Bella Coola in British Columbia
Monday, 26 February 2018 - 11:00 am (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: North America / NordamerikaCategory/Kategorie: General Reading Time: 8 minutes Bella Coola is a community in the Bella Coola Valley in British Columbia. Bella Coola usually refers to the entire valley, encompassing the settlements of Bella Coola proper (“the townsite”) (population approximately 148), Lower Bella Coola, Hagensborg, Saloompt, Nusatsum, Firvale and Stuie. It is also the location of the head offices of the Central Coast Regional District. The entire Bella Coola Valley has a population of 2,000. The primary geographical structure of the community, both in terms of physical structures and population distribution, is the long, narrow Bella Coola River valley.
Highway 20 (known over most of its length as the Chilcotin Highway) stretches from the Government wharf (on the Pacific Ocean) through the extent of the populated portion of the valley before climbing to the Chilcotin Plateau, and the entire population of the community lives either on this road or very near to it. Bella Coola has a more diversified economy than might be expected among a population of its size. Fishing, forestry, public service (government/education), retail and tourism all contribute significantly to the economy. There is some limited agriculture, including an active farmers’ market, processing of locally-caught seafood, a number of craftmakers and artists (including several celebrated Nuxalk artisans) and a fish hatchery. The only financial institution in Bella Coola is a branch of the Williams Lake & District Credit Union, heir to a sixty-plus-year tradition of the Bella Coola Valley Credit Union. In recent years, the mountainous terrain around (and accessible from) the Bella Coola Valley has become a publicized destination for heliskiing, with a number of skiing movies filmed in the area and one local company advertising access to 1,500,000 acres (6,100 km²) of terrain.
Bella Coola is served by the Bella Coola Airport (on Highway 20, in Hagensborg), 14 km distant from the townsite which has a 1,280 metre asphalt runway. Pacific Coastal Airlines offers scheduled traffic to Vancouver and Anahim Lake. Charter services by both plane and helicopter are also available. BC Ferries provides a vehicle/passenger service in the summer (mid-June – mid-September) to Port Hardy on the northern tip of Vancouver Island. The voyage includes two connecting ferries: the Nimpkish from Bella Coola to Bella Bella then the Northern Expedition to Port Hardy. Reservations are essential as the Nimpkish carries only 16 cars and operates about twice a week. Travellers should be aware that Nimpkish has no amenities and the trip takes 9.5 hours, plus 7 hours on the Northern Expedition. In 2014, the large ferry Queen of Chilliwack which had provided direct service between Bella Coola and Port Hardy since 1995 was cancelled due to provincial government cutbacks. In 2017, BC Ferries announced the purchase of a 150 passenger, 35-vehicle vessel to again provide direct service between Port Hardy & Bella Coola starting 19 June 2018. During the rest of the year (mid-September to mid-June), ferry service is provided twice a month and connects Bella Coola to the outlying coastal communities of Bella Bella, Shearwater and Ocean Falls, with passengers able to transfer at McLoughlin Bay (Bella Bella) to a ferry serving either Prince Rupert and Klemtu, or Port Hardy. The sailing schedule varies throughout the season.
These two populations (Norwegian settlers and Nuxalk), in varying proportions, continued to make up the vast majority of the community’s population for most of the next century. However, in recent years, the Norwegian population (or connection to a Norwegian identity) has declined. In 2001, 43% of the population reported “Aboriginal identity”, of which the vast majority is Nuxalk, while only 10% reported Norwegian (or Norwegian-Canadian) to be their “Ethnic Origin”. When the community of Ocean Falls suffered a massive population decline in 1980/81, due to the closure of the town’s primary industry (a paper mill), Bella Coola became the administrative centre for British Columbia’s central coast. This led to the relocation of the Central Coast Regional District (which, up until that time had been called the “Ocean Falls Regional District”) offices to Bella Coola, and a general centralization of government services such as provincial government regional centres (e.g. Ministry of Forests) in Bella Coola.
Read more on Bella Coola, hellobc.com – Great Bear Rainforest, LonelyPlanet.com – British Columbia and Wikipedia Bella Coola (Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State - Weather report by weather.com - Global Passport Power Rank - Travel Risk Map - Democracy Index - GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank - Global Competitiveness Report - Corruption Perceptions Index - Press Freedom Index - World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index - UN Human Development Index - Global Peace Index - Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). Photos by Wikimedia Commons. If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at comment@wingsch.net. Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.
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