mount edziza provincial park, spatsizi plateau wilderness provincial park and stikine river provincial park are the largest provincial parks in the region, which continues to be heavily explored for mineral potentials since first opened up by the stikine gold rush of the 1860s, which forced the creation of the stikine territory, soon afterwards absorbed into the colony of british columbia. the term "stikine district" was also used in reference to the stikine mining district, an administrative jurisdiction. today the term stikine region is a british columbia administrative district, similar to a regional district but not fully qualified as one, but it does not include all of the stikine country and comprises mostly the cassiar country and atlin district, which are to the north and northwest of the stikine country, respectively.