Floating forest vanishes, reappears 30 km away with wildlife still aboard

A forested island broke loose from the shoreline of northern British Columbia’s Williston Reservoir, drifted across the lake and later reappeared about 30 kilometres away with mature trees, nesting birds and other wildlife still aboard.

Workers and residents witnessed what some locals began calling a “ghost island.” The landmass emerged from saturated, peaty soils along the reservoir’s edge and moved with the wind and currents before grounding downstream. At first, observers thought it might be a submerged feature exposed by falling water levels. Its movement soon showed that it was instead a large slab of soil and vegetation floating like a giant raft.

Floating islands form when mats of vegetation, roots, peat and soil become buoyant enough to lift from the ground. Thick layers of partly decayed plant material can remain light and spongy, while saturated soils reduce friction between layers. Interlocking roots help hold the surface together as a single moving unit.

The Williston Reservoir was formed by the W.A. Bennett Dam on the Peace River and stretches more than 170 kilometres through a boreal landscape of spruce, pine, wetlands and peatlands. The region is warming faster than the global average, while thawing permafrost, shifting precipitation and fluctuating reservoir levels affect shoreline stability and vegetation anchoring. The event has captivated the public and prompted scientists to study whether these changes could produce more drifting landmasses.