Mountain Life
  • Daily Content
    • Trips & Expeditions
    • Climbing
    • Mountain Biking
    • Mountain Lifer
    • Multiplicity
    • On The Trail
    • Paddling
    • Photography
    • Skiing
    • Snowboarding
    • Stay & Play
    • Surfing
    • The Great Outdoors
    • The ML Interview
    • Travel
  • GEAR
  • VIDEOS
  • STORE
  • Magazines
    • ML Coast Mountains
    • ML Rocky Mountains
    • Vie En Montagne
    • ML Blue Mountains
    • ML Annual
    • ML Subscriptions
  • ABOUT
    • What is ML?
    • Our Team
    • Newsletter
    • Adventure Grant
    • Distribution
  • Podcast
  • Contests
  • CONTACT
    • ML Agency
    • Advertising
    • Contribute
Subscription Form

Get notified of the best News

Social Links
Instagram 22K Followers
Facebook 25K Likes
Twitter 5K Followers
Pinterest 1K Followers
Vimeo 34 Followers
LinkedIn 0
22K Followers
25K Likes
5K Followers
1K Followers
Mountain Life
Mountain Life
  • Daily Content
    • Trips & Expeditions
    • Climbing
    • Mountain Biking
    • Mountain Lifer
    • Multiplicity
    • On The Trail
    • Paddling
    • Photography
    • Skiing
    • Snowboarding
    • Stay & Play
    • Surfing
    • The Great Outdoors
    • The ML Interview
    • Travel
  • GEAR
  • VIDEOS
  • STORE
  • Magazines
    • ML Coast Mountains
    • ML Rocky Mountains
    • Vie En Montagne
    • ML Blue Mountains
    • ML Annual
    • ML Subscriptions
  • ABOUT
    • What is ML?
    • Our Team
    • Newsletter
    • Adventure Grant
    • Distribution
  • Podcast
  • Contests
  • CONTACT
    • ML Agency
    • Advertising
    • Contribute
  • On The Trail
  • Annual

Darkwoods Conservation Area: Why We Need It More Than Ever

  • November 2, 2020
  • Ned Morgan
Total
16
Shares
16
0
0
0
0
0
Total
16
Shares
Share 16
Tweet 0
Pin it 0
Share 0
Share 0
Share 0

An update on B.C.’s Darkwoods, Canada’s largest privately-owned wilderness tract. 

words :: Ned Morgan // photo :: David Moskowitz.

As the global population expands, humans need nature as a respite from any number of threats—and nature certainly requires refuge from us. In North America, the United States maintains National Wildlife Refuges and Preserves, and Canada likewise boasts many Reserves, Conservancies, or Conservation Areas owned and managed by federal or provincial governments, and sometimes private trusts.

Alongside Kootenay Lake in southeastern British Columbia lies Canada’s largest privately-owned tract: the ominously named Darkwoods Conservation Area.

The Evolution of Darkwoods

From 1967 to 2008, one man—German Duke Carl Herzog von Wurttemberg—owned this enormous parcel of mountain wilderness. At the height of the Cold War, the duke purchased this slice of the Selkirk Range as a family refuge in the event of a Soviet invasion of West Germany, and his forestry company, Pluto Darkwoods, selectively logged the land. In 2008, then into his seventies and looking to sell, the duke still wanted to keep what was now known as Darkwoods (a nod to the Black Forest of his native land) intact and well-managed. He found a suitable buyer in the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC), which snapped up the entire 55,000-hectare parcel.

Darkwoods-Conservation-Area-Why-We-Need-It-More-Than-Ever-David-Moskowitz
Darkwoods from the summit of MacCallister Lookout, looking west. Photo: David Moskowitz

In 2018, the federal and B.C. provincial governments announced funds towards purchase of an additional 7,900 hectares, an expansion of 14 per cent. This chunk—the Next Creek watershed—fills a “donut hole” in Darkwoods, connecting a key section of Inland Temperate Rainforest (ITR) that includes stands of ancient cedar and hemlock.

Key Habitats

Wildlife biologist Richard Klafki, Director of the NCC’s Canadian Rockies Program, points to the scope and significance of the ITR. “It stretches from northern Idaho to central British Columbia, following a band along the Columbia Mountains [of which the Selkirks are a subrange]. Some refer to the ITR as a ‘snowforest’ due to its very high snow load.”

Snow isn’t crucial just to the forest’s ecological character (massive spring melts deliver moisture on par with coastal rainforest) but also to the region’s most threatened denizen: mountain caribou. “Deep snowpacks allow the caribou to eat lichen [a dietary mainstay] off the trees and keep predators from pursuing them.”

Klafki also speaks to the primordial integrity of this ecosystem. “Some of these forests have never really burned. Only when trees die and fall down are gaps created in the forest canopy for young trees to establish. That’s the major disturbance regime. Researchers have also found coastal species of lichens in these interior forests—evidence these processes have been going on for thousands of years, creating this diverse and highly productive habitat.”

Low-Impact Tourism in Darkwoods’ Future?

While research continues, the NCC is hammering out a management plan. “It will likely entail some form of road access,” says Klafki. “Darkwoods has an extensive network of roads because about 30 per cent of it has been logged in the last 30–40 years. We’re also trying to develop a couple of spots to highlight old-growth forests and we’re in the preliminary stages of laying out trails.”

More low-impact tourism could help drum up public support for the plan. “The ITR itself isn’t yet understood as a tourist destination,” says Candace Batycki, a program director for the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative. Batycki compares the ITR to California’s redwood forests, stands of which have long been protected. In contrast, only a fraction of the underrecognized ITR is set aside, mainly in Darkwoods, the Purcell Wilderness Conservancy, Mount Revelstoke National Park, and Ancient Forest/Chun T’oh Whudujut Provincial Park. “True ancient ITR is harder and harder to get to because of ongoing logging—we’re losing these forests quite rapidly,” warns Batycki.

Klafki believes that as humans continue with headlong development that exacerbates climate change, many of these forests will become climate refugia for species at risk. Given current trends, it’s not unreasonable to speculate those species could someday include humans.

This article originally ran in the 2019-2020 Mountain Life Annual.

Total
16
Shares
Share 16
Tweet 0
Pin it 0
Share 0
Share 0
Share 0
Related Topics
  • conservation
  • Darkwoods
Ned Morgan

Previous Article
Red-Paddle-Co-New-2021-Paddleboards-lake-cloudy-day
  • THE GEAR SHED

Red Paddle Co: New 2021 Paddleboards

  • November 1, 2020
  • Ned Morgan
View Post
Next Article
The-King-of-Bikes-The-Story-of-an-Obsession-Clayton-Foxall-Colin-Field-photo
  • Mountain Biking
  • Mountain Lifer

The King of Bikes: The Story of an Obsession

  • November 3, 2020
  • Mountain Life Media
View Post
You May Also Like
Mountain-Life-20th-showreel
View Post
  • Mountain Lifer
  • On The Trail
  • Photography
  • Videos

20 Years of ML

  • Editor
  • March 24, 2023
The-High-Route-Kaytlyn-Gerbin-Jenny-Abegg-North-Cascades-High-Route-glacier-hiking
View Post
  • On The Trail
  • Trips & Expeditions
  • Videos

Friday Flick: Alpine Ultra-Run Sufferfest

  • Ned Morgan
  • March 10, 2023
View Post
  • Mountain Lifer
  • On The Trail
  • Photography
  • Stay & Play

Let It Roar

  • Sarah Bulford
  • February 9, 2023
Life-Time-Grand-Prix-gravel-bike
View Post
  • Mountain Biking
  • On The Trail

New Docuseries Profiles the World’s Elite Off-Road Cyclists

  • Editor
  • January 30, 2023
Mountain-Life-Blue-Mountains-stack-winter-2023
View Post
  • On The Trail
  • Ontario
  • Skiing
  • Snowboarding
  • Trips & Expeditions

ML Blue Mountains Winter-Spring ’23 Issue Out Now

  • Ned Morgan
  • January 6, 2023
Golden-BC-mountain-biking
View Post
  • Mountain Biking
  • On The Trail

Shifting Gears

  • Mountain Life Media
  • December 18, 2022
Nicholas-Spooner-moose-skier-touring-Quebec
View Post
  • On The Trail
  • Photography
  • Skiing
  • Snowboarding
  • Trips & Expeditions

Vie en montagne Winter-Spring ’22-’23 Out Now

  • Mountain Life Media
  • December 12, 2022
View Post
  • Food & Drink
  • On The Trail
  • Travel

Under the Influence: Oregon (part 2)

  • Editor
  • December 7, 2022

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Featured Posts
  • Skiing at Hudson Bay Mountain in Smithers 1
    Where Eagles Dare
    • March 27, 2023
  • Mountain-Life-20th-showreel 2
    20 Years of ML
    • March 24, 2023
  • Mustang-Survival-WOMENS-HELIX-CCS 3
    Gear Shed: Our End-of-Winter Picks
    • March 23, 2023
  • natural-selection-Redbull 4
    Friday Flick: Natural Selection Tour Highlights
    • March 17, 2023
  • Powder-Highway-BC-ski 5
    Powder Highway Revisited
    • March 21, 2023
RECENT POSTS
  • AleTrailsSouthernInterior_Vernon_MikeGamble_LookoutTrail_BenHaggarPhoto
    Ale Trails: Southern Interior Part 1, Vernon + Shuswap
    • March 20, 2023
  • Elements-Outfitters-Filson-cabin
    Elements Outfitters Partners with SALTS to Protect Alberta’s Incredible Landscapes
    • March 16, 2023
  • Bora-Boreal-Quebec-winter-cabin-stars
    Bora Boréal: Frozen in Time and Ice
    • March 14, 2023
Social Links
Instagram 22K Followers
Facebook 25K Likes
Twitter 5K Followers
Pinterest 1K Followers
Vimeo 34 Followers
LinkedIn 0
INSTAGRAM
mountainlifemedia
22K Followers
No one called me Feet Banks back in 1987. In those days, most people called me by my given name—except for my ski buddies, to whom I was known by the most badass moniker to ever schuss the slopes: Twinkle Toes.
We’re celebrating 20 Years of Mountain Life!
From The Gear Shed: Last Monday was the official start of spring, but we know there’s still some winter to be shredded. So ML staff and partners have picked the latest jackets, lanterns, bindings, mugs and drysuits for winter-spring.
Exploring the sights around beautiful Sutton, Quebec with ML creator @adv_bird ❄️🫶
Back on the road with three generations, dancing lifties, best-on-planet pizza and elusive-but-exquisite pow days.
Live It Up EP 24 is out now!
The Southern Interior region of BC holds an ecological cross-section of the province with alpine meadows, arid Douglas fir grasslands, damp cedar and hemlock forests of the Columbia Mountains and the warm expanse of Shuswap Lake.
Do Not Disturb mode activated ✅ #mountainlifer
Conceived by superhuman snowboarder @travisrice, the @naturalselection Tour highlights earth’s premier riders, from big-mountain mavens to Olympians, all competing on the most stoketastic—and unpredictable—terrain known to humankind.
Built upon a shared desire to enjoy, respect, and advocate for Alberta’s incredible landscapes, it was a natural fit for @elementsoutfitters to work with a local conservation organization @saltslandtrust to highlight the province’s rugged beauty and outdoor apparel to match.
Follow

Subscribe

Subscribe now to our newsletter

No one called me Feet Banks back in 1987. In those days, most people called me by my given name—except for my ski buddies, to whom I was known by the most badass moniker to ever schuss the slopes: Twinkle Toes.
We’re celebrating 20 Years of Mountain Life!
From The Gear Shed: Last Monday was the official start of spring, but we know there’s still some winter to be shredded. So ML staff and partners have picked the latest jackets, lanterns, bindings, mugs and drysuits for winter-spring.
Exploring the sights around beautiful Sutton, Quebec with ML creator @adv_bird ❄️🫶
Back on the road with three generations, dancing lifties, best-on-planet pizza and elusive-but-exquisite pow days.
Live It Up EP 24 is out now!
Mountain Life
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
  • Advertising

Input your search keywords and press Enter.