A coalition of coastal First Nations has achieved a significant step towards protecting the wild shores and waters of the Great Bear Rainforest on B.C’s central coast. The Heiltsuk, Kitasoo/Xai’xais, Nuxalk and Wuikinuxv nations signed an agreement with Ottawa and the province of B.C. to do a feasibility study for a national marine conservation area reserve encompassing a significant section of the coast and offshore marine waters alongside the Great Bear Rainforest. …A significant number of important cultural and spiritual sites, such as petroglyphs, burial boxes, and village sites … are in the proposed conservation study area. One of the largest tracts of temperate rainforest in the world, the Great Bear Rainforest is the size of Ireland and covers 6.4 million hectares… The proposed marine conservation reserve area in the Queen Charlotte Sound region would be wed to the shores of the Great Bear Rainforest.