Skeena Watershed
The Skeena Watershed is one of the last remaining large intact wild salmon ecosystems in the world that is inhabited by a large human population.
Geographically, the Skeena is the second largest watershed in British Columbia and encompasses 54,432 square kilometers (21,004 sq mi). It is also one of the longest un-dammed rivers in the world. It originates south of the Spatsizi Plateau Wilderness Provincial Park in northwest British Columbia and flows for 570 kilometers (354 mi) before it empties into the Pacific Ocean at Chatham Sound near Prince Rupert.
The Skeena is also among the most diverse salmon producing watersheds in the world and supports all five species of Pacific salmon, steelhead and more than twenty other species of fresh-water fish. Among Canadian rivers, the Skeena is second only to the Fraser River in its capacity to produce sockeye salmon, which return in the millions every summer. The Skeena also has some of the largest salmon in the world, with Chinook reaching up to 120 lbs, Coho reaching over 30 lbs and steelhead reaching over 40lbs.
Belonging to the Skeena River, are eleven major sub-watersheds: the Ecstall, Gitnadoix, Kitsumkalum, Lakelse, Zymoetz, Kitwanga, Kispiox, Bear / Sustut, Babine, Bulkley / Morice and Upper Skeena.