Morice River facts for kids

The Morice River is the outflow of Morice Lake south west of Houston, British Columbia, Canada. Morice Lake and Morice River are named after Father Adrien-Gabriel Morice Geographic Name details The Morice has many small creeks joining it along its length, but retains the clear glacial hue for its length. The Morice river continues on to the town of Houston at which point the river is joined by a small tributary river called "The Little Bulkley" and the two rivers joined become the Bulkley River. They become the Bulkley, not the Morice despite the fact the Morice is larger. This was done by Poudrier, a government cartographer who, it is rumoured, never saw the region.

Endangered

The Morice River was listed as the 6th most endangered river in British Columbia due to the proposed Enbridge Pipeline. The report was issued by the Outdoor Recreation Council of British Columbia.
Report Excerpt:

The Morice River, which joins the Bulkley River near Houston, helps form one of BC’s most productive river systems. However, the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline will run along the Morice and its tributaries for close to 60 kilometres (37 mi) with a crossing of the Morice 50 kilometres (31 mi) southwest of Houston. The Morice produces 30 percent of the Chinook salmon in the entire Skeena system and also plays a major role in providing extensive sockeye salmon and Coho salmon spawning habitat. Along the Morice itself, the proposed pipeline route runs parallel to 32 kilometres (20 mi) of the most important spawning and rearing habitat in the entire watershed (given the braided, complex nature of the Morice river channel, this is equivalent to 150 kilometres (93 mi) of habitat on river systems with typical more defined channels).