The Run of the River: Portraits of Eleven British Columbia Rivers

Simon Dalby is a research associate at the Centre for International
Studies at Simon Fraser University.

British Columbia is a province of high mountains, spectacular rivers,
and dramatic wild spaces. But it has also been the scene of many
confrontations in the last few years between the forestry and mining
industries on the one hand and committed environmentalists on the other.
This book, part of a series by the Canadian Parks and Wilderness
Society, explains in simple prose why many of B.C.’s river systems
have been at the centre of controversy.

Mark Hume is a journalist with a passion for wilderness experiences and
fly-fishing. Both are given ample exposure in these pages, although some
of the most interesting fishing vignettes in this volume concern rivers
running through areas that have long ceased to be wilderness. Mixing
background information with personal reportage from the author’s many
visits to the rivers that he writes so affectionately about, this volume
takes the reader to the remarkable fish runs of the Columbia and to the
awesome rapids of the little-known Tatshenshini. It explores the local
rehabilitation efforts by dedicated conservationists on the Cowichan and
the Deadman, and the research on grizzly bears in the Khutzeymateen. The
book celebrates the tenacity of salmon, trout, and steelhead in the face
of formidable difficulties, both natural and human-induced. It explains
the lure of the last relatively untouched ecosystems, and laments their
destruction at the hands of corporations more concerned with
“resources” than with rivers.

This book will be of interest to environmentalists and fly-fishers as
well as outdoor enthusiasts and travel readers. It is also a useful
addition to contemporary Canadian environmental literature, bringing
together in a single volume summaries of many of the ongoing
environmental controversies in British Columbia.