Canada Over the Edge | S2E10 | BC's North Coast

british columbia's northern coastal region it is an epic journey from mountains of blinding ice to magnificent calm waterways leading to the open waters of the pacific mysterious mythical wildlife suddenly to turn the corner in and see a pure white black bear coastal remnants of this region's early settlers the oldest and most intact cannery on the west coast of north america and a pristine waterway that some fear is at risk now we reveal the coastlines like never before unlocking the secrets of our maritime past present and future canada over the edge [Music] the community of bella coola marks the beginning of a journey to british columbia's northern coastal region [Music] set at the western extremity of the bella kula valley on north bentic arm the region is home to 1900 people [Music] it offers sheltered anchorage to boaters and is a rare bc coastal outpost linked to the province's interior a 454 kilometer highway connects to williams lake bella coola's closest neighbor on the ground [Music] to the southeast bella kula is surrounded by the mid-coastal mountain [Music] range [Music] it is an awe-inspiring collection of rolling hills cliff faces and soaring peaks [Music] it is part of the greater coast mountain [Music] range covering nearly all of bc's marine [Music] perimeter [Music] the mountain range is 1600 kilometers long and 300 kilometers wide [Music] stretching south to the fraser river and north to the upper reaches of the alaskan panhandle [Music] higher up even sparse green vegetation is left behind on approach to the monarch ice field [Music] it is a collection of ultra rugged glacial peaks adjacent to the massive haltzek ice field [Music] together they cover more than 2 000 square kilometers snow-covered peaks stretching beyond the horizon [Music] at the center of the monarch ice field mount sogstad stands more than 2 900 meters high [Music] the first recorded ascent of mount sogstadt was in 1951 the mountaineers marveled at the hundreds of unexplored soaring peaks surrounding them [Music] looping and heading northwest we descend to the winding flowing waters of the bella kula river [Music] the river extends 70 kilometers inland draining an area of 1600 square [Music] kilometers it was part of the navigation trail used by explorer alexander mckenzie in 1793 during the first east west overland crossing of canada [Music] today it is known for salmon and steelhead fishing and for summertime recreation [Music] heading west along north bentic arm we connect with dean channel [Music] a 105 kilometer long marine passage leading to the open waters of the pacific [Music] [Music] along the way soaring peaks nearly obscure a tiny sliver of water extending inland it is cascade inlet a 20 kilometer long secluded marine hideaway it was explored and chartered in 1793 by captain george vancouver [Music] vancouver named it cascade after the many waterfalls flowing from the cliff faces lining this inlet [Music] british columbia's coastline is a rich palette of sheltered waterways [Music] tiny communities and more than forty thousand islands [Music] from land masses like vancouver island and haida gwaii [Music] to tiny rocky outcroppings [Music] northwest of cascade inlet princess royal island may be the most barren and mysterious of them all from the air it is a wonder dense forests set against lakes streams and inlets [Music] princess royal island measures more than 2 200 square kilometers it is the largest island on bc's northern coast and the fourth largest in the province the island is located 500 kilometers north of vancouver and 200 kilometers south of prince rupert [Music] it can only be reached by boat or plane [Music] the inland rainforests here are nearly untouched trees can grow for 1500 years reaching heights of more than 100 meters princess royal island is at the heart of the great bear rainforest named in honor of the kermody or spirit bear [Music] there's a lot of globally rare species on this on this coastline but i think one that has really captured the attention of people around the world is the spirit bear ian mcallister is a wildlife photographer and co-founder of the conservation society pacific wild it's a spirit bear comes from a black bear that has been genetically isolated from its continental kin from for about 350 000 years and within this unique coastal population of black bears they carry a recessive gene that allows for this white bear to be produced just in these small isolated islands right in the heart of the great bear rainforest area [Music] there's some estimates that there's maybe one out of 10 but no one really knows but it truly is a spectacular experience to uh turn the corner in a in a river system after seeing black bears your whole life and suddenly to turn the corner in and see a pure white black bear and it's not an albino but a truly white uh black bear the bears are unique in the world they are so isolated they have no instinctive fear of humans they have been part of first nations culture for generations yes certainly uh first nations of uh recognized the the white bear and in these coastal inlets and offshore islands for thousands of years [Music] but their unique color remains a mystery there's some really interesting theories out there some from first nations uh uh traditional ecological knowledge uh that that that the white bears held over from the times of snow and and when glacial the glacial epics that largely dominated this landscape 10 000 years ago [Music] there's some other theories that the white bear is advantageous in terms of coloring and catching salmon because it blends in with the sky so if you're a white bear and you're catching fish and the fish is looking up it sees camouflage instead of a black bear that is more of a stark contrast in the sky they are a symbol of the region a rare and spectacular site it's incredible finding people from switzerland and france and australia canadians uh coming up in small boats uh you know people who just have never come to this part of the world before and you know a lot of it is uh around the mystic of uh and the mystery of uh actually seeing a spirit bear in the wild uh and you know while the opportunity to see spirit bears in the wild is few and far between there's uh there's some local first nation guides who are doing a great job at uh doing their best at showing people the the white bear but uh you know by and far it's it's hit and miss and you just you just have to hope for some luck just off princess royal island another incredible species makes their home here [Music] humpback whales and the pacific white-sided dolphin have long been associated with this stretch of coast known as whale channel [Music] they are an incredible sight [Music] the humpback whale's traditional summer grounds stretch from bc to the gulf of alaska migrating to california and hawaii for the winter [Music] but coastal whaling operations in the early 20th century decimated the population by as much as 90 percent finally a moratorium was declared and british columbia's last whaling station closed in 1968 more than four decades later the humpbacks have slowly returned [Music] in recent years the population has even begun to grow [Music] good news for a species nearly hunted to extinction [Music] the inland waterways of british columbia offer unparalleled access to world-class scenery east of princess royal island lies the protected kit lobe heritage conservancy it is set in the traditional territory of the heisler first nation [Music] kitlope is a first nations word translated people of the rocks [Music] in 1994 timber companies gave up all rights to harvesting here it is now the largest intact coastal temperate rainforest in the world the conservancy measures more than 300 000 hectares [Music] everything is protected from the mountain peaks to the ocean floor [Music] beyond the conservancy the kittlow estuary and kitlo river extend further dense forests line these waters a haven for scientists conducting wildlife research further the waters widen and gardner canal continues northwest [Music] it is a 90 kilometer long waterway another namesake of captain george vancouver's 1793 expedition the rolling hills lining the waters are spectacular [Music] an incredible palette of colors in the summer light above the grassy hillsides gardner canal is surrounded by granite faces and [Music] glaciers many stand more than a kilometer high the glacial runoff gives these waters a distinct green tint through much of the year [Music] at the boundary of the canal dorothy island and hawkesbury island mark the entrance to devastation channel [Music] it was named by captain daniel pender after the hm paddle sloop devastation during pender's exploration of coastal british columbia from 1857 to 1870 [Music] five kilometers beyond fosh giltoye's provincial park lines the northern bank of douglas channel the park completes a larger protected area between the channel and the skina river to the north part of a traditional first nations travel path stretching back thousands of years [Music] along the banks of the channel the park features old growth forest tidal narrows and freshwater drainages along a windswept coastline [Music] higher up alpine tundra and snow-covered peaks line an incredible horizon much of the northern coastal region of british columbia lies just inland [Music] a maze of pristine waterways far below douglas channel is 90 kilometers long [Music] extending southwest to the exposed waters of right sound [Music] part of the inside passage ferry route douglas channel is a busy waterway home to industrial marine traffic coming and going from the port in nearby kitimat [Music] we are at kitimat bc around 54 degrees north on the northwest coast of british columbia close to the alaska border [Music] this happens to be the head of douglas channel which probably is the longest fjord on the bc coast [Music] the region is already home to large-scale industrial projects but with the development of oil and gas exploration on canada's west coast kitimat may become even busier kitimat has recently come under scrutiny the port was recognized as got a lot of potential for exporting uh raw materials especially piped in materials like natural gas and oil [Music] there is a quite a number of players in the international field are all interested in actively looking at kitimat some of them actually actually have purchased property here [Music] naturalist walter thorne is concerned he believes the true value here lies in the region's natural splendor kitamat really is gateway to the great bear rainforest forest garnering a lot of international attention one of the largest pristine ecosystems uh harboring the likes of the kermody spirit bear and we're the closest community to that a community of size to princess royal island and gribble island the center of that thorn is afraid of the legacy that more oil and gas may leave [Music] the risks are enormous this ecosystem the kitimat estuary is fragile and being exposed to a large oil spill either from ruptured pipes upstream or from marine catastrophes it makes us particularly vulnerable [Music] perhaps already we get some of the largest boats on the uh bc coast coming to kitimat we're actually trans shipping a product called condensate that goes to the oil sands and it comes in here and then gets trucked by rail to edmonton and fort mcmurray [Music] the industrial traffic that's coming to kitimat is changing the nature of what we are this is just the beginning the liquefied natural gas tankers will also be plying the channel and there will be hundreds of them a year and then the potential of oil tankers hundreds of them further [Music] the whole environment the whales the uh the bird life the populations of fish species all of that is terribly at risk with the industrial development especially the threat of oil thorne says the local population is becoming more aware and concerned about the region's future there are movements afoot there's a douglas channel watch kinemat valley naturalist their different environmental groups are are piping up they're they're expressing their opinion there's a groundswell of even local environmental um concern and certainly says let's be careful how we proceed [Music] my vision would be to see the recreational potential of this gem uh recognized and fully exploited i believe kayaking i believe boating fishing all of that is what really makes kinematic set at the head of douglas channel kitimat marks one of the rare communities along the northern coastal region [Music] home to just over 8 000 residents it is surrounded by pristine wilderness on the banks of the kitimat river kitimat's history is not a long one it was established in the mid 20th century as one of western canada's premier company towns we're right at uh where where the kid in matt river comes out onto the douglas channel and that's where the town of kitimat is kitimat holds a unique history in that it was a planned town settled and built by industry the aluminum company of canada wanted to create uh aluminum smelter kitamat was chosen because of the deep sea port it has tidewater here it's very deep channel and so the tankers can come up and they bring all of the manufacture the product for the smelter to to the smelter for the manufacturing of aluminum and and that is actually why kitten mat is here [Music] the design was the work of one of america's pioneers in urban planning [Music] employing a new design philosophy known as the garden city format the original town had been planned by with a con consultation with clarence stein who is amer an american planner [Music] stein's design was inspired by living conditions of the industrial revolution [Music] encouraging workers to enjoy a good life away from the workplace the industry where the people work the worker is is separated from where they live and this was one of the original ideas with stein was that the worker would would have a peaceful clean and good life within a town that separated from where that worker is working and it promotes health and safety for the worker [Music] the design also focused on the importance of green space people would live on cul-de-sacs or separated streets from from the green space so the green space would be internal and then the pedestrian [Music] would walk through the green space to the local neighborhood [Music] center decades later the garden city philosophy carries on in kitimat i would say that the town plan is successful people enjoy being here [Music] the green space is a wonderful feature of that many planners come here and to to see what that is all about [Music] the northern british columbia community of kitimat is a rare gem on a remote coastline [Music] it is surrounded by awe-inspiring coastal splendor [Music] heading northwest over the towering peaks of the kitimat mountain ranges the skeena river marks a trajectory towards the open waters of the pacific [Music] the skeena river is 570 kilometers long [Music] it originates in an area known as the sacred headwaters an alpine basin in northern bc it drains an area of more than 50 000 square kilometers the skeena is the second longest river in the province and one of the longest undammed rivers in the world [Music] at the end of the scheina's journey a spectacular maze of channels islands inlets and rocky outcroppings line the horizon the region has been occupied by the first nations for thousands of years and it is here on the open waters of the pacific that pioneers from around the world settled establishing communities and industries barely a century ago far below an historic settlement stands as a testament to those early settlers we're at north pacific cannery in port edward bc which is on the north coast of british columbia just south of the alaska panhandle this is the oldest and most intact cannery standing on the west coast of north america it's built in 1889 and operated until right up until 1980. canneries on this coast processed and preserved salmon for distribution around the world back in the late 1800s there's a shortage of salmon on the in the european markets and there was a huge resource here the only way to get it back to europe without it going rotten or bad was to preserve it and put it into cans there were several hundred canneries along the west coast of north america from alaska to california a couple hundred uh probably on the bc coast a couple hundred in alaska and and another a few hundred down the uh oregon california washington coast it's really the first product from north america from the west coast that was processed and sold globally canneries were also cultural melting pots a unique meeting place for laborers from all over the world canneries were made up of different ethnic groups chinese men would be brought up here and they would make cans by hand first nations were fishermen their wives women were often net menders japanese made up half the fishing fleet up here so there's probably 150 or more fishermen just on a site like this this was a medium to small size site and there was 6 800 workers up here on this one site initially all work at the cannery was done by hand fish would be loaded through the loading bay doors from the from the water from the dock be knee-deep in salmon here first step would be to go to the butchering station there's uh tables there'd be many of these tables chinese butchers but 30 of them would be butchering the salmon cutting off heads tails fins and taking out the guts the bones and skins stay on those butchered fish get thrown into a wash tank with several of them first nations women would be washing any guts and slime that were left over from the butchers clean those fish get them thrown into a hopper that hopper puts into an elevator that will bring the salmon up through through the gang knives uh tough to fit a big fish into a small can so they cut them into these steak sizes so that it can fit the fish into a can a lot easier but by 1918 the butchering process was mechanized this is known as the iron iron butcher and it basically replaced all 30 of those chinese butchers it would cut off the heads here the fish would drop in get its tail cut off fins cut off stomach cut open bloodline cut and the gut scooped out with the brushes on the backside and this machine would do 60 fish a minute next the salmon were washed put into cans cooked to kill bacteria packed labeled and shipped today one of the cannery's most unique features is the mechanized canning system so the mechanization was introduced in [Music] 1918 this is called the reform line the cannery closed more than 30 years ago [Music] its historic buildings still standing have designated it a national historic site by parks canada [Music] it remains a cultural symbol of the region [Music] prince rupert and the region's very connected to uh the the coastal lifestyle and uh we depend a lot on salmon and the canneries uh represent that to a large degree uh of course it's what brought a lot of the the the local population here so it's a beautiful setting a little bit tragic with some of the buildings in rough shape so lots of lots of work to be done out here from the community of bella coola [Music] and the incredible heights of the surrounding monarch ice field [Music] to the terrestrial life and marine life inhabiting these legendary shorelines to the pristine waters of the skina river and the pacific beyond british columbia's northern coastal region is a natural treasure these waters and surrounding landscapes are largely unknown and unexplored they hold beauty prosperity and a cautious hope for the future here on the edge of canada [Music] you

Channel: Joshua Oak

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Id: PiMOe9SAbAA

Length: 50min 1sec (3001 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 11 2020