COASTAL BRITISH COLUMBIA
(Page 4 of 5)
There is little undergrowth in the shade of some of the
denser stands of trees on delta lands. Elsewhere the
tanglefoot is heavy and includes young hemlock, bilberries,
ferns, mosses, smilacinas and – in wet spots –
devil's club. The rocks I noted were exclusively igneous
and many showed intrusions.
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Blue and red bilberries, salmonberries and red and black
raspberries are abundant. The blue bilberry (Vaccinium
ovalifolium Sm), which makes up most of the
undergrowth in many places, is related to and bears fruit
shaped like blueberries. Blue bilberries are usually mildly
sweet but some bushes (which look no different) bear fruit
which tastes weedy or foul. Unlike raspberries, all
bilberries on a bush ripen together and remain edible for a
long time.
Plantain, fireweed, clover, ferns and the various conifers
are a few of the edible greens found near Bella Coola. The
only poisonous plants I noticed were water hemlock and
baneberries (a few in swampy areas).
Salmon were running in Dean Channel while I was there.
Mussels grow on some rocky beaches but, near large rivers,
the water is apparently too fresh. I did not see large game
animals (perhaps they move to higher ground in summer)
although a few squirrels were encountered.
Due to the highly irregular terrain, coastal British
Columbia shows great climatic variation and each river
valley, inlet or channel essentially has one or more local
climates. A few generalizations can be made (summers are
drier and sunnier than winters, precipitation usually
increases with elevation), but many anomalies remain.
For instance Bella Coola, at the head of an inlet, averages
55 inches of precipitation a year. Ocean Falls, 50 miles to
the west and also at the head of an inlet, averages 164
inches. Bella Bella, 30 miles still further west and on a
channel, receives 99 inches.
Judging from plant maturity and comments by local folk
(weather stations being few and far between), Dean Channel
has about the same summer weather as Bella Coola, but a
colder winter since it is more exposed to frigid northeast
winds from the interior.
One man said that the high precipitation and cloudiness at
Ocean Falls is a localized condition caused by the shape of
the valley. He reports that Ocean Falls will be overcast
and raining for days at a time while – eight miles
away in Dean Channel – the sun is shining.
During my visit in late July and early August, there were
stratus clouds in the early morning. They usually cleared
by afternoon. There was a build-up of cumulus clouds with
occasional rain squalls in late afternoon on a few days.
The channels tended to clear earlier and receive less rain
than the adjacent land. Temperatures did not exceed 85°
F nor fall below 50° F.
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