page_title: Haida Gwaii
section_title: Environment
hierarchical_section_title: Haida Gwaii / Environment
caption_attribution_description: Tsuga heterophylla forest, Windy Bay, Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia, Canada
context_page_description: Haida Gwaii is an archipelago approximately 45–60 km off the northern Pacific coast of Canada. The islands are separated from the mainland to the east by the shallow Hecate Strait. Queen Charlotte Sound lies to the south, with Vancouver Island beyond. To the north, the disputed Dixon Entrance separates Haida Gwaii from the Alexander Archipelago in the U.S. state of Alaska.
  Haida Gwaii consists of two main islands: Graham Island in the north and Moresby Island in the south, along with approximately 400 smaller islands with a total landmass of 10,180 km². Other major islands include Anthony Island, Burnaby Island, Alder Island, and Kunghit Island.
  Part of the Canadian province of British Columbia, the islands were formerly known as the Queen Charlotte Islands, and colloquially as "the Charlottes". On June 3, 2010, the Haida Gwaii Reconciliation Act formally renamed the archipelago as part of the Kunst'aa guu – Kunst'aayah Reconciliation Protocol between British Columbia and the Haida people.
  The islands form the heartland of the Haida Nation. Haida people have lived on the islands for 13,000 years, and currently make up approximately half of the population.
context_section_description: Research by Simon Fraser University concludes that Haida Gwaii around 55,000 BCE was likely covered with tundra and low meadows that were populated by grazing mammals including caribou and mammoths. Although no mammoth or mastodon fossils were found, the research discovered dung-eating fungi underground in ancient peat by the Cape Ball site in Naikoon Provincial Park on Graham Island. The tundra-like landscape then evolved to a mix of alpine forest and meadows.
  The last Pleistocene glaciation receded from the archipelago about 16,000 BCE, about 2,000 years earlier than the rest of the British Columbia Coast's ice age. That, and its subsequent isolation from the mainland, encouraged Haida indigenous and environmental activists in the 1970s to use the term "Galápagos of the North", a unique biocultural zone with many endemic plants and animals. The climate of this temperate north hemisphere forested region, like that of much of the British Columbia and Alaskan coast in the area, is moderated by the North Pacific Current, with heavy rainfall and relatively mild temperatures throughout the year.
  The islands are home to the Ta'an Forest, with a wide variety of large endemic trees, including the Sitka spruce, western red cedar, yellow cedar (Nootka cypress), shore pine, western hemlock, mountain hemlock, western yew and red alder. The Flora of the Queen Charlotte Islands describes plants from the islands.
  Soils are variable. Peat is common in poorly drained flats and even on sloping ground in the wetter areas. Where drainage is good, the mature soils are podzols that have classic development (well defined eluvial horizon, Ae under Canadian classification) in undisturbed areas. A history of disturbance, as from logging or windthrow, sees the Ae mixed with other horizons and only patchily visible.Kiidk'yaas (Golden Spruce), a naturally occurring genetic-variant yellow-colour Sitka spruce tree, was near the Yakoun River, the largest on Graham Island. It was a popular tourist attraction until it was illegally cut down in 1997 as a protest against the industrial logging practices.
  From the spring of 1996 until November 30, 1997, a popular attraction for tourists to the islands was a male albino white raven. He lived around Port Clements and would commonly be seen taking food handouts from locals and visitors alike. He died after making contact with an electrical transformer. The white raven was preserved by former Port Clements residents, taxidermists Roger Britten Sr. and Jr., and is on display in the Port Clements Historical Society's museum.
caption: Hemlock forest in Gwaii Hanaas National Park
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