Driftwood Canyon Provincial Park
Encyclopedia
Driftwood Canyon Provincial Park is a provincial park
in British Columbia
, Canada
. Driftwood Canyon Provincial Park covers 23 ha of the Bulkley River
Valley, on the east side of Driftwood Creek, a tributary of the Bulkley River
, 10 km northeast of the town of Smithers
. The park is accessible from Driftwood Road from Provincial Highway 16
. It was created in 1967 by the donation of the land by the late Gordon Harvey (1913-1976) to protect fossil beds on the east side of Driftwood Creek. The beds were discovered around the turn of the century. The park lands are part of the asserted traditional territory of the Wet'suwet'en First Nation
.
shales that were deposited in an inter-montane lake. Interbedded within the shales are volcanic ash beds, the result of area volcanoes that were erupting throughout the life of the Eocene lake that produced the shales. Preserved within the shale formations are plant, animal and insect species that inhabited the area over 50 million years ago. The BC Parks management plan for Driftwood Canyon Provincial Park lists these conservation attributes:
Limited personal fossil collecting was originally permitted in Driftwood Canyon Park, and the site is listed in several tourism and rock collection guides as a place to visit for this activity. However, in the past 5 or so years following recommendations to cease unrestricted public and commercial collection of fossils, BC Parks has discouraged fossil collecting due to:
In 2010 the interpretive trail was redeveloped by BC Parks, in partnership with the Bulkley Valley Naturalists, and the Smithers Rotary Club and funded by the Canadian Federal Government, BC Parks, the Wetzin’kwa Community Forest, and the National Trails Coalition. A new bridge over Driftwood Creek was built, a new wheel-chair accessible trail constructed, and new signage put in place. The new interpretive signs explain both the cultural heritage of the area, including Wet'suwet'en First Nation
fishing and other cultural practices in the area, both traditional and present day, as well as the sub-boreal spruce forest
of the area and the significance of the fossil resource. At the public fossil site at the trail terminus, signs describe some of the research findings of the site based on supplied testimony from palaeontologists active at the site, and feature photos of some of the important fossils discovered there.
in 1890 as part of his survey of British Columbia for the Geological Survey of Canada, although significant research has occurred since the 1970s. The Driftwood Canyon fossil beds are best known for the abundant and well preserved insect and fish fossils (Amia
, Amyzon
, and Eosalmo
). The insects are particularly diverse and well preserved, and include water striders (Gerridae), aphids (Aphididae
), leaf hoppers (Cicadellidae), green lacewings (Neuroptera
), spittle bugs (Cercopidae
), march flies (Bibionidae
), scorpionflies (Mecoptera
), fungus gnats
(Mycetophilidae
), snout beetles (Curculionidae
), and ichneumon wasps. Fossils of plant remains are rare, but include up to 29 genera
of plants. The most common plant fossil found is leafy shoots of the dawn redwood, Metasequoia
occidentalis. Leaves of alder (Alnus sp.) are also found, as well as the leaves or needles and seeds of pines, cedars, redwood (Sequoia
sp.), Ginkgo
, and the floating fern Azolla. Fossil feathers are sometimes found and rare rodent bones are sometimes found in fish coprolites. Small collections of fossils are housed in the Bulkley Valley Museum in Smithers, the Royal BC Museum in Victoria BC, the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM
), Canadian Museum of nature (CMN
), and university collections. Unfortunately significant collections of fossils from Driftwood Canyon are in private ownership.
A fossil bird complete with feathers collected from the Park in 1970 by German visitors Margret and Albrecht Klöckner, was repatriated to British Columbia and donated to the Royal British Columbia Museum/Victoria some 38 years later. This fossil of a long-legged water bird, has been tentatively identified as possibly from the order Charadriiformes
.
The cessation of fossil collecting at Driftwood Canyon Provincial Park is consistent with British Columbia's new Fossil Management Framework which seeks to:
Provincial park
A provincial park is a park under the management of a provincial or territorial government in Canada.While provincial parks are not the same as national parks, their workings are very similar...
in British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. Driftwood Canyon Provincial Park covers 23 ha of the Bulkley River
Bulkley River
The Bulkley River in British Columbia is a major tributary of the Skeena River. The Bulkley is 257 km long with a drainage basin covering 12,400 km²....
Valley, on the east side of Driftwood Creek, a tributary of the Bulkley River
Bulkley River
The Bulkley River in British Columbia is a major tributary of the Skeena River. The Bulkley is 257 km long with a drainage basin covering 12,400 km²....
, 10 km northeast of the town of Smithers
Smithers, British Columbia
Smithers is a town located in northwestern British Columbia, Canada, approximately halfway between Prince George and Prince Rupert. Smithers is located in the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako....
. The park is accessible from Driftwood Road from Provincial Highway 16
Yellowhead Highway
The Yellowhead Highway is a major east-west highway connecting the four western Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. Although part of the Trans-Canada Highway system, the highway should not be confused with the more southerly, originally-designated...
. It was created in 1967 by the donation of the land by the late Gordon Harvey (1913-1976) to protect fossil beds on the east side of Driftwood Creek. The beds were discovered around the turn of the century. The park lands are part of the asserted traditional territory of the Wet'suwet'en First Nation
Wet'suwet'en First Nation
The Wet'suwet'en First Nation is a First Nations band located outside of Burns Lake in the central interior of British Columbia. It was formerly known as the Broman Lake Indian Band and is still usually referred to as Broman Lake although this is no longer its official name...
.
Access
A car park just off the road access, leads to an interpretive sign and a bridge across Driftwood Creek. A short interpretive trail leads visitors to a cliff-face exposure of EoceneEocene
The Eocene Epoch, lasting from about 56 to 34 million years ago , is a major division of the geologic timescale and the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Eocene spans the time from the end of the Palaeocene Epoch to the beginning of the Oligocene Epoch. The start of the...
shales that were deposited in an inter-montane lake. Interbedded within the shales are volcanic ash beds, the result of area volcanoes that were erupting throughout the life of the Eocene lake that produced the shales. Preserved within the shale formations are plant, animal and insect species that inhabited the area over 50 million years ago. The BC Parks management plan for Driftwood Canyon Provincial Park lists these conservation attributes:
- internationally-significant Eocene fossil beds: most northerly site in North America with fossilised Eocene insects; fossils also include ancestral salmon, trout and suckers, including Eosalmo driftwoodensis;
- site of ongoing paleontological research;
- remnant Bulkley Basin Ecosection (high priority, underrepresented ecosection) SBSdk (dry cool sub-boreal spruce subzone; underrepresented biogeoclimatic subzone).
Limited personal fossil collecting was originally permitted in Driftwood Canyon Park, and the site is listed in several tourism and rock collection guides as a place to visit for this activity. However, in the past 5 or so years following recommendations to cease unrestricted public and commercial collection of fossils, BC Parks has discouraged fossil collecting due to:
- concerns over visitor safety as falling rocks from the shale cliff face may endanger visitors collecting fossils;
- the loss of the palaeontological resource (also, fossil removal contravenes the Park Act);
- as well as concerns that soil and rocks dislodged during fossil collecting will contribute to sediment in Driftwood Creek, potentially impacting downstream fish spawning habitat.
In 2010 the interpretive trail was redeveloped by BC Parks, in partnership with the Bulkley Valley Naturalists, and the Smithers Rotary Club and funded by the Canadian Federal Government, BC Parks, the Wetzin’kwa Community Forest, and the National Trails Coalition. A new bridge over Driftwood Creek was built, a new wheel-chair accessible trail constructed, and new signage put in place. The new interpretive signs explain both the cultural heritage of the area, including Wet'suwet'en First Nation
Wet'suwet'en First Nation
The Wet'suwet'en First Nation is a First Nations band located outside of Burns Lake in the central interior of British Columbia. It was formerly known as the Broman Lake Indian Band and is still usually referred to as Broman Lake although this is no longer its official name...
fishing and other cultural practices in the area, both traditional and present day, as well as the sub-boreal spruce forest
Boreal forest of Canada
Canada's boreal forest comprises about one third of the circumpolar boreal forest that rings the northern hemisphere, mostly north of the 50th parallel. Other countries with boreal forest include Russia, which contains the majority, and the Scandinavian and Nordic countries . The boreal region in...
of the area and the significance of the fossil resource. At the public fossil site at the trail terminus, signs describe some of the research findings of the site based on supplied testimony from palaeontologists active at the site, and feature photos of some of the important fossils discovered there.
Palaeontology
Paleontological and geological studies of these deposits go back to work carried out by George Mercer DawsonGeorge Mercer Dawson
Dr. George Mercer Dawson F.R.S., C.M.G., was a Canadian scientist and surveyor. He was born in Pictou, Nova Scotia, the eldest son of Sir John William Dawson, Principal of McGill University and his wife, Lady Margaret Dawson...
in 1890 as part of his survey of British Columbia for the Geological Survey of Canada, although significant research has occurred since the 1970s. The Driftwood Canyon fossil beds are best known for the abundant and well preserved insect and fish fossils (Amia
Bowfin
The Bowfin, Amia calva, is the last surviving member of the order Amiiformes , and of the family Amiidae...
, Amyzon
Amyzon (genus)
Amyzon is an extinct genus belonging to the sucker family Catostomidae first described in 1872 by E. D. Cope. There are 4 valid species in this genus of freshwater fishes...
, and Eosalmo
Eosalmo
Eosalmo is a genus of extinct salmon which lived during the Eocene epoch. The genus was first described in 1977 from fossils found in lacustrine deposits near Smithers, British Columbia, Canada. Fossils from this genus have also been found at sites in Princeton, British Columbia and Republic,...
). The insects are particularly diverse and well preserved, and include water striders (Gerridae), aphids (Aphididae
Aphididae
Aphididae is a very large insect family in the aphid superfamily , of the order Hemiptera. There are several thousand species in this family, many of which are well known for being serious plant pests...
), leaf hoppers (Cicadellidae), green lacewings (Neuroptera
Neuroptera
The insect order Neuroptera, or net-winged insects, includes the lacewings, mantidflies, antlions, and their relatives. The order contains some 6,010 species...
), spittle bugs (Cercopidae
Cercopidae
Cercopidae are the largest family of Cercopoidea, a xylem-feeding insect group, commonly called froghoppers . They belong to the hemipteran suborder Auchenorrhyncha....
), march flies (Bibionidae
Bibionidae
Bibionidae is a family of flies . Approximately 650-700 species are known worldwide.-Biology:...
), scorpionflies (Mecoptera
Mecoptera
Mecoptera are an order of insects with about 550 species in nine families worldwide. Mecoptera are sometimes called scorpionflies after their largest family, Panorpidae, in which the males have enlarged genitals that look similar to the stinger of a scorpion...
), fungus gnats
Gnats
Gnats may be:*Plural of Gnat*GNATS the GNU bug tracking system*Folland Gnat Aircraft...
(Mycetophilidae
Mycetophilidae
Mycetophilidae is a family of small flies, forming the bulk of those species known as fungus gnats. There are approximately 3000 described species in 150 genera but the true number of species is undoubtedly much higher...
), snout beetles (Curculionidae
Curculionidae
Curculionidae is the family of the "true" weevils . It was formerly recognized in 1998 as the largest of any animal family, with over 40,000 species described worldwide at that time...
), and ichneumon wasps. Fossils of plant remains are rare, but include up to 29 genera
Genera
Genera is a commercial operating system and development environment for Lisp machines developed by Symbolics. It is essentially a fork of an earlier operating system originating on the MIT AI Lab's Lisp machines which Symbolics had used in common with LMI and Texas Instruments...
of plants. The most common plant fossil found is leafy shoots of the dawn redwood, Metasequoia
Metasequoia
Metasequoia is a fast-growing, deciduous tree, and the sole living species, Metasequoia glyptostroboides, is one of three species of conifers known as redwoods. It is native to the Sichuan-Hubei region of China. Although the least tall of the redwoods, it grows to at least 200 feet in height...
occidentalis. Leaves of alder (Alnus sp.) are also found, as well as the leaves or needles and seeds of pines, cedars, redwood (Sequoia
Sequoia (genus)
Sequoia is a genus of redwood coniferous trees in the Sequoioideae subfamily, of the Cupressaceae family. The only extant species of the genus is the Sequoia sempervirens in the Northern California coastal forests ecoregion of Northern California and Southern Oregon in the United States...
sp.), Ginkgo
Ginkgo
Ginkgo , also spelled gingko and known as the Maidenhair Tree, is a unique species of tree with no close living relatives...
, and the floating fern Azolla. Fossil feathers are sometimes found and rare rodent bones are sometimes found in fish coprolites. Small collections of fossils are housed in the Bulkley Valley Museum in Smithers, the Royal BC Museum in Victoria BC, the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM
Royal Ontario Museum
The Royal Ontario Museum is a museum of world culture and natural history in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. With its main entrance facing Bloor Street in Downtown Toronto, the museum is situated north of Queen's Park and east of Philosopher's Walk in the University of Toronto...
), Canadian Museum of nature (CMN
Canadian Museum of Nature
The Canadian Museum of Nature is a natural history museum in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Its collections, which were started by the Geological Survey of Canada in 1856, include all aspects of the intersection of human society and nature, from gardening to gene-splicing...
), and university collections. Unfortunately significant collections of fossils from Driftwood Canyon are in private ownership.
A fossil bird complete with feathers collected from the Park in 1970 by German visitors Margret and Albrecht Klöckner, was repatriated to British Columbia and donated to the Royal British Columbia Museum/Victoria some 38 years later. This fossil of a long-legged water bird, has been tentatively identified as possibly from the order Charadriiformes
Charadriiformes
Charadriiformes is a diverse order of small to medium-large birds. It includes about 350 species and has members in all parts of the world. Most Charadriiformes live near water and eat invertebrates or other small animals; however, some are pelagic , some occupy deserts and a few are found in thick...
.
The cessation of fossil collecting at Driftwood Canyon Provincial Park is consistent with British Columbia's new Fossil Management Framework which seeks to:
- clarify the rules governing the management and use of fossils;
- manage impacts on fossils from other activities;
- provide for the stewardship of significant fossil sites;
- raise internal and external awareness of the framework and the importance of fossils;
- build knowledge of the nature and extent of the resource in BC; and
- clarify the rights and obligations of the public, business, government and other stakeholders.
See also
- BC Parks webpage
- British Columbia Eocene fossils, Canadian Encyclopedia
- List of fossil sites (with link directory)
- List of fossil parks
- Tyhee Lake Provincial ParkTyhee Lake Provincial ParkTyhee Lake Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada, located near the town of Smithers in the Bulkley Valley.-External links:* *...