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34-575: While the exact boundaries are variously defined, the region is generally defined to include the 15 regional districts that have coastline along the Pacific Ocean or Salish Sea , or are part of the Lower Mainland , a subregion of the British Columbia Coast. Other boundaries may exclude parts of or even entire regional districts, such as those of the aforementioned Lower Mainland . While

68-429: A municipality , and in certain regional affairs of shared concern between residents of unincorporated areas and those in the municipalities such as a stakeholder role in regional planning . In those predominantly rural areas, regional districts provide services such as land use planning , building inspection , solid- waste management , and some responsibility for community fire protection . Most land nominally within

102-423: A geographic region with specific boundaries and governmental authority. As of January 2020, there were 28 regional districts in the province . Regional districts should not be confused with counties of British Columbia , which function as court house boundaries solely for the administration of justice. Regional districts came into being as an order of government in 1965 with the enactment of amendments to

136-559: A regional district is under the control of the provincial government, or in the case of national parks and offshore waters, the federal government. Indian reserves located within the boundaries of regional districts are likewise excluded from their jurisdiction and infrastructure, and there are varying levels of collaboration between First Nations governments and regional district boards. Regional districts are governed by boards of directly and indirectly elected directors. Municipalities appoint directors to represent their populations (usually

170-503: A total cargo volume of 76.5 million metric tons. By the same metric, the Port of Vancouver is also the fifth largest commercial shipping port in North America. The Port of Prince Rupert possesses the deepest ice-free natural harbour in North America, and the 3rd deepest natural harbour in the world. Situated at 54° North, the harbour is the northwesternmost port in North America linked to

204-486: Is connected to the rest of B.C by various roads depending on the region. The populous Fraser Valley and Lower Mainland is linked to the rest of the province by Highway 1 (Fraser Canyon Highway), Highway 5 (Coquihalla Freeway), Highway 3 (Crowsnest Highway) and Highway 99 (Sea to Sky Highway). The Lower Mainland is also connected to the U.S. by four highway border crossings with the Peace Arch on Interstate 5 being

238-413: Is considerably wider than the upper part of the fjord at about 10 km (6.2 mi) in width and is itself about 60 km (37 mi) in length. Fitz Hugh Sound passes on the inside of Calvert Island and opens onto Queen Charlotte Sound just northwest of the opening of Queen Charlotte Strait . Opening onto Fitz Hugh Sound in its lower reaches near Queen Charlotte Sound is Rivers Inlet , home of

272-400: Is no north–south highway linking the coastal communities of the province between Port Hardy and Kitimat . Instead, travellers utilize one of the coastal ferry lines operated by BC Ferries . The exceptions are Bella Coola is accessible by a long largely gravel Highway 20 from the B.C interior over a high pass; and the towns of Terrace , Prince Rupert and Kitimat which is assessed from

306-716: The British Columbia Ministry of Forests , which uses an ecosystem classification system independent of the WWF and ECCC , the BC Coast is part of two distinct biogeoclimatic zones: Coastal Western Hemlock and Coastal Douglas-fir . Below are the 15 regional districts of British Columbia defined as being in the Coast region: The fishery of the Pacific Northwest Coast is legendary, especially for its many salmon runs and

340-633: The Wuikinuxv (Owekeeno) First Nations . The total length of the fjord from the head of Dean Channel to the mouth of Fitz Hugh Sound is about 170 km (110 mi) rivalling Hardangerfjord in Norway for length. If the additional lengths of South Bentinck Arm (45 km, 28 mi) and North Bentinck Arm (30 km, 19 mi), plus Burke Channel and its shorter companion, Labouchere Channel (15 km, 9.3 mi), and an arm of Burke named Kwatna Inlet (25 km, 16 mi) were factored in, total length of

374-473: The 15 regional districts that have territory in this region. Among locals, the British Columbia Coast can further be divided into seven major subregions: Research from the 1990s has indicated that the Ice Age-era coastline of the British Columbia Coast was lower by about 100 m (330 ft). The effect of the sea level on the coastline was such that Queen Charlotte Sound , which is between Haida Gwaii and

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408-667: The B.C. interior on Highway 16 . Haida Gwaii has an extension of Highway 16 on it, one of Haida Gwaii's few paved roads. The sheltered waterways of the British Columbia Coast form part of the Inside Passage , a coastal maritime route along which vessels navigate to avoid the rough waters and bad weather of the open North Pacific . As such, the maritime route is heavily trafficked by cruise ships , cargo ships , ferries , and other marine vessels. BC Ferries , an independently managed publicly-owned company , operates scheduled daily crossings between major population centres throughout

442-536: The BC Coast is part of five distinct ecoregions: Puget lowland forests , Central Pacific coastal forests , British Columbia mainland coastal forests , Haida Gwaii coastal forests , and Pacific Coastal Mountain icefields and tundra . According to the ecozone system used by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), the BC Coast is part of four distinct ecozones: Pacific Coastal Mountains , Coastal Western Hemlock-Sitka Spruce Forests , Pacific and Nass Ranges , and Strait of Georgia/Puget Lowland . According to

476-427: The British Columbia Coast. Dozens of smaller ferries ply lesser routes within and between these regions. The Alaska Marine Highway also operates nonstop ferry service through the British Columbia Coast along its Bellingham-Ketchikan route. The Port of Vancouver is the largest commercial shipping port in all of Canada and along the entire Pacific Ocean / Pacific coast of North America by metric tons , which handles

510-534: The Island. Although the Sunshine Coast is on the mainland it is connected to the highway network only by ferries. It has one route which is Highway 101 , a narrow curvy 2 lane road split in two by a ferry crossing. Texada Island , a large island off the Sunshine Coast and has its own network of highway standard roads although they are unnumbered. Owing to the challenging topography of the British Columbia Coast, there

544-551: The Municipal Act. Until the creation of regional districts, the only local form of government in British Columbia was incorporated municipalities, and services in areas outside municipal boundaries had to be sought from the province or through improvement districts. Similar to counties in other parts of Canada, regional districts serve only to provide municipal services as the local government in areas not incorporated into

578-468: The continent's railway network. The port is the first inbound and last outbound port of call for some cargo ships travelling between eastern Asia and western North America since it is the closest North American port to key Asian destinations. Regional district In the province of British Columbia in Canada, a regional district is an administrative subdivision of the province that consists of

612-408: The cultures that built on top of them throughout the region. Salmon runs have greatly diminished since pre-Contact years and the advent of commercial canning and, ultimately, depletion of stocks by high-seas fishing. Other commercial fisheries include halibut , herring and herring roe, sea urchin and other specialty sushis , hake , haddock , cod , crab and shellfish. The Coast Region of B.C

646-556: The entire Canadian coastline. This coastal geography is shared with the neighbouring U.S. states of Alaska and Washington . The dominant landforms are the Insular Mountains of Vancouver Island and Haida Gwaii , and the Coast Mountains that stretch along the entire length of the coast. The proximity of these mountains to the coast produce fjords that rival those of Norway in length and depth. Several large Islands fill

680-539: The environment – rich in seafood , wild game , and greenery – combined with the ease of travel (by water) is seen in all cases (British Columbia, Denmark , Greece ) to have generated a dynamic and gifted civilization. And there are comparisons to be made between the artistic and political and social level of the Pacific Northwest Peoples and those of pre-Conversion pagan Scandinavia, Ireland and Archaic-Era Greece. The British Columbia Coast stretches from

714-460: The fjord complex's waterways is 335 km (208 mi) - longer than Sognefjord 's 203 km (126 mi) and rivalling Greenland 's Scoresby Sound 's 350 km (220 mi). A side-inlet of Burke Channel, North Bentinck Arm , is noteworthy as the place where the overland expedition by fur trade explorer Alexander Mackenzie reached the sea, on July 20, 1793. Wanting to see the open ocean, Mackenzie and four Nuxalk people went by canoe

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748-537: The foothills of the Pacific Ranges . Higher elevations feature a subpolar oceanic climate ( Köppen : Cfc) with cool summers, cold winters, and constant rainfall that peaks during the winter months. The highest elevations feature a subarctic climate ( Köppen : Dfc). The British Columbia Coast is dominated by temperate rainforest . According to the ecoregion system used by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF),

782-721: The largest. Several freeways connect lower mainland communities together. The backbone of Vancouver Island's highway network is the Highway 19 which along with a portion of Highway 1 forms the Island Highway . The Island highway is a mix of 4-lane freeway, 4 lane arterial highway and 2 lane highway running roughly along the east shore of Vancouver Island. Access to the west coast of Vancouver Island can be accomplished by crossing mountain passes on Highway 4 to Tofino and Highway 28 to Gold River . Thousands of other roads ranging from small freeways near Victoria to logging roads exist all over

816-557: The main rivers of the Coast Mountains , enters Dean Channel about 9.5 km (5.9 mi) below the head of the inlet, at the community of Kimsquit . Dean Channel was named by Captain Vancouver in 1793 after Rev. James King , Dean of Raphoe , Ireland. The channel was surveyed by Captain Richards in 1861 of HMS Hecate . It is located within the Central Coast region . Ending at

850-493: The mayors), while residents of unincorporated areas (which are grouped into electoral areas ) elect directors directly. The votes of directors from municipalities generally count more than the votes of directors from electoral areas, and larger municipalities have more votes than smaller ones. For example, both North Saanich and Metchosin appoint one director to the Capital Regional District board of directors, but

884-485: The mouth of Cousins Inlet, which is the harbour for the abandoned town of Ocean Falls , the fjord's name changes to Fisher Channel down the west side of King Island . Below Fisher Channel's 40 km (25 mi) length the fjord merges with Burke Channel, which is a 70 km (43 mi) arm of the Dean/Fisher Channel on the east side of King Island, the name of the fjord changes to Fitz Hugh Sound , which

918-476: The next day to Dean Channel. Mackenzie did not reach the open ocean, stopping at the ruins of an old Heiltsuk village on the north side of Dean Channel. There he wrote his name on a rock, which today is part of Sir Alexander Mackenzie Provincial Park . Mackenzie did not know that he arrived just a few weeks after Captain George Vancouver visited Dean Channel and North Bentinck Arm. The town of Bella Coola

952-458: The northern end of Vancouver Island, was a coastal plain, as were all the straits inland from it, except for those that were mountain valleys. Underwater archaeology has shown the presence of permanent human habitations and other activity at the 100 m (330 ft) contour, and the Ice Age existence of such a coastal plain has put a new light on Ice Age populations in North America as well as on

986-474: The southern tip of Vancouver Island along the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the community of Stewart at the head of Portland Canal . The aerial distance between these two points is approximately 954 km (593 mi). However, due to its deeply incised coastline and over 40,000 islands of varying sizes, the total length of the British Columbia Coast is over 25,725 km (15,985 mi), or approximately 10% of

1020-506: The strait between Vancouver Island and the Mainland with Texada Island , Cortes Island and Salt Spring Island being the largest in size. Fjords of note include Burrard Inlet , Burke Channel , Howe Sound , Jervis Inlet , Desolation Sound , Dean Channel , Douglas Channel , and Portland Inlet . The BC Coast is dominated by a moderate oceanic climate ( Köppen : Cfb) with warm summers, cool winters, and constant rainfall that peaks during

1054-651: The strong likelihood of this area having been the major migration route from (and perhaps to) Asia . The heavy indentation and mild climate of the British Columbia Coast have led to inevitable comparisons with the geography's predisposition to encouraging increased human settlement and movement as well as cultural foment and population growth in the Aegean, the Irish Sea/Hebrides and in the Danish Archipelago and adjoining Scandinavian coasts. The natural fecundity of

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1088-426: The term British Columbia Coast has been recorded from the earliest period of non-native settlement in British Columbia, it has never been officially defined in legal terms. The term has historically been in popular usage for over a century to describe a region of the province that extends west from the Coast Mountains and North Cascades . This definition makes the term British Columbia Coast largely synonymous with

1122-552: The vote of North Saanich's director counts three times as much as the vote of Metchosin's appointee. This British Columbia -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Dean Channel Dean Channel is the upper end of one of the longest inlets of the British Columbia Coast , 105 km (65.2 mi) from its head at the mouth of the Kimsquit River . The Dean River , one of

1156-455: The winter months. These areas enjoy the mildest winter weather in all of Canada, as temperatures rarely fall below freezing. The southernmost region of the coast (surrounding the Salish Sea ) features a warm-summer Mediterranean climate with warm, dry summers and cool, wet winters. This gradually transitions to a predominantly oceanic climate in the north along the coast and further inland into

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