Morice River facts for kids

The Morice River is a beautiful river in British Columbia, Canada. It starts from Morice Lake, which is southwest of a town called Houston, British Columbia. Both the lake and the river are named after a person named Father Adrien-Gabriel Morice. The Morice River gets water from many small creeks along its path, but it always keeps its clear, icy blue color from the glaciers.

The Morice River flows until it reaches the town of Houston. There, it meets a smaller river called "The Little Bulkley." When these two rivers join, they become the Bulkley River. Even though the Morice River is bigger, the combined river is called the Bulkley. This happened because of a government mapmaker named Poudrier, who, it is said, never actually visited the area!

Why the Morice River is Important

The Morice River is a very special place, especially for fish. It helps create one of British Columbia's most productive river systems. This river is super important for different kinds of salmon.

Salmon and Their Home

The Morice River provides a home for many fish, including:

• Chinook salmon: About 30 percent of all the Chinook salmon in the entire Skeena River system come from the Morice River!
• Sockeye salmon: This river is a major place for sockeye salmon to lay their eggs.
• Coho salmon: Coho salmon also use the Morice River for spawning, which means laying their eggs.

The river has special areas where salmon lay their eggs and where young fish grow up. These areas are called spawning and rearing habitats. The Morice River has a unique "braided" channel, which means it splits into many smaller streams and then rejoins. This creates even more space for fish to live and grow.

Protecting the Morice River

Because the Morice River is so important, especially for salmon, people are very concerned about keeping it healthy.

Threats to the River

The Morice River was once listed as the 6th most endangered (at risk) river in British Columbia. This was because of a plan to build a large pipeline called the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline.

The proposed pipeline route would have run very close to the Morice River and its smaller streams for about 60 kilometers (about 37 miles). It would have even crossed the Morice River itself about 50 kilometers (about 31 miles) southwest of Houston. Running a pipeline so close to the river could cause problems for the fish and their habitat. For example, the pipeline route would have been parallel to about 32 kilometers (20 miles) of the most important salmon spawning and rearing areas in the entire river system.

Organizations like the Outdoor Recreation Council of British Columbia work to protect rivers like the Morice. They help raise awareness about threats and encourage people to take action to keep these natural treasures safe for everyone, especially for the amazing salmon that call them home.