In B.C.'s defense, imo, most of the land to the North is either too mountainous ^[1][2.1]^, or it has too harsh a climate ^[2.2]^. I think it’s also worth noting that 15.4% of B.C.'s lands are protected ^[]^.

::: spoiler References

1. Type: Document (PDF). Title: “BC Fact Sheet”. Publisher: “Super, Natural British Columbia”. Accessed: 2025-08-09T04:10Z. URI: www.hellobc.com/content/…/TM_BCFactSheet.pdf.
   • Type: Text. Location: [§“The Land”. ¶2]

     Ten mountain ranges push west from the Canadian Rockies in the east to the Coast Mountains and the Vancouver Island Ranges in the west, and ancient temperate rainforests hug the coast. In between are rolling grasslands, lush valleys, tens of thousands of lakes, glacier-fed rivers, and even semi-arid desert. Mountains cover 75% of the province.

2. Type: Article. Title: “British Columbia”. Publisher: “Wikipedia”. Published: 2025-08-08T03:18Z. Accessed: 2025-08-09T05:48Z. URI: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia.
   1. Type: Image. Filename: “BC_Elevation.svg”. Author: “Awmcphee”. Published: 2024-04-27. Location: §“Geography”. URI: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BC_Elevation.svg.

      Image.

   2. Type: Image. Filename: “British_Columbia_Köppen.svg”. Author: “Adam Peterson”. Published: 2016-08-12. Location: [§“Geography”§“Climate”]. URI: en.wikipedia.org/…/File:British_Columbia_Köppen.s….

      Image

3. Type: Article. Title: “Protected Lands & Waters in B.C.”. Publisher: [“Environmental Reporting BC”. “Ministry of Environment”. “British Columbia”.]. Published: 2016-06. Accessed: 2025-08-09T05:59Z. URI: env.gov.bc.ca/…/protected-lands-and-waters.html.
   • Type: Text. Location: ¶1.

     […] Protected lands and waters cover 15.4% of B.C.'s land base and 3.2% of B.C.'s marine areas. […]