Perhaps no single land-use decision anywhere has moved sustainability forward so dramatically through conservation, resource development and cooperative management. This is a huge, extraordinary wilderness area that will continue to thrive because the people of this province have worked together towards a common vision. The Muskwa-Kechika protection area includes the designation of 1.17 million hectares of new and existing protected areas at the heart of the Northern Rockies. The area supports the only plains bison population in the province and also includes 3,500 black and grizzly bears. Upland game birds include the sharp-tailed, ruffled and blue grouse and several species of ptarmigan.
Wetlands provide habitat for the Canada and snow goose , trumpeter swan and a variety of ducks.
Predator species include the gyrfalcon, bald eagle , boreal owl and broad-winged hawk. Having spent time in these areas I can assure you that wildlife is there in profusion. They were the focus for our trips and our experiences were many in this vast untamed land. Because we were backpacking, we remained high in the various mountain ranges to stay out of the tangle thickets of buckbrush and willow. In these high ranges everything appeared miniaturize for we were climbing at or above the tree line.