ORDER OUT OF CHAOS In the 1960s, Dr Vladimir Krajina and his colleagues at the University of British Columbia devised the Biogeoclimatic System to account for the many forest types found in the province. What at first appears to be a chaotic mix of landscapes, climates and ecosystems has been classified into 14 very distinct ecological zones. The system guides management of the province's forests. We will let it guide us too, for our route lies almost entirely within forested or once forested regions, and the trees can tell us much about the landscape and its history. ABUNDANCE IN JEOPARDY Each year, the Fraser River displays one of the world's greatest shows of natural abundance, the return of millions of salmon to their spawning beds. Yet as we entered the new millennium, returns of sockeye, the key commercial species, were too low to sustain normal fishing levels. Each spring and fall, the Fraser River delta becomes home to millions of waterfowl and shorebirds -- in fact, almost the entire world population of some species. But this vital habitat is under constant threat from agriculture, residential and commercial development and from recreational facilities for Vancouver's swelling population. Not far away, a tiny population of Vancouver Island marmot, one of the world's rarest mammals, clings to survival on a few Vancouver Island mountaintops. Inland, the burrowing owl is recovering after near extirpation -- the result of loss of habitat in the grasslands of the Interior. Careful management is helping in both cases. The most remarkable comeback is surely being made by the sea otter, which had disappeared entirely from B.C. waters by 1929 and is now slowly expanding its range after its reintroduction in 1969. Sea otters relish sea urchins. Without otters to keep them in check, sea urchins can devastate beds of kelp, even though kelp is one of the world's fastest-growing plants. Along the B.C. coastline, kelp grows up to 30 centimetres a day and 40 metres in a single summer. The recovering kelp beds provide spawning habitat for herring, a key food species for salmon. The sea otter vividly illustrates how each organism plays a part in its ecosystem. When biodiversity is reduced, ecosystem balance is disturbed and productivity may decline. A trip between Victoria and Kamloops is truly an escape to a land of endless possibilities. Explore the sleek metropolis of Vancouver, a dynamic combination of dazzling sophistication surrounded by ocean and snowcapped mountains. Enjoy Victoria's English charms or pick up a new treasure in one of the artists' communities. Stretch your water wings, with beachcombing on the tidal flats, white water rafting or casting a line in either the mighty Fraser or Thompson rivers. Take advantage of this unique setting to spot killer whales, sea lions, western sandpipers and eagles in their natural environment. Make a virtual journey through time as you explore a region once frequented by gold seekers, railway prospectors and seafaring explorers alike. Or, trace the traditions of this region's first inhabitants, the aboriginal peoples. Indeed, history comes alive in the countless museums and heritage sites you'll find throughout your journey. The region certainly offers great diversity in places to go and things to do. There may be higher mountains, longer rivers and larger islands elsewhere in Canada, but nowhere does the landscape vary so markedly, over such short distances and so conspicuously as in British Columbia. Its origins lie in the restlessness of the Earth's crust. In his studies of the West Coast, Canadian geophysicist John Tuzo Wilson made enormous contributions to the theory of plate tectonics, whereby the Earth's crust spreads out from submarine ridges of molten magma. Wilson showed that a spreading zone under the Pacific Ocean pushes new material, known as the Juan de Fuca Plate, into the path of the America Plate. The two plates collide at a rate of four centimetres per year. The Juan de Fuca plate pushes beneath the other, raising mountains, inducing volcanoes and triggering earthquakes -- in short, continuing to create the very complicated and, at times, unstable landscapes of our westernmost province. Tectonic mayhem has reigned over millions of years, but other processes have also been at work on the rugged B.C. surface. Like the rest of Canada, the region has been subjected to intense glaciation over the past two million years. The signs are to be found throughout the province. In contrast to unglaciated lands, British Columbia has a very young veneer of vegetation, dating back to the final retreat of ice just 10,000 to13,000 years ago. In a human context, this is a long time, for our species occupied these lands soon after they emerged from the ice. Along the Trans Canada Ecotour route, at Hatzic, you can visit a settlement that dates back 9,000 years. While the history of the aboriginal peoples is remarkably long and colourful, the history of European and Asian settlement, itself enriched with people from across the world, is short. Yet in just a few centuries, the new settlers have again changed the face of the land. From the mid-1500s on, a succession of adventurers -- Drake, Juan de Fuca, Pérez, Quadra, Cook, Gray, Eliza, Nárvaez, Vancouver and others -- arrived on the Pacific coast driven by a passion for discovery. Their expeditions were financed by merchants and royal families of Europe. The prize they all sought was the Northwest Passage, a northern route to the Orient and its wealth of spices and silks. While the Northwest Passage would prove to be mythic, the early explorers discovered an unexpected resource: sea otter pelts, which fetched high prices in the Orient. The short-lived and uncontrolled trade in these pelts wiped out the sea otter population off the B.C. coast. While Captain George Vancouver was exploring the B.C. coast, Alexander Mackenzie set out in search of an overland trading route to the Pacific. Guided by aboriginals, he broke through the Rockies and stumbled into the Fraser Basin, east of Prince George. He followed the Fraser until he reached a tributary (the Blackwater) near Quesnel, then struck westward to reach salt water near Bella Coola on July 20, 1793, beating Lewis and Clark to the West Coast by 13 years. Some 15 years later, on June 19, 1808, a weary band of travellers arrived at the confluence of the Fraser and Thompson rivers, having left their canoes upstream in the treacherous Fraser Canyon. Among them was Simon Fraser, a man whose name would be indelibly printed on the land. His arrival foreshadowed the fate of the Nlaka'pamux people who greeted him. Fraser thought he was on the Columbia. On reaching the river's estuary on July 2, after a harrowing scramble through the lower canyon, Fraser expressed disappointment in his discovery of the great uncharted river that Thompson would later name for him: "This river is, therefore, not the Columbia. If I had been convinced of this when I left the canoes, I would certainly have returned." Yet Fraser's achievement was immense, for it laid an unequivocal cornerstone for British sovereignty west of the Rockies. The 1846 Treaty of Washington finally settled the border as an extension of the 49th parallel to the coast, with a dogleg down the Juan de Fuca Strait to accommodate the British claim to Vancouver Island. In the deal, Britain gave up land south of the 49th parallel. The agreement came just in time. Americans would soon be swarming across the border, lured by the siren call of gold. Strikes in the Fraser River, in California, again in British Columbia, and in the Yukon sparked development of the province's Interior, first with routes for miners, then cattle drives and finally settlers. But under the initially frenetic and later more orderly development ran one defining element, the Fraser River. To a large extent, this is an Ecotour of the Fraser River, for it has influenced much of the natural and human history of the province. Take time to explore a region packed with drama, in landscapes, in history and particularly in the human ecology that is unfolding at the river's end. You have the choice of two routes. After separating at Victoria, these routes meet at Exit 66, near Fort Langley, and again at Hope, before making their separate ways to Kamloops. If you are taking a return trip, try each route to get the most out of your journey. The westward trip affords better views of the magnificent Thompson and Fraser canyons. The Coquihalla Highway, itself packed with interest, cuts 90 minutes off the journey. But neither route is to be rushed. Pause for a while, savour the grandeur of the country and its history. Remember the Chinese proverb: it is better to travel than to arrive.