Super Natural British Columbia

Trevor Goward here. Rare lichens first caught my attention about thirty years ago–and have held it ever since. And so have the kinds of places that rare lichens tend to call home–oldgrowth rainforests above all. Naturally it would please me to know that the oldgrowth rainforests that support some of Canada’s rarest lichens–some of which I’ve had the honour of naming–will be allowed to persist at least as far into the future as they have existed in the past–a thousand years or more in some cases.

But oldgrowth rainforests, alas, make good lumber. So it’s perhaps not surprising that the best of British Columbia’s rainforests have already given way to the chainsaw. Don’t take my word for it. Take a look for yourself. A few telling images are posted below; for more, simply to log onto GoogleEarth

The great majority of British Columbia’s rainforests are Coastal Temperate Rainforests–well known to environmentalists around the world. Coastal Temperate Rainforests extend northward into Alaska, and southward to southern California. Farther inland, however, you’ll notice a much smaller, more discontinuous set of rainforests. With the exception of a few outliers in Idaho and Washington, these rainforests are confined entirely to the wettest valleys of southern inland British Columbia.

These are British Columbia’s Inland Temperate Rainforests. Not only do these constitute the largest inland rainforest biome in the world, they are also the only rainforest to be situated entirely within Canada. They are home to a far greater variety of rare lichens than their coastal counterparts, yet have received virtually no protection, as you’ll readily see. Their rapid liquidation during the past few decades runs parallel to the disappearance of the (many times larger) Amazonian Rainforests of Brazil; and like those, it constitutes a national disgrace. Go to Valhalla Wilderness Society for more information.

What to do? What to do? Well we could always give Taxonomic Tithing a try.

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