From: on behalf of Panel Registry Subject: FW: TNG registration of ...

known as the Chilcotin Ranges. The northerly one‐third of the study area is found within a
part of the Interior Plateau known as the Chilcotin Plateau. 13
The Chilcotin Ranges Region
The Chilcotin Ranges include the Taseko Lakes, Nemiah Valley, Tsuniah Lake, and the Potato
Range. The Chilcotin Ranges consist of gently sloping uplands, rounded mountain summits,
and broad, flat‐bottom valleys among the mountain ranges. The mountains are less rugged
than those of the Pacific Ranges to the southwest and are generally no higher than 2700
metres in elevation. They show the effects of recent alpine glaciation as well as the effects of
continental glaciation by the Cordilleran Ice Sheet during the last ice age. No major glaciers
exist in the Chilcotin Ranges at this time, but numerous small isolated icefields are found in
cirques in the higher alpine areas. The remnant icefields are associated with steep cirque
headwalls, small glacial lakes, and terminal and lateral moraines formed of locally derived
material.
The Chilcotin Plateau Region
The
Chilcotin Plateau landscape includes the areas north of Choelquoit Lake, and north of a
line extending from the north end of Chilko Lake to the north end of Taseko Lake.
The Chilcotin Plateau portion of the study area features level to gently rolling terrain, with
an elevation between 1000 and 1500 metres. The upland portion of the Plateau is underlain
by flat‐lying bedrock and covered by glacial deposits. Subtle depressions and meandering
streams on the undulating terrain have created many lakes and wetland complexes. Isolated
low,
rounded mountains and ridges of erosion‐resistant rock rise above the general level of
the Plateau to over 2000 metres elevation.
The Brittany Triangle is bounded by deeply incised, steep‐sided valleys that developed as
the Chilko River and the Taseko River down cut through the Plateau during the post‐glacial
melt period. The rivers currently occupy channels that are 100‐200 metres lower than the
Plateau surface. The Elkin Creek‐Elkin Lake‐Vedan Lake system occupies another deeply
incised valley, which was likely down cut during the post‐glacial melt but which no longer
contains
a major river system. Steep scarp slopes along the deeply incised rivers and creek
valleys
are unstable and susceptible to mass wasting and slope failures14
3.3. Socio‐economic Context
15
The total population of the XGCA is approximately 500 people; 375 are Xeni Gwet’in and
125 are non‐indigenous. The area does not contain any formally incorporated communities
but does contain a number of informal hamlets, such as north Chilko, Tsuniah, Taseko and
Nemiah
Valley. The people who comprise these communities are to a large extent self‐
reliant and have a long
history of cooperation with each other to sustain their way of life.
13 Hammond and others (2004).
14 Hammond and others (2004).
15 This section is based on Ecolibrio (2009, 7‐10) and Hammond and others, (2004, pp.44‐46).
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