Skeena West. 
Know before you go
Advisories
Safety information
- Bring your own drinking water as potable water is not available in the park.
- Visitors using the inlet as an overnight anchorage should be aware of tidal fluctuations, particularly near the estuary, where water depths can vary considerably. High winds are also frequent in this area.
Special notes
- All guided tours must be with a permitted guide.
- When you arrive in the Khutzeymateen Inlet, all visitors are required to check in at the K’tzim-a-deen Ranger Station in the inlet.
- Ensure that public and commercial operators do not disturb bears from daily activities. Public and commercial bear viewing may have an adverse impact upon grizzly bears foraging behaviours thereby reducing nutritional intake. Disturbing bears that are not tolerant to viewing can interrupt mating, feeding, resting and other important functions. Bears need an opportunity to secure adequate quantities of food if they choose not to forage where
viewers are present. Park managers will accept the habituation of some grizzly bears as a management strategy to ensure a safe and predicable response from bears and benign interactions between viewing groups and bears.
Sanctuary Hazards & Special Regulation
- Boaters entering the sanctuary should keep to the centre of the inlet to avoid disturbing bears. All visitors must register at the K’tzim-a-deen Ranger Station upon entering the sanctuary. An interpretive centre is located at the ranger station and is open to the public.
- You can contact the Ranger Station on Marine VHF channel 18 U.S.
- Land access is prohibited within the park.
- Unguided public access to the river estuary is not permitted.
- The hunting of grizzly bear is prohibited and hunting of other wildlife is restricted to areas above 1000 metres elevation. Please check the BC Hunting and Trapping Regulations Synopsis for more information.
Review the detailed guides under visit responsibly for more information on staying safe and preserving our natural spaces.
Visit responsibly
Follow these guides to ensure your activities are safe, respectful, and ecologically friendly:
Maps and location
Getting there
This park is located 45 km northeast of Prince Rupert. The Khutzeymateen is accessible by marine transportation, only. The closest communities are Lax Kw’alaams, Kincolith, Port Edward, and Prince Rupert.
Things to do
There is an interpretive centre located at the guardian station. The centre is open to the public May through mid-September.
There is no viewing platform but water-based bear and wildlife viewing is excellent at river estuaries throughout the inlet.
About this park
The area is located within the traditional territories of the Coast Tsimshian (Metlakatla and Lax Kw’alaams First Nations) who have occupied the area since time immemorial. Specifically, the area is within the traditional territory of the Gitsi’is. The Gitsi’is (people of the seal trap) are one of nine Allied Tsimshian Tribes that make up the Coast Tsimshian First Nations. The Khutzeymateen protected areas are an intensive traditional use area within the territory of the Coast Tsimshian First Nations and have been used since time immemorial for cultural, social and economic purposes.
The Khutzeymateen protects these important traditional harvesting resources, wildlife and biological diversity, and sustains traditional use opportunities.
The topography of this land and marine sanctuary is diverse, with rugged peaks towering to 2100 metres above a valley of wetlands, old growth temperate rainforests, and a large estuary.
The Khutzeymateen protected areas are closed to the harvest of grizzly bears. In addition, the lands adjacent to the protected areas are also closed to grizzly bear harvest as part of the Nass-Skeena Grizzly Bear No Hunting Area7.
The ultimate purpose of this area is to protect the north coast grizzly bear by the ecosystems in which they live. These protected areas include an entire intact coastal watershed (Khutzeymateen-Kateen Rivers) and much of the land surrounding a fjord that contains a very high density of grizzly bears, with over 50 individual bears seen in one season. Such abundance is due to the high quality grizzly bear habitat in the area consisting of forbs and sedges (Lyngby’s sedge) and pacific salmon spawning streams. Features associated with the bears include bear mark trails, rubbing trees, and wallows.
Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples
BC Parks honours Indigenous Peoples’ connection to the land and respects the importance of their diverse teachings, traditions, and practices within these territories. This park webpage may not adequately represent the full history of this park and the connection of Indigenous Peoples to this land. We are working in partnership with Indigenous Peoples to update our websites so that they better reflect the history and cultures of these special places.
Contact
| General questions and feedback for BC Parks | We answer emails weekdays from 9 am to 5 pm Pacific Time. |
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