TheMuskwa-Kechika Management Area (M-K or M-KMA) is a provincially-run tract of land in the far north ofBritish Columbia. It has an advisory board that counsels the government on land-use decisions. Established by provincial government legislation in 1998, the area is meant to be preserved as awild area, butdevelopment is not outright forbidden; the land is divided into different zones, with varying levels of protection, although the whole area is to be used according to an overall plan. The original concept called for 25% of the land to be turned intoprovincial parks, 60% to become "special management zones" (where limited mining and oil/gas drilling would be permitted), and 15% to become "special wild land zones", where logging would be prohibited.[1] The original size of the M-KMA was 4,450,000 hectares (11,000,000 acres). However, in 2000, with the approval of the Mackenzie Land and Resource Management Plan (LRMP), over 1,900,000 hectares (4,700,000 acres) were added to the M-KMA for a total area of 6,400,000 hectares (16,000,000 acres)—an area slightly smaller than the US state ofMaine, or the entire island ofIreland, or seven times the size ofYellowstone National Park, inWyoming.[2][3][4]
The area is named after theMuskwa River andMuskwa Ranges (from theCree:maskwa, "bear") and theKechika River andKechika Ranges (Kechika means "long inclining river"). The area include theNorthern Rocky Mountains to the north ofLake Williston and theRocky Mountain Foothills north of thePeace River and much of the southeasternCassiar Mountains and a small portion of the northeasternOmineca Mountains. With the southernSelwyn andMackenzie Mountains north of theLiard River, the area defines theBoreal Cordillera Ecozone.
(with area)[5]
Vaillant, John (November 2008),"Northern Giant",National Geographic, pp. 136–51, archived fromthe original on October 16, 2008
