Hans Granander

Michael Wigle

Bella Coola
Life in the Heart of the Coast Mountains
HANS GRANANDER AND MICHAEL WIGLE

ISBN 1-55017-305-7 • 8.5 x 11 • 160 pp • 160 full-colour photos • $32.95, cloth
Local Interest/Photography

From abundant wildlife to vast old-growth forests to fascinating and diverse cultures, the Bella Coola Valley holds the best of the natural splendour and rich heritage that typifies BC.

The valley lies in the misty heart of British Columbia's West Coast, where the Pacific spills into forest-clad cracks in the Coast Mountains. The waters here are dappled with lush islands and teem with life, including all five species of salmon. To the east and south sprawls Tweedsmuir Provincial Park, the largest in BC. Between the sea and mountains, fog shrouds the Great Bear Rainforest, 2.7 million hectares of old-growth forest.

In Bella Coola: Life in the Heart of the Coast Mountains , long-time Bella Coola residents Hans Granander and Michael Wigle explore both the awe-inspiring wilderness and the intriguing history of the valley. We are introduced to some of the valley's free spirits, from the Nuxalk to the Norwegians who began farming around Hagensborg in 1894, to the canners and loggers of the 20th century. There's Ralph Edwards, who established a homestead at Lonesome Lake in 1912 and became famous for nursing its swans through hard winters; rancher and outdoorsman Clayton Mack, who was guide and storyteller to Hollywood stars; and Margaret Siwallace, who earned academic honours for her translations of Nuxalk lore.

There are two kinds of West Coast travellers: those impatient to make their
first pilgrimage to Bella Coola, and those yearning to return to it. Whichever
you are, here's your ticket.

Hans Granander has been a professional forester for 16 years and has extensive experience in land use and public planning. He has lived in the Bella Coola area for 13 years with his wife and two children. Michael Wigle has lived on the Central Coast of British Columbia for 19 years and worked in the Bella Coola area as a tree planter, longshoreman, salmon hatchery technician, on watershed assessment and restoration projects and, through it all, as a photographer and naturalist. His photos have appeared in BC Outdoors magazine and the book British Columbia: A Natural History as well as numerous brochures, websites and tour guides in the area.

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Contact the photographer at:
 j umpingmouse@belco.bc.ca
for signed copies of the book

Jumping Mouse Studio

Photography of the Central Coast of British Columbia ... and Beyond.

Photographer: Michael Wigle

Birds of the Raincoast

Habits and Habitat

By Harvey Thommasen & Kevin Hutchings
With Wayne Campbell & Mark Hume

Photographs by Michael Wigle & Wayne Campbell
AVAILABLE
1-55017-300-6
Harbour Publishing
8.5 x 11 · 222 pages
Hardback · $44.95 Cdn., $39.95 US
220 colour photos
October 2004




Birds of the Raincoast is a book that moves beyond simple identification to probe deeper into the lives of our feathered friends.

• Did you know the American redstart turns its eggs every eight minutes to ensure the developing bird stays warm on allsides?
• Did you know the female bufflehead, the smallest of all waterfowl in North America, weighs less than a pound, or only 325 grams? The largest waterfowl, the trumpeter swan, weighs over 30 pounds or 13.6 kilograms.
• Did you know that birds that spend a lot of their lives on the ocean can drink seawater? They have large glands nestled between their eyes that remove excess salt from the blood.
• Did you know at least 32 species of birds are known to eat snakes? Even the American robin has been seen feeding young garter snakes to its babies.

Birds of the Raincoast represents the next step in West Coast bird books, a treasury of exceptional, large-format photographs with an informative text that moves beyond simple identification to probe deeper into the lives of our feathered friends. It examines birds in their environments, noting what they do, and where and when they can be found. In an engaging, familiar style enlivened by the authors’personal experience and highlighted with intriguing facts by renowned bird biologist Wayne Campbell, Birds of the Raincoast is an indispensable tool not just for learning how to find coastal birds, but also for gaining an understanding of their natural history.


New Release (Oct.2004) from Harbour Publishing