the Stikine basin in BC was within provincial parks, and including the SMZs, about 60 percent of the basin was under some form of conservation management. Spatsizi Plateau Wilderness Provincial Park, established in 1975, encompasses in the upper Stikine, Spatsizi and Klappan River drainages. The western edge of the park can be reached by hiking or biking along the old BC Rail grade, which provides access to several trails leading into the park (motorized vehicles are not allowed). To the north is the long, narrow Stikine River Provincial Park, which protects the Stikine River corridor from the Chukachida River confluence nearly to Telegraph Creek. The Grand Canyon of the Stikine is almost entirely within the park boundaries. First established in 1987 and expanded in 2000 to include the Grand Canyon, the park now includes of the Stikine valley along the western foothills of the Cassiar Mountains. Further downstream the Stikine flows through the northern part of Mount Edziza Provincial Park, established in 1972 to preserve the landscape of basalt flows, cinder cones and craters surrounding the dormant volcano Mount Edziza, which last erupted 10,000 years ago. All three parks provide opportunities for wilderness camping, wildlife viewing, horseback riding, hunting, and fishing. Several parks along the lower Stikine River can be reached only by boat. The Great Glacier Provincial Park, located near the BC–Alaska border, is home to one of the largest glaciers along the lower Stikine River. Descending from the Stikine Icefield, the glacier forms a meltwater lake that empties directly into the river. Directly across the river is the small Choquette Hot Springs Provincial Park, which includes the namesake hot springs and the site of Alexander Choquette's Stikine Gold Rush trading post. In Alaska, the entirety of the river is within the Stikine-LeConte Wilderness of the Tongass National Forest. Designated in 1980, the wilderness includes temperate rainforest, the Stikine River estuary, and the LeConte Glacier – the southernmost tidewater glacier in North America – just to the north of the Stikine's mouth. The U.S. Forest Service maintains twelve recreational cabins and several primitive campsites along the Stikine River. Economic use and development Fishing The Canadian portion of the Stikine River has had a commercial gillnet fishery, based out of Telegraph Creek, since 1975. Due to its remote location, commercial fishing struggled until 1979, when a system was devised to preserve fish in brine-filled barges before transportation by air to