Ministry of Environment Ecology

PART II
Ecoregion Unit Descriptions

Introduction

The following is brief introduction to the 10 Ecoprovinces, 46 Ecoregions and 116 Ecosections that occur in British Columbia (that is, all the terrestrial and marine environments of the Province, plus the oceanic environment of western Canada to the 200-mile Economic Expansion Zone). A more detailed description of the Ecoprovinces can be found in the Environment Chapter of Volume 1 of the "Birds of British Columbia" (Demarchi et al. 1990 in Campbell et al. 1990). And placing British Columbia's southern Ecoprovinces into a sub-continental framework can be found in Appendix A (Ecoprovinces of the Central North American Cordillera and Adjacent Plains) of "The Scientific Basis for Conserving Forest Carnivores: American Marten, Fisher, Lynx and Wolverine in the Western United States" (Demarchi 1994 in Ruggiero et al. 1994). A more detailed description of the Ecoregions can be found in a National Ecological Framework for Canada (Ecological Stratification Working Group 1995).

There are only four terrestrial Ecodomains in North America (Bailey 1980, 1983), and three in the surrounding oceans. British Columbia has four Ecodomains; Cool Oceanic, Humid Temperate, Dry, and Polar.

Continental or oceanic resource planning occurs at the Ecodivision level. It is similar to the attempt at Ecozone classification by Wiken (1986) and to the Ecodivision concept of Bailey (1980 and 1983). British Columbia contains components of 7 Ecodivisions.

There are 10 Ecoprovinces in British Columbia that delimit areas of similar climate or oceanography, topography, and geological history. Their size and broad internal uniformity make them ideal units for the implementation of natural resource policies. They form the framework for the discussion that follows. The Ecoprovinces are divided into 46 Ecoregions and 116 Ecosections which are at a scale and detail suitable for local resource management. Together, the 3 lower levels of classification put the ecosystems of British Columbia in a sub-continental, provincial or regional perspective.

What follows is an overview of the macroclimatic processes, landforms and their evolution, oceanography, vegetation, and representative wildlife species for each of the 10 Ecoprovinces that occur in British Columbia. Each account also includes a brief description of the Ecoregion and Ecosections levels.

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