The Queen Charlotte Timber Supply Area lies entirely within the Queen Charlotte Islands, a group of about 150 islands located roughly 70 kilometres off the coast of mainland British Columbia (see map on the cover). The two largest islands, Graham in the north and Moresby to the south, account for about 90 per cent of the land base.
The total area of the Islands is about 1,018,000 hectares. Parks and reserves account for 229,000 hectares (22 per cent), tree farm licence areas for 324,000 hectares (32 per cent), and the timber supply area for the remaining 465,000 hectares (46 per cent).
The timber supply area is mainly located on the east and west sides of Graham Island with a much smaller portion on northwest Moresby Island. The east side of Graham Island is dominated by the relatively flat and poorly drained Queen Charlotte Lowlands. Towards the centre of the island, the land rises to the rolling uplands of the Skidegate Plateau. The Queen Charlotte Ranges dominate the west coast of the island, producing a rain shadow effect; annual precipitation on the west coast averages more than 4,000 millimetres while on the east coast it averages about 1,300 millimetres.
