The Great Bear Rainforest is also home to six First Nations peoples, the Nuxalk , Haisla, Heiltsuk, Oweekeno, Tsimshian, and Kwakiutl Nations, all of whom are dependent on salmon for their traditional way of life, and opposed to the wholesale destruction of their traditional territories. Sadly, these problems have not hindered the logging companies, who have already destroyed a large portion of the mid-coast. In the next five years, most of the unroaded areas in the Great Bear Rainforest are slated for road building which will lead to their eventual clearcut destruction. The Coastal Temperate Rain Forests of North America represent a globally rare and extraordinarily productive ecosystem type. The unique coincidence of mild temperatures, substantial rainfall throughout the year, and limited snowfall produces the highest standing biomass of any terrestrial ecosystem.
Trees here can live for more than a millennium and surpass six meters in diameter.
Coastal temperate rain forests are characterized by an unparalleled interaction of land and sea. The rich aquatic and marine ecosystems adjacent to these forests sustain long-established fisheries. The upland conifer forests, from which Douglas-fir, hemlock, spruce, and cedar are logged, supply some of the most highly values wood products in the global marketplace. Smaller ecological divisions exist throughout the mainland coast, the most predominant being the coastal western hemlock zone. In addition to hemlock, cedar and spruce, it also contains a fair amount of balsam fir.