Lillooet . There is more than one spot in British Columbia that has recorded peak summer temperatures of 43.3 °C (110 °F) and an ongoing rivalry exists between the
Fraser Canyon towns of
Lytton and
Lillooet for the title of "Canada's Hot Spot".
There are 14 designations of parks and protected areas in the province that reflects the different administration and creation of these areas in a modern context. There are 141 ecological Reserves, 35 provincial marine parks, 7 Provincial Heritage Sites, 6 National Historic Sites, 4 National Parks and 3 National Park Reserves. 12.5% (114,000 km&
2) of BC is currently considered 'protected' under one of the 14 different designations that includes over 800 distinct areas.
British Columbia contains seven of
Canada's National Parks :
BC also contains a large network of provincial parks, run by
BC Parks of the Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection.
In addition to parks, British Columbia also protects approximately 47,000 square kilometers of agricultural land via the
Agricultural Land Reserve .
British Columbia's ecosystems are divided on five different levels, each classifying the area on a progressively more detailed basis. At the top level,
ecodomains delineate areas of broad climatic uniformity across the world. The ecodomains are then divided into
ecodivisions which delineate areas of broad climatic and physiographic uniformity. Next, the ecodivisions are divided into
ecoprovinces which consider climate, oceanography, relief and regional landforms. The ecoprovinces are then divided into
ecoregions which consider major physiographic and minor macroclimatic or oceanographic variations. Finally, the ecoregions are divided into
ecosections for minor physiographic and macroclimatic or oceanographic variations. Overall, B.C. is divided into 4 large ecodomain areas which are progressively divided down into 114 small ecosections.
- '''Coastal s of Western Hemlock , Western Redcedar , Pacific Silver (Amabilis) Fir , Yellow Cedar , Coast Douglas-fir , Grand Fir , Sitka Spruce , and Western White Pine , Bigleaf Maple , Red Alder , Sword Fern , Devil's Club , and red Huckleberry predominate on the west coast of Vancouver Island, the west coast of the mainland north of the Fraser River delta to north of Prince Rupert , farther inland along the Fraser and Skeena River Valleys, and on the Queen Charlotte Islands . This zone was the original locus of British Columbia's forest industry; and most of the trees have been harvested at least once. There has been much agitation (some successful) to protect the remaining Old Growth Forest from Logging .
- ''' of the province. It encompasses the southern and most of the eastern coastal fringe of Vancouver Island, the Fraser River delta, the Gulf Islands , and parts of the Sunshine Coast . Trees unique to this area include the Arbutus , Garry Oak , and Manzanita .
- ''' Plateau, across the southern Cariboo , and south through the Okanagan . A separate, isolated region exists in the East Kootenay . This region encompasses the Fraser Canyon , the lower Thompson River , and the Nicola and Similkameen Watershed s. It is characterised by treeless Bunchgrass Steppes , Sagebrush scrub, and open forests of Ponderosa Pine , Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir , trembling Aspen , Lodgepole Pine , and Western Larch . Much of the area is used for timber harvesting, Ranching , and Orchard -growing. The winters are cold and dry, and the summers are hot and drier.
- '''Interior in southeastern British Columbia, west of the Rockies , as well as north in the Nass and Skeena River drainages. The cool, wet winters and warm, moist summers produce the greatest plant diversity of any zone in the province. Western Hemlock and Western Redcedar predominate, but Grand Fir , Western Larch , White Spruce , Engelmann Spruce , Black Cottonwood , trembling Aspen , Western White Pine , and Subalpine Fir are also common, depending on the elevation. The dense and diverse forests make this zone the second most productive forest zone in British Columbia and Canada.
- '''Sub-Boreal ( — the Fraser and Nechako Plateaus — is characterised by severe, snowy winters and warm, short summers. This is a transitional zone between southern and northern biomes. Seral species include Lodgepole Pine , Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir , and trembling Aspen ; mature species include White and Engelmann Spruce , and Subalpine Fir . The moderately dense forests are interrupted in places by Pond s and Muskeg . The generally flat plateaus make this an active area for Logging .
- ''', Black Spruce , Lodgepole Pine , trembling Aspen , Tamarack Larch , and Paper Birch predominate among the meadows and muskeg of the Peace and Liard Plains. At higher elevations, the winters are harsher, the summers briefer, and White Spruce and Subalpine Fir give way to scrub Willow and Birch .
- : At higher elevations (above about 850 m on the southwest coast, less as one goes farther inland and north), the summers are shorter and the winters are colder. Along the coast, the lush, diverse forests give way to more uniform stands of Mountain Hemlock , Pacific Silver (Amabilis) Fir , and Yellow Cedar . These are interrupted by Subalpine Heath s, Meadow s, and Fen s. In the drier, interior regions, the higher elevations are marked by Engelmann Spruce , Subalpine Fir , Subalpine Larch , and Lodgepole Pine , the trees clumped among meadows and Grassland .
1: Cameron Young, ''The Forests of British Columbia'' (North Vancouver: Whitecap Books, 1985); R.C. Hosie, ''Native Trees of Canada'', seventh edition (Ottawa: Canadian Forestry Service, 1969)
British Columbia is divided into defined regions for three political purposes. One is for the purpose of providing local government services. This involves municipalities, which are incorporated areas, and regional districts, which are federations of member municipalities and rural areas. Another purpose is for the provision of provincial services. The provincial government has dividing certain services into regional services, such as health authorities and agricultural commissions, which administer specified regions according to their own policies. The province is also divided to provide electoral districts by Elections BC for provincial elections and Elections Canada for federal elections. In addition to these, Indian Reserves have been established throughout the province but are administered by the federal government.
In order to fund community-wide services, such as a sewer system, urban areas incorporate to form municipalities. The vast majority of British Columbians live in these municipalities but there are also large areas of unincorporated rural areas around the municipalities. In 1964 the provincial government created regional districts, through amendments to the Municipal Act, to better coordinate regional issues and provide community services to unincorporated areas. Only one area, the sparsely populated Stikine Region in northwest B.C., is not covered by a regional district. It has a population of 1,352 people but covers an area of 135,391 square kilometers with no municipalities within its borders. All the regional districts and municipalities are members of the
Union of British Columbia Municipalities
British Columbia is carved into 27 regional districts. These regional districts are federations of member municipalities and electoral areas. The unincorporated area of the regional district is carved into electoral areas. Each electoral area elects one director who sits on the Regional Board and the Electoral Area Directors Committee. The
Islands Trust acts similar to a regional district for several unincorporated islands between the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island.
The regional districts are used to provide local government services (e.g. building inspection) to unincorporated areas, sub-regional services (e.g. street bridge over a border) between two or more members, and regional services (e.g. funding the regional hospital district) required for the entire area. Also, as a collection of municipalities they are able to borrow funds for capital projects at lower interest rates.
There are 153
municipalities in British Columbia. They are divided into cities, districts, towns and villages, according to their population at the time of their
incorporation . There are also three other municipalities that were incorporated for special purposes. These are the Resort Municipality of Whistler, Sechelt Indian Government District, and Bowen Island Municipality. With the exception of the City of Vancouver all municipalities attain their legislative powers from the
Local Government Act (formerly the Municipal Act), which is being replaced, in phases, by the
Community Charter. Vancouver obtains its legislative authority from the
Vancouver Charter .
For representation in the
Legislative Assembly B.C. is carved into 79 electoral districts. Each one of these ridings elects one candidate to become its
Member Of The Legislative Assembly (MLA) in a
First Past The Post race contained within the electoral district. In the
Last General Election , in May 2005, three political parties, the
British Columbia Liberal Party ,
New Democratic Party Of British Columbia and the
Green Party Of British Columbia all ran one candidate in each electoral district while 22 other minor parties, as well as 23 independents, ran at least one candidate in an electoral district. However, the results produced a two party system wherein the two major parties, the right-wing B.C. Liberal Party and the left-wing New Democratic Party of B.C., won all the electoral districts. The B.C. Liberals have dominated provincial politics since 2001 when they won.
77 Of 79 Seats.The B.C. New Democraic Party Still Won The Other Two Ridings Left. The right-wing predecessor of the B.C. Liberal Party, the
B.C. Social Credit Party , dominated provincial politics for much of the latter part of the twentieth century. The right-wing parties draw their support from the Lower Mainland suburbs (like Langley, Abbotsford, etc.), Kelowna, Kamloops, and northeastern B.C. The New Democratic Party has traditionally drawn its support from more urbanized areas such as Vancouver and Victoria, as well as northwestern B.C, and the mining towns of the Kootenays and key areas of Vancouver Island. Swing areas include the B.C. Interior, certain urban areas within the Lower Mainland (like Surrey) and certain rural areas (like in southeastern B.C.)
