Klemtu a Brief History
Klemtu, the only currently occupied village in Kitasoo/Xai’xais territory, is located on the east coast of Swindle Island.
Klemtu is home to the Kitasoo/Xaixais people. Neeso Wakwis means "Our Lands" in the Kitasoo language and since the last ice age this area has been largely uninhabited except for the Kitasoo people who have thrived here for thousands of years in one of the richest, most diverse ecosystems on earth.
Klemtu is situated on a sheltered harbour safe from all inclement weather. There is a fuel dock, a new float and a telephone at the gangway on the public dock. There is a well stocked store, a café and excellent water at the dock.
Small fish processing, hatchery and commercial fishing have been the mainstay of this population. Recently the Kitasoo people have taken an active role in moving towards forest related economic activity. Tourism plays and increasingly important role.
Klemtu Provides the Perfect Launching Point for Kayak Tours into The Great Bear Rainforest...
Klemtu provides the perfect meeting place to start our Great Bear Tours. Once our guest arrive in Klemtu they have a chance to experience both the culture and the remote wilderness that they are in.
Our Great Bear Kayaking Tour is designed around wilderness camping, daily kayaking - with our support boat following, and various explorations into locations in search of the Great Spirit Bear. Experience this remote British Columbia wilderness with Discovery Expeditions. This tour has been designed to allow our guests to experience this West Coast Wilderness and the First Nations People that still live in this area. Consider the thrill of kayaking in waters that few people have even seen. Your daily journey will allow you to experience many sites of interest and experience first hand the First Nations Culture of this area. This tour is lead by experienced wilderness guides that have traveled these waters for over 25 years. Our guides are well versed in the weather and the changing sea conditions. This will ensure that you have a great kayaking tour.
Recent Great Bear Rainforest News...
Great Bear Rainforest is finally attracting attention from Governments and even the David Suzuki Foundation. Based on some information locatated at
Wikipedia contributors, 'Great Bear Rainforest', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 14 November 2007, 09:20 UTC, <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Great_Bear_Rainforest&oldid=171398725> [accessed 10 December 2007]
This information was found at the above link
The Great Bear Rainforest is the name given by environmental groups in the 1990s to a region of temperate rain forest, specifically Pacific temperate rain forest located on the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada. The forest is 64,000 sq km (25,000 sq mile) in size, twice the size of Belgium. It spans the Pacific Coast from Vancouver Island north to Alaska.It features 1,000 year old cedar trees and 90 metre tall Sitka spruce trees.
Coastal rainforests are characterized by having proximity to both ocean and mountains. The offshore ocean flow into the mountain ranges causes abundant precipitation to fall on the land in between the mountains and the ocean.
The Great Bear rainforest is one of the largest remaining tracts of unspoiled temperate rainforest left in the world. A February 2006 agreement between the provincial government and a wide coalition of conservationists, loggers, hunters, and First Nations established a series of conservancies stretching 400 kilometres (250 miles) along the coast. The protected areas will contain 18,000 km² (4.4 million acres), twice the size of Yellowstone, and another 46,900 km² (11.6 million acres) that is to be run under a management plan that is expected to ensure sustainable forest management.
The area is home to hundreds of species, including cougars, wolves, salmon, grizzly bears, and the Kermode ("spirit") bear, a unique subspecies of the black bear, in which one in ten cubs display a recessive white colored coat .
The Canadian Government announced on 21 January 2007 that it will spend CAN$30m (US$26m, £13m) to protect this rainforest.This matches a pledge made previously by the British Columbia provincial government, as well as private donations of $60 million, making the total funding for the new reserve $120 million.