Golden Ears Provincial Park

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Golden Ears Provincial Park

IUCN Category II - National Park

Parking sign at the entrance

Parking sign at the entrance

location Greater Vancouver Regional District and Fraser Valley Regional District
British Columbia , (Canada)
surface 625.4 km²
WDPA ID 21197
Geographical location 49 ° 20 '  N , 122 ° 28'  W Coordinates: 49 ° 19 '30 "  N , 122 ° 27' 36"  W.
Golden Ears Provincial Park, British Columbia
Golden Ears Provincial Park
Setup date Dec 14, 1967
administration BC parks

The Golden Ears Provincial Park is a 62,540-hectare Provincial Park in the Canadian province of British Columbia . The park is 60 kilometers east of Vancouver . It is located in the Coast Mountains on the north side of the Fraser River . The park can be easily reached from Vancouver on Highway 7 (Lougheed Highway) , which you have to leave in Maple Ridge .

investment

The park is one of the largest provincial parks in British Columbia. Although there are many people living in the vicinity, it is somewhat remote from the inhabited areas. Only after driving around 10 kilometers past the last houses can you reach the actual park entrance. On this route, however, there are various parking spaces, and then horse riding or hiking.
The park is a category II protected area ( national park ).

The park was named after the twin peaks of the Golden Ears mountain group .

history

The park was created in 1967 by splitting off from Garibaldi Provincial Park . The split took place because the two parks are separated by an almost insurmountable mountain ridge. Long before the area became part of a park, however, the lake and its wooded surroundings were the traditional hunting and fishing area of ​​various tribes of the inland Salish and coastal Salish of the First Nations . In the 1920s there were still very large logging events in the area. This ended in 1931 after a catastrophic fire that completely destroyed the logging base. On one of the campsites (Alouette Campground), however, brick foundations of the base can still be found.

Flora and fauna

The flora and fauna largely correspond to that in Garibaldi Provincial Park.

Within the British Columbia ecosystem, the park area is assigned to three different zones, the Mountain Hemlock Zone , the Coastal Western Hemlock Zone (with the Dry Maritime Subzone ) and the Coastal Mountain-Heather Alpine Zone . These biogeoclimatic zones are characterized by the same or a similar climate and the same or similar biological and geological conditions. This results in a very similar population of plants and animals in the respective zones.

In addition to the Douglas fir , the purple fir , the coastal pine and the Nootka false cypress, it is mainly the West American hemlock that grows here (called the Coastal Western Hemlock in English-speaking countries ). In addition to these conifers, there are also red alder and grape-leaf maple in the park. The trees are partially covered with epiphytic lichens and mosses. Here, too, the forest has an undergrowth of ferns, e.g. B. from the genus of worm ferns , sedges and heather plants. The Pacific flowering dogwood , the heraldic plant of British Columbia, which is widespread in large parts of the province , is also found here.

Since the area of ​​the more remote part of the park is only sparsely populated or not populated at all, black bears , grizzly bears , wolves , pumas , bobcats , elk and mule deer can also be found here . The smaller mammals and predators in the park include, for example, the real marten , the snowshoe hare , the ice-gray marmot , the Douglas squirrel , red -toothed shrew and various chipmunks . Amphibians and reptiles include a. the coastal tail frog , the northern red-legged frog (Rana aurora) from the genus of real frogs and the eastern ornamental turtle . The park administration puts the number of bird species occurring here at 140. These include the common loon ( called Loonie in the English-speaking area ), the grebes , the hawk and the bald eagle . Great blue herons and green herons can also be found here . Sockeye salmon , pink salmon and king salmon as well as rainbow trout , as an anadromous migratory fish ( called steelhead in English-speaking countries ), and cutthroat trout can be found in the lakes and streams .

activities

Alouette Lake in the park

As one of the largest parks in the province and due to its proximity to the metropolitan area of ​​Vancouver , the park is valued for its recreational opportunities. The extensive system of trails within the park provides excellent opportunities for hiking and horse riding. Alouette Lake is very popular for swimming, windsurfing, water skiing, canoeing, boating, and fishing.

The park has a total of 409 RV and tent pitches on its three campsites, Alouette, Gold Creek and North Beach. He has numerous sanitary facilities with showers.

Trivia

The park has served as a backdrop in various films

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ World Database on Protected Areas - Golden Ears Park (English)
  2. ↑ Golden Ears Provincial Park - Management Plan. (PDF; 2.28 MB) British Columbia Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks , December 2012, accessed on January 3, 2013 .
  3. ^ Ecosystems of British Columbia. (PDF; 10.31 MB) British Columbia Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations , February 1991, accessed on January 3, 2013 .
  4. ↑ Biogeoclimatic Zones of British Columbia. British Columbia Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, accessed May 3, 2016 .