Black cottonwood trees, the biggest poplars on earth and one of the fastest growing, inhabit the banks, islands and surrounding areas of the Heart of the Fraser. Imagine a tree the height of a 12-storey building with a trunk close to 12 meters round and a crown the size of a large house. Now imagine a whole forest of those trees, and that’s how the Heart of the Fraser used to look.
Cottonwoods are fabulous wildlife trees. When their huge limbs break off, they get cavities in them, allowing room for owls to nest in them. Eagles and heron colonies make their nests as high as they can amongst the branches of the tall trees. Thus, in the Heart of the Fraser, cottonwoods are an essential species ecologically.
As the trees age and wither they fall into the coves, inlets and channels that surround these islands, providing hiding places for fish and cover for a variety of other species associated with the landscape. These massive trees also provide stability to the islands and slow their erosion to a steady rate, so the islands do not disappear all at once.
Everything eventually comes back to the water, but it is not just the water that is crucial to this landscape. The trees, riparian areas and the islands create the makeup of this habitat. The river is a central point in the ecosystem and provides a continuous connection of fish, wildlife and habitat from the Heart of the Fraser as far upstream as Prince George. The Fraser River and the ecosystems around it are what binds the landscape together. Having native and natural vegetation in place is crucial to that function.
Please help us defend the cottonwoods that grow in the Heart of the Fraser by signing the petition to oppose the approval of a permanent bridge and development on the Heart of the Fraser islands.