The Soil Landscapes Of British Columbia

Provides and overview of climate, geology, landforms and vegetation in British Columbia, then describes soils and soil processes, as well as soils landscapes in different regions of British Columbia. Also information on development and use of soil and terrain surveys.

Brett McGillivray focuses first on the combination of physical processes that produced a spectacular variety of mountains, rivers, lakes, islands, fjords, forests, and minerals, explaining the forces that created the province and the natural hazards that can reshape it. A concise examination of B.C. historical geography follows, covering First Nations ways of life, colonization, Asian immigration, and the sad history of institutionalized racism. The second half of the book contains a detailed description of the economic geography of the province, with chapters on forestry, the salmon fishery, metal mining, energy supply and demand, agriculture, water, and the tourism industry. It addresses the present-day issues of urbanization, economic development, and resource management, providing a thorough background to these topics and suggesting what the future might hold. This up-to-date and comprehensive exploration of the rich historical geography and development of British Columbia will be welcomed by teachers, students, scholars, and everyone with an interest in the province.

Report and soil map of Saltspring Island and lesser islands covering an area of 18,555 hectares in the Gulf Islands of British Columbia and providing soils information for local planning purposes, emphasizing the soil limitations important to residential development and agriculture. A description of the environment of the area, including climate, vegetation, geology, physiography, and soil parent materials is included, as well as survey and mapping procedures. This report is the first in a series of 5 volumes on the soils of the Gulf Islands.

This is the only book to focus on the geomorphological landscapes of Canada West. It outlines the little-appreciated diversity of Canada’s landscapes, and the nature of the geomorphological landscape, which deserves wider publicity. Three of the most important geomorphological facts related to Canada are that 90% of its total area emerged from ice-sheet cover relatively recently, from a geological perspective; permafrost underlies 50% of its landmass and the country enjoys the benefits of having three oceans as its borders: the Arctic, Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Canada West is a land of extreme contrasts — from the rugged Cordillera to the wide open spaces of the Prairies; from the humid west-coast forests to the semi-desert in the interior of British Columbia and from the vast Mackenzie river system of the to small, steep, cascading streams on Vancouver Island. The thickest Canadian permafrost is found in the Yukon and extensive areas of the Cordillera are underlain by sporadic permafrost side-by-side with the never-glaciated plateaus of the Yukon. One of the curiosities of Canada West is the presence of volcanic landforms, extruded through the ice cover of the late Pleistocene and Holocene epochs, which have also left a strong imprint on the landscape. The Mackenzie and Fraser deltas provide the contrast of large river deltas, debouching respectively into the Arctic and Pacific oceans.

This report covers land in the city of Williams Lake and west of the Fraser River to the community of Redstone, describing the characteristics of the soils and map units and specifying their location and extent. It also gives a short account of the history and natural features of the map area, and describes land use for agriculture, forestry, wildlife and recreation.