Coastal Forests & Mountains of Southeast Alaska and B.C.

This ecoregion includes much of Southeast Alaska and the adjacent transboundary mountains, the islands of Haida Gwaii, the Nass Basin and the Central and North Coast regions of British Columbia. This region has a land area of 21.4 million hectares plus an additional 11 million hectares of ocean. The ecoregion is composed of a complex of three vegetation zones: alpine tundra vegetation of variable ground cover dominated by low-growing Heather, Dwarf Birch, willow, grass, and lichen at elevations above the treeline; subalpine forests of Alpine Fir, Mountain Hemlock, and some Sitka Spruce at middle elevations; and closed forests of Western Hemlock and some Sitka Spruce at warmer, more humid, lower elevations.

Mountain summits in this region range 2100-3050 m and are capped by several large ice fields that include the Grand Pacific and Llewellyn glaciers. Isolated patches of permafrost occur in mountain summits over 2500 m. Characteristic wildlife includes Grizzly and Black Bear, Mountain Goat, Wolf, Wolverine, Ptarmigan, Moose, and Spruce Grouse with Black-tailed Deer in the river valleys. Salmon stocks in this ecoregion are of continental significance.

NCC initiated an ecoregional assessment of this area in 2002 with our partners The Nature Conservancy, Alaska Field Office. Shortly after this assessment began, an opportunity to engage with the B.C. provincial government, First Nations, and other partners to complete the assessment in B.C. was presented to NCC. The Coast Information Team (CIT) was established to provide independent information for the central and north coasts of British Columbia and Haida Gwaii/Queen Charlotte Islands using the best available scientific, technical, traditional and local knowledge. The CIT was established by the Provincial Government of British Columbia, First Nations, environmental groups, the forest industry, and communities. Using our ecoregional assessment methodology, NCC led an ecosystem spatial analysis for the Haida Gwaii, Central Coast, and North Coast regions of British Columbia. This region has a land area of 11 million hectares; its sea area is another 11 million hectares. Over 95% or the land area is designated crown land and is managed by the Government of British Columbia. In addition to productive, structurally-diverse old-growth ecosystems and unique bog complexes, important ecological elements in the region include unregulated rivers supporting large populations of spawning salmon and grizzly bears, estuaries, kelp beds, seabird colonies, archipelago/fjord terrain, deep fjord and cryptodepression lakes, and intertidal flats with abundant invertebrates and resident and migratory waterbirds. Haida Gwaii is an especially significant part of the region, containing an insular biota with distinctive, disjunct, and endemic taxa.