BC Hydro is seeking to remove part of a provincial protected area near Terrace, B.C., to make way for a transmission line that will power the liquefied natural gas and mining industries. In a recently released environmental impact assessment, BC Hydro says its favoured route for the North Coast Transmission Line cuts through part of the Swan Creek Protected Area, an unlogged watershed bordering the Zymoetz River. The Zymoetz, known locally as the Copper River, is a tributary of the Skeena River and has a recreational steelhead fishery and chinook spawning areas. While the portion that BC Hydro aims to remove is relatively small — 12.4 hectares, or about five per cent of the protected area — it includes old-growth forest, winter habitat for moose, wetlands, fish-bearing tributaries of the Zymoetz River and habitat suitable for multiple species at risk of extinction.