Introduction

This site provides information and resources on terrestrial (and some aquatic) vertebrate species and their habitats that occur in the Columbia River basin of British Columbia, Canada. It complements similar resources developed for the Columbia River basin in the United States, accessible through the Northwest Habitat Institute and the book Wildlife-Habitat Relationships in Oregon and Washington (Johnson and O´Neil 2001).

BC´s Columbia basin comprises a total of 10.3 million hectares and includes all watersheds in British Columbia that drain into the Columbia River (see the Overview Map and the Orientation Map).  This area represents a tremendous diversity of landforms and ecosystems, from the desert valleys of the Okanagan and Similkameen rivers, to the rain forests of the Columbia River´s Big Bend, to the alpine heights of the Rocky Mountains. This diversity is reflected in the area´s wildlife, which numbers 447 terrestrial vertebrates and thousands of species of plants, invertebrates, fungi, fish, and other organisms.

With human pressures mounting on both sides of the US-Canada border, citizens and resource managers need reliable and comprehensive information on wildlife and habitats to use in ecosystem-based planning.  The information for BC terrestrial vertebrates and their habitats on this web site represents a first step towards providing that comprehensive resource for many kinds of resource planning applications, both within BC and throughout the whole Columbia River system in both countries.