One of the most diverse and remarkable landscapes in North America.

The Tatlayoko Field Station is set …

• in a transition zone – topographically, at the transition between the Chilcotin Plateau and the Coast Mountains; climatically, at the transition between the dry interior and wet coastal climates.

• in the headwaters of Homathko River, one of four watersheds that rise near one another on the interior plateau and transect the Coast Mountains through low-lying valleys as they descend to the fjords of the BC Coast.

• a few kilometres from Tatlayoko Lake, one of numerous lakes, large and small, that typify the transition zone. The large lakes include Chilko, Taseko, and Charlotte, as well as Tatlayoko. Chilko is the highest fjord lake in Canada (1175 m asl).

• at the eastern fringe of the largest unroaded area in western North America south of 52 degrees latitude. This wild area spans the Coast Range, from the dry interior to the Great Bear Rainforest.

• approximately seventy kilometres from the highest mountains wholly within BC (Mount Waddington 4019 m) and some of its largest glaciers.

• in the midst of a wildlife population with the full complement of species and intact predator-prey ecosystems.

• close to Chilko River, which is the site of one of the largest salmon runs on Fraser River. One of the largest concentrations of grizzly bears in North America occurs on the upper Chilko River each year in conjunction with the salmon run.

• in the traditional lands of the Tsilhqot’in people. The western boundary of the recently established Aboriginal Title Area is a kilometre from the Field Station. Potato Mountain (Chinaz Ch’ez in the Tsilhqot’in language), geologically unique and of high cultural value, is nearby. Indeed, Potato Mountain is a significant part of the viewscape of the Field Station.

• in beautiful Tatlayoko Valley, with its agrarian mix of ranches and small holdings nestled beneath the mountains. Tatlayoko is one of several small communities that center on the hub community of Tatla Lake, BC (area population approximately 400).

• in the midst of an array of interesting transects for ecologists and climate scientists: low to high (sea level to top of Mount Waddington 30 km away); wet coastal to dry (318 mm annual precipitation at Kleena Kleene); warm to cold (cedar hemlock forests to IDF to pine to alpine).