The Nechako Plateau is the northernmost subdivision of the

Interior Plateau The Interior Plateau comprises a large region of the Interior of British Columbia, and lies between the Cariboo and Monashee Mountains on the east, and the Hazelton Mountains, Coast Mountains and Cascade Range on the west.''Landforms of British C ...

, one of the main geographic regions of the

Canadian province Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British Nor ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, for ...

. It spans the basin of the

Nechako River The Nechako River arises on the Nechako Plateau east of the Kitimat Ranges of the Coast Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, and flows north toward Fort Fraser, then east to Prince George where it enters the Fraser River. "Nechako" is an angl ...

and its tributaries the Stuart River and Endako Rivers, and is bounded on the south by the West Road River (Blackwater River), south of which is the

Chilcotin Plateau The Chilcotin Plateau is part of the Fraser Plateau, a major subdivision of the Interior Plateau of British Columbia. The Chilcotin Plateau is physically near-identical with the region of the same name, i.e. "the Chilcotin", which lies between t ...

and on the north by the Nation River and the valleys of

Babine {{Infobox ethnic group , group=Nadot'en , image= , image_caption= , poptime= , popplace={{Flag, Canada ({{Flag, British Columbia) , langs=English, Babine-Witsuwit'en , rels=Christianity, Animism , related= Wet'suwet'en, Dakelh In its broader sen ...

and

Takla Lake Takla Lake is the fifth largest natural lake in British Columbia, Canada. It is a deep fjord-like lake with the Swannell Ranges to the east, the Driftwood River flowing into it from the north, and the Middle River draining it. It is the termin ...

s, beyond which are the Omineca Mountains (N) and

Skeena Mountains The Skeena Mountains, also known as the Skeenas, are a subrange of the Interior Mountains of northern British Columbia, Canada, essentially flanking the upper basin of the Skeena River. They lie just inland from the southern end of the Boundary ...

(NW). To the west, it abuts the various ranges of the

Hazelton Mountains The Hazelton Mountains are a grouping of mountain ranges on the inland lee of the Kitimat Ranges of the Coast Mountains in northwestern British Columbia, Canada, spanning the area of Hazelton south to the Nechako Reservoir. Defined by the Britis ...

while on its east it is bounded by the pass between

Prince George, British Columbia Prince George is the largest city in northern British Columbia, Canada, with a population of 74,004 in the metropolitan area. It is often called the province's "northern capital" or sometimes the "spruce capital" because it is the hub city for ...

and the Parsnip Arm of

Williston Lake Williston Lake is a reservoir created by the W. A. C. Bennett Dam and is located in the Northern Interior of British Columbia, Canada. Geography The lake fills the basin of the upper Peace River, backing into the Rocky Mountain Trench which i ...

, beyond which is the McGregor Plateau, which skirts the

Northern Rockies The Northern Rocky Mountains, usually referred to as the Northern Rockies, are a subdivision of the Canadian Rockies comprising the northern half of the Canadian segment of the Rocky Mountains. While their northward limit is easily defined as the ...

. Some classification systems include the plateau area on the east bank of the Fraser River beyond the city of Prince George; this area neighbours the northernmost reaches of the

Quesnel Highland The Quesnel Highland is a geographic area in the Central Interior of the Canadian province of British Columbia. As defined by BC government geographer in ''Landforms of British Columbia'', an account and analysis of British Columbia geography tha ...

and

Cariboo Mountains The Cariboo Mountains are the northernmost subrange of the Columbia Mountains, which run down into the Spokane area of the United States and include the Selkirks, Monashees and Purcells. The Cariboo Mountains are entirely within the province of ...

. "Nechako" is an anglicization of ''netʃa koh'', its name in the indigenous

Carrier language The Dakelh (ᑕᗸᒡ) or Carrier language is a Northern Athabaskan language. It is named after the Dakelh people, a First Nations people of the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada, for whom Carrier has been a common English name derive ...

which means "big river".

Sub-ranges

The Nechako Plateau has four official subranges: *

Fawnie Range The Fawnie Range is a small hill-range located to the south of the Ootsa Lake reservoir and to the north of the West Road River in the Nechako Plateau region of the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada. The northwest part of the park is wi ...

Nechako Range The Nechako Range, 1795 km2, is a ridge-like hill-range on the Interior Plateau of the Central Interior of British Columbia, located southwest of the city of Prince George and to the east of the similar Fawnie Range. Formerly known as Nechako Mo ...

Quanchus Range The Quanchus Range is a subrange of the Nechako Plateau in the Interior of British Columbia, Canada, located on the north end of Tweedsmuir North Provincial Park and Protected Area Tweedsmuir North Provincial Park and Protected Area is a provin ...

* Telegraph Range The Fawnie, Nechako and Telegraph Ranges are low ranges of hills, but the Quanchus Range is a very mountainous near-island within the arms of the Nechako Reservoir (formerly a chain of lakes). Much of this area of the plateau is in

Tweedsmuir North Provincial Park and Protected Area Tweedsmuir North Provincial Park and Protected Area is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada, which along with Tweedsmuir South Provincial Park and Entiako Provincial Park were once part of Tweedsmuir Provincial Park, then B. C.'s largest ...

Geology

The Nechako Plateau was created by

lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or ...

flowing over older

volcanic A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plat ...

and

sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...

. Large ice sheets then carved the bedrock into rolling hills. The Nechako Canyon, also called the Grand Canyon of the Nechako, is now in a provincial protected area due to its striking landscape, formed by the course of the

carving into the plateau's lava and lined with pinnacles and overhanging cliff. It begins at the outlet of the Nechako Reservoir at Kenny Dam and ends at Cheslatta Falls, an 18m drop which is the last leg of the Cheslatta River.

Climate and ecology

The area is populated with

white spruce White spruce is a common name for several species of spruce (''Picea'') and may refer to: * ''Picea glauca'', native to most of Canada and Alaska with limited populations in the northeastern United States * ''Picea engelmannii ''Picea engelman ...

, subalpine fir, and (at higher elevations)

Engelmann spruce ''Picea engelmannii'', with the common names Engelmann spruce, white spruce, mountain spruce, and silver spruce, is a species of spruce native to western North America. It is mostly a high-altitude mountain tree but also appears in watered canyon ...

trees. The plateau is protected from the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

weather systems by the

Coast Mountains The Coast Mountains (french: La chaîne Côtière) are a major mountain range in the Pacific Coast Ranges of western North America, extending from southwestern Yukon through the Alaska Panhandle and virtually all of the Coast of British Columbi ...

and

, resulting in dry, warm summers and dry, cold winters.

References

* *S. Holland, ''Landforms of British Columbia'', BC Government, Vancouver, 1976.
Land and Data Resource Warehouse Catalogue
B C Government online public map/information system Interior Plateau Mountain ranges of British Columbia Volcanism of British Columbia Central Interior of British Columbia Lava plateaus {{BritishColumbiaInterior-geo-stub