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British Columbia is the third largest Canadianprovince, both in area and population. It is nearly 1.5 times as large as Texas, and extends 800 miles north from the United States border. It includes Canadas entire west coast andthe islands just off the coast.Most of British Columbia is mountainous, withlong rugged ranges running north and south. Even the coastal islands arethe remains of a mountain range that existed thousands of years ago. During thelast Ice Age, this range was scoured by glaciers until most of it wasbeneath the sea. Its peaks now show as islands scattered along the coast.Thesouthwestern coastal region has a humid mild marine climate.Sea winds that blow inland from the west are warmed by acurrent of warm water that flows through the Pacific Ocean. As a result,winter temperatures average above freezing and summers are mild. Thesewarm western winds also carry moisture from the ocean. Inland from the coast, the winds from the Pacificmeet the mountain barriers of the coastal ranges and the Rocky Mountains.As they rise to cross the mountains, the winds are cooled, and their moisturebegins to fall as rain. On some of the western slopes almost 200 inches of rain fall each year. More than half of British Columbia is heavilyforested. On mountain slopes that receive plentiful rainfall, huge Douglasfirs rise in towering columns. These forest giants often grow to be as much as300 feet tall, with diameters up to 10 feet . More lumber isproduced from these trees than from any other kind of tree inNorth America. Hemlock, red cedar, and balsam fir are among the other treesfound in British Columbia. | 
