Churn Creek Protected Area

Churn Creek Protected Area
IUCN category VI (protected area with sustainable use of natural resources)
Map of British Columbia, Canada
Location	British Columbia, Canada
Coordinates	51°26′28″N 122°19′19″W / 51.441°N 122.322°W / 51.441; -122.322Coordinates: 51°26′28″N 122°19′19″W / 51.441°N 122.322°W / 51.441; -122.322
Area	36,747 ha (90,800 acres)
Established	1995
Governing body	BC Parks
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/churn.html

The Churn Creek Protected Area is a 36,747-hectare (90,800-acre) provincial protected area in British Columbia, Canada. It is a mix of dryland canyon and steppe and adjoining rangeland flanking the canyon of Churn Creek and that stream's confluence with the Fraser River at the northern apex of the Camelsfoot Range. The historic Gang Ranch is just north of the Churn Creek Protected Area. The Empire Valley Ranch ecological preserve was added to the Protected Area in an expansion.

The protected area is located in the southwestern area of the province of British Columbia, in the Cariboo region, on the southern edge of the Chilcotin Plateau. It encompasses most of the drainage area of Churn Creek, and its eastern boundary is the Fraser River. The southern portion of the park includes a large expanse of the western bank of the Fraser, including the lower parts of the drainages of Grinder and Lone Cabin creeks. It also includes several small lakes. The terrain is deeply cut by rivers and creeks into canyons and benchlands, and the Camelsfoot Range rises to more than 1,500 meters (4,900 ft) in the western extreme of the park. The Churn Creek canyon contains erosional features, such as pillars and hoodoos.

The Churn Creek area has been home to Tsilhqot'in and Secwepemc First Nations people for at least 7000 years. After the discovery of gold in the Cariboo region in the mid-1800s, Europeans moved into the area. They brought with them the smallpox virus to which the First Nations people had no resistance. The population of the Tcexwe’ptem band in the Empire Valley was drastically reduced by smallpox in the 1860s, with the survivors joining the Canoe and Dog Creek bands to the east. Ranching became an important industry in the region; two large ranches, the Empire Valley and the Gang were formed around Churn Creek in the latter part of the 19th century.