ENTER THE GREAT BEAR RAINFOREST The southern half of Canada's west coast is justly famous for its fabulous scenery and pitched battles to save remnants of its magnificent coniferous forest-but what about the northern half? Between Vancouver island and Alaska, the mainland BC coast winds through a 250-mile wonderland of forested islands and inlets every bit as enchanting as the southern half, but still very much as nature created it, a wonderfully complex and delicate rainforest masterpiece ten thousand years in the making. The area is one of the northern hemisphere's richest unprotected wildlife habitats, the home of Canada's largest grizzly bears as well as the rare all-white spirit or Kermode bear. Ian and Karen McAllister, both environmental campaigners, have spent over ten years exploring, photographing and researching this once-forgotten coast. The book contains over 150 stunning colour photographs, including some of the most extraordinary images of wild bears ever seen in print, lush river valleys where grizzly bears feast on salmon, dramatic Coast Range mountaintops, exotic plants of the ancient rainforest, and some of the most magnificent coastline in Canada. With these photographs, a personable, informative commentary by Ian and Karen and environmental writer Cameron Young, and full-colour maps and drawings, this book is the first to unveil the beauty and magnificence of this unique place. Since 1990, fourteen large rainforest valleys on the mainland coast of British Columbia have been lost to industrial logging. The publication of The Great Bear Rainforest aided Greenpeace, the Sierra Club, Ian and Karen McAllister's Raincoast Preservation Society and other environmental groups successfully lobby BC's provincial government for a moratorium on grizzly-bear hunting and the protection of a large portion of the area as parkland in 2001. Ian McAllister is a nature photographer, writer and conservationist who has dedicated his life to exploring the remote wilds of the BC coast. Ian is a founding member of the Raincoast Conservation Society, and his images have appeared in numerous publications including International Wildlife , BBC Wildlife , Audubon , Sierra , and Beautiful British Columbia. The Great Bear Rainforest is his first book. Karen McAllister is a conservationist with a special interest in the flora of BC's mainland coast. Born and raised in Alberta's Rocky Mountains, she studied biology and environmental studies at the University of Victoria. She is a founding member of the Raincoast Conservation Society. The Great Bear Rainforest is her first book. Cameron Young teaches journalism at the University of Victoria and is an environmental writier specializing in ancient temperate rainforest. He is the author of Clayoquot on the Wild Side and the award-winning Forests of British Columbia . He assisted Ian and Karen McAllister in the writing of The Great Bear Rainforest: Canada's Forgotten Coast , the winner of the Bill Duthie Booksellers Choice Award for BC Book of the Year. British Columbia is home to the planet's last large expanse of coastal temperate rainforest. The forest carpets a topography of stunning geological relief, and its forest's rugged beauty, tremendous biological diversity and vast unspoiled range set it apart as one of nature's great masterpieces. The temperate coniferous rainforest is one of the earth's most diverse ecosystems, providing habitat for endangered and threatened species including salmon, wolves, eagles, and grizzly and Kermode bears. Its biological productivity is unmatched, with a biomass of 500 tons per acre, 40 percent greater than tropical forests. On my first visits to the forests of the BC coast in the early 1990s, I found a setting that exceeded all my expectations, a place where snow-capped mountains crowd the estuaries they feed with fresh water and nutrients. I hiked on snowshoes across the wide mudflats that form the second finest migratory staging ground in western Canada, providing vital sustenance for seventy-eight waterfowl species. I gathered oysters and caught coho salmon and cooked them on the shore, and I followed wolf tracks through narrow mountain gorges beneath hemlock, giant cedar, Sitka spruce and thundering waterfalls. I saw great rookeries of sea lions and bald eagles congregate for the herring run and watched fishermen harvest geoduck clams. If we ever had country like that in the United States, we've long since destroyed it with failed forestry practices. In addition to its aesthetic and biological features, the rainforest is the centrepiece for British Columbia's tourist and fishing industries which will play important roles in the sustainable vitality of the area's economy. The forest is also home to First Nations peoples whose spiritual and cultural life is tied to its health. Unfortunately, irresponsible development and the lack of protection for the forest have left these unique cultures and the entire e