Chinchaga

Chinchaga lies in the remote boreal country of northwestern Alberta, close to the British Columbia boundary. The upper Chinchaga River forms one edge of the land while Halverson Ridge rises above 1,050 metres on the other, with forest and peatland filling the ground between them. Formal roads are absent, and the nearby forestry road has long been the main approach across a landscape of muskeg, trees and low ridges. Woodland caribou depend on large peatland ranges and require calving and wintering areas that extend beyond any single protected tract.

First Nations communities and later Métis hunters used this wilderness in small numbers, chiefly for hunting rather than dense farming settlement. Winters are long and cold, and only June, July and August average above ten degrees Celsius. Fire has repeatedly altered the forest. Fur, remote trails and huge natural disturbances together define this northern country, where human history follows sparse routes through a forest capable of dramatic renewal.