The
Cascade Region encompasses the southern BC Coast Mountains as well as
the Lower Mainland. The influence
of the Pacific Ocean here means that the western
side of these ranges receive high levels of precipitation, with deep snowpacks accumulating in
the high country. Surprisingly, given that this is the most densely populated
area of the
province (almost half of BC's residents live in this region)
there is still significant wilderness close at hand. Places like
Manning,
Garibaldi,
and the Stein
Valley provide wilderness escapes
to city dwellers. While many appreciate the privilege of having wilderness
so close to urbanization, such proximity to an urban setting is not especially
gentle on nature.
Already the
region's parks are
beginning to feel the pressures of a growing population, which is expected to double by 2021. Thus these remaining wilderness
areas need to be especially well safeguarded in order to maintain them for future
generations.
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The Cascade region's parks each have their own special features.
Garibaldi
and Manning
Parks are British Columbia's
most popular wilderness areas, offering excellent camping,
extensive hiking to alpine meadows and glacier fed lakes,
as well as fine crosscountry skiing in the winter. The Stein
is also a living museum of cultural and
natural history.
Those areas of the Cascade Region which have not been protected have been very heavily
altered
by clearcut logging, urbanization, and agriculture. This has resulted
in the fragmentation or elimination of wilderness. For example, the Cascade
Region
was once covered by forests of low elevation trees, including Interior
and Coastal Douglas fir, Coastal Western Hemlock, and
Western red cedar, but now there
are almost no remaining low elevation old growth forests.
Because old growth forests are now increasingly rare, at least 16
old growth dependent species, such as the spotted owl
and Pacific giant salamander, are currently threatened here.
With this loss of habitat and biodiversity happening rapidly, the parks
already protected in the Cascade region become even more important.
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