About
the Illecillewaet & Beaver Watersheds
The Illecillewaet
River originates in the melt waters of the Illecillewaet Glacier
in Glacier National Park, British Columbia, Canada. Flowing in a
general southwesterly direction for about 62 km, the river drops
about 1.5 km and joins the Columbia River at Revelstoke, B.C.
The Illecillewaet (together with its tributaries) forms an area
of 1202 km˛ with a perimeter of some 233 km.
Since the 1880's,
the Illecillewaet has been an area of interest as part of the
railway corridor for Canada's first transcontinental railway,
the Canadian Pacific Railway (completed in 1885). In 1962,
Canada's first transcontinental highway, the Trans-Canada
Highway also followed the Illecillewaet westerly from Rogers
Pass. National parks were established in the watershed in 1886
(Glacier) and 1914 (Mount Revelstoke). Lands outside the parks
have long been a major source of forest products and forest
harvesting continues to be a major land use.
In 1898, a
hydro-electric development near the mouth of the Illecillewaet
supplied Revelstoke with electricity. This dam was removed in
the 1970's thereby re-establishing connectivity with the main
Columbia River. However, construction of the Grand Coulee Dam on
the Columbia River south of B.C. had blocked sea-run fish to the
north since the late1930's. In 1969, a dam on the Columbia River
at Castlegar, B.C. impounded waters to form the Arrow Reservoir
which floods the original mouth of the Illecillewaet River at
full pool.
Today, the
Illecillewaet watershed's historic importance for transportation
continues and is joined by a continuing importance of forest
harvesting and a growing importance of all forms of mountain
recreation. This dynamic past and present underscores the need
for all levels of government, non-government organizations, and
individuals to obtain accurate resource information on the
watershed.
The objective of
the Illecillewaet & Beaver Watershed Resource Atlas is to
present relevant data in pictorial format and to link these data
with reports, papers, websites, and individuals who gather or
store the original data sets.
Our current plans
are to add 10-20 additional resource theme maps by 2001.
