Cape Scott Provincial Park
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Cape Scott Provincial Park
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 Experiment Bight in Cape Scott Provincial Park |
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| location | British Columbia (Canada) | |
| surface | 222.94 km² | |
| WDPA ID | 4186 | |
| Geographical location | 50 ° 50 ′ N , 128 ° 8 ′ W | |
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| Setup date | May 18, 1973 | |
| administration | BC parks | |
The Cape Scott Provincial Park is a 220 km² large Provincial Park in the Canadian province of British Columbia . It is located about 60 kilometers northwest of Port Hardy on the northwest tip of Vancouver Island in the island part of the Regional District of Mount Waddington .
investment
The park is a wilderness area and extends over the northwest tip of Vancouver Island. It protects over 115 km of the rough and rugged coastline to the Pacific Ocean from Nissen Bay in the north to San Josef Bay in the south. rocky promontories and rugged headlands alternate with bays with a total of 30 km of sandy beaches. The largest beach is the 2500 m long and 200 m wide beach of Nels Bight , other beaches are the 1500 m long beach of Nissen Bight , the San Josef Bay , Guise Bay , Experiment Bight and Lowrie Bay . In the northwest is the deeply cut Hansen Lagoon . The highest point in the park is the 422 m high Mount St. Patrick above San Josef Bay. Numerous streams and smaller rivers such as the San Josef River and the Fisherman River flow through the park . The largest lake in the park area is the 44 hectare Eric Lake in the southeast part of the park.
The climate in the park is maritime , very rough and rainy. The cape is often storm-blown, the park has between 3750 and 5000 mm of annual precipitation.
The park is a category II protected area ( national park ).
history
Three Indian tribes - Tlatlasikwala , Nakumgilisala and Yutlinuk - divided the region at Cape Scott before the beginning of white settlement. The Yutlinuk tribe died out at the beginning of the 19th century, the Nakumgilisala and Tlatasikwala merged around 1850 and moved to Hope Island , where they lived until 1954. That year the 32 Indians still living there united with the Koskimo tribe and moved south to Quatsino Sound. Today the Indians are known as Nahwitti , who own six reservations, including three in the park area.
Cape Scott was named after its financier, David Scott , a Bombay merchant , in 1786 by a two-ship trade expedition led by James Strange . Several bays were named after the two ships, Experiment and Captain Cook , as well as the two captains Guise and Lowrie . From 1897 Danish immigrants tried to build a settlement near Cape Scott. Most of them came from the northern Prairie States in the hope that they could build a Danish settlement on Hansen Lagoon and Fisherman Bay. The settlement was difficult to reach, a road to Holberg, the closest settlement, was never built, so the settlers could not market their meat and dairy products. The settlers tried to make a living from fishing and fur hunting, but in 1907 they gave up and left the settlement. Only a few remains of buildings and names such as Nels Bight, Hansen Lagoon and Frederiksen Point are reminiscent of the Danish settlement.
By 1909, fewer than 60 people lived between Cape Scott and Holberg. In 1913 a second wave of immigration began with settlers from Washington State , the Canadian Prairie Provinces and from Europe. Many of the settlers used the abandoned houses of the Danish settlers, others settled at Fisherman Bay and San Josef Bay. At times almost 1000 people lived on Cape Scott, but the harsh climate and finally drafting into the army from 1917 led to the end of the colony, so that Cape Scott was deserted again in the 1920s.
During the Second World War, a small radar station was built at Cape Scott, which remained in operation until 1945. In 1960 a lighthouse was built on the site of the radar system. Today's lighthouse consists of a metal structure built in 1981. The area belongs to the Canadian Coast Guard and is not open to the public.
The Provincial Park was established in 1973. On July 12, 1995, the park was expanded to include the 6,750-acre Nahwitti-Shushartie coastline, a narrow strip of land along the north coast of Vancouver Island.
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Flora and fauna
Within the British Columbia ecosystem, the area is classified as the Very wet hypermaritime subzone within the Coastal Western Hemlock Zone .
The park area is overgrown with a rainforest made up of gigantic indigenous trees and Nootka false cypresses , coastal pines and West American hemlocks, as well as a dense undergrowth of Shallon pseudo-berries , raspberries , evergreen blueberries and ferns. On the coast, stands of old Sitka spruces dominate , the largest tree is a Sitka spruce with a circumference of seven meters north of the campsite at Eric Lake.
The Hansen Lagoon, an arm of the sea cut deep into the land, is an important resting place for Canada geese , goosander , trumpeter swans and other waterfowl on their migration. Beavers, elk , mule deer , black bears , pumas and wolves live in the park, seals , sea lions , sea otters and mink live on the coast and dolphins , gray and killer whales can be found in the sea . Rainbow and cutthroat trout live in the rivers and streams, and from June to September the waters are the destination for migrations of king , red , humpback and silver salmon .
activities
The park, accessible all year round, is a wilderness area with almost no tourist facilities. The park can only be reached by car via a 60 km long dirt forest road from Port Hardy. From the parking lot at the end of the road, eleven different trekking trails lead through the park, including the 23 km long Cape Scott Trail. Since May 2008, the 43 km long North Coast Trail has been branching off the Cape Scott Trail from Nissen Bay to Shushartie Bay along the north coast of Vancouver Island. Together with the section of the Cape Scott Trail, the wilderness trail is 59 km long and can be tackled in about five to eight days in one direction by experienced outdoor hikers. However, there are no roads or paths leading back from Shushartie Bay, so hikers either have to go back the same way or be picked up by helicopter or water taxi.
Camping inside the park is permitted on primitive campsites or on the beaches and is subject to a fee from May to September. There are two simple campsites just outside the park boundary. With the appropriate licenses, fishing and sometimes hunting in the park is also permitted.
Because of its remoteness, the harsh, rainy climate and the lack of tourist facilities, a visit to the park is only recommended for suitably equipped and outdoor-experienced visitors. The park administration estimated the number of annual visitors at around 6,500 in 2003. The construction of the North Coast Trail , which is considered more natural and more extreme than the West Coast Trail , is intended to increase the number of visitors.
Web links
- Cape Scott Provincial Park . In: BC Geographical Names (English)
- Cape Scott Provincial Park In: English language park website at BC Parks
Individual evidence
- ↑ World Database on Protected Areas - Cape Scott Park (English)
- ^ Lighthousefriends.com: Cape Scott, BC. Retrieved January 10, 2012 .
- ↑ a b c Management Plan for Cape Scott Provincial Park. (PDF; 970.51 kB) British Columbia Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks , September 2003, accessed on February 26, 2013 (English).
- ^ Ecosystems of British Columbia. (PDF; 9.85 MB) British Columbia Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations , February 1991, accessed on February 26, 2013 .
- ^ Cape Scott Provincial Park: Information brochure. (PDF; 208.50 kB) British Columbia Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks , accessed on January 10, 2012 (English).
- ↑ Vancouverislandabound: Cape Scott Provincial Park. Retrieved January 10, 2012 .