The Rockies

Summary: The Fraser River has suffered much change - clear cuts, pulp and paper mills and massive urban impacts. The mountain pine beetle infects large areas of native and replanted forest. It is also the most southerly major salmon stream left in North America. Salmon spawn throughout the river beginning near the ocean and swimming thousands of kilometres to reach headwater streams such as the Goat River east of Prince George. The main river has never been dammed but tributaries have hydroelectric development. In the lower Fraser Valley, an expanding urban population, and the supporting agriculture production system, stresses the river. Steps have been taken to reduce the stress, but the program asks if the Fraser will still suffer ecological collapse.