Helliwell Provincial Park
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Helliwell Provincial Park
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 The cliff at St. John's Point |
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| location | British Columbia (Canada) | |
| surface | 28.72 km² | |
| WDPA ID | 65221 | |
| Geographical location | 49 ° 31 ′ N , 124 ° 36 ′ W | |
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| Sea level | from 0 m to 30 m | |
| Setup date | September 16, 1966 | |
| administration | BC parks | |
The Helliwell Provincial Park is a 2,872-hectare Provincial Park in the Canadian province of British Columbia . The park is located on Hornby Island , a few kilometers as the crow flies off the east coast of Vancouver Island and is part of the Comox Valley Regional District .
Since the park is on Hornby Island, it can only be reached by ferry. However, this only operates from the Gravelly Bay Ferry Terminal on Denman Island.
investment
The park is located on a wooded headland called St. John's Point in the extreme southwest of the island and is surrounded by the waters of the Northern Strait of Georgia . In addition to the 69 hectares of land, the park area also includes 2803 hectares of intertidal zones and surrounding waters. The terrain is relatively rocky, but largely flat with slight bumps. The cliff on the southern coast drops steeply between 10 and 15 meters. The highest point is in the northeastern park area and is around 30 meters.
The park also includes the small island Flora Islet off St. John's Point , which is actually just a larger rock in the sea.
The park is a category II protected area ( national park ).
history
The park was established in 1966. The park changed both its status and its boundaries over time. The park grew from the original 160 acres , which corresponds to around 64.75 hectares, to its present size.
The park is named after JL Helliwell, who donated the area for the park to the province.
However, as with almost all provincial parks in British Columbia, this one too, long before the area was settled by immigrants or became part of a park, it was the settlement and hunting / fishing area of various tribes of the First Nations , here mainly the Pentlatch people , was.
Flora and fauna
Within the British Columbia ecosystem, the park area is assigned to the Moist Maritime Subzone within the Coastal Douglas fir Zone . These biogeoclimatic zones are characterized by the same or a very 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.
The year-round mild and humid climate, with the months July and August deviating from it being rather dry and warm, leads to ideal growth conditions. An equally large piece of this temperate coastal rainforest contains twice the biomass of a tropical rainforest.
There was no forestry use in the park, trees were only felled for local use. As a result, there is a relatively large number of plants in the park. The trees mainly include the Douglas fir and Oregon oak as well as the giant arborvitae and the red alder . This biodiversity continues in the undergrowth with numerous different plants. There are, for example, rare pearl grasses , various primrose plants , the edible prairie lily or the Castilleja (in English "Indian paintbrush") in the park . The park administration lists around 15 plants that are assessed as threatened or previously threatened by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada . The situation is assessed in a similar way for small mammals and birds.
The detectable animal species correspond to the island location of the park. There are only various small predators on land. There are no large predators in the park on the landside. The same is true of mammals, i. H. mainly small mammals live here. The largest mammal found here on land is the mule deer .
The bird world is very extensive, both sea and land birds can be found here. Similar to the plants, the park is also an important protected area for birds. Seabirds such as the pelagic cormorant , the harlequin duck , the long-tailed duck , the Common Goldeneye , the Common Merganser and the glaucous-winged gull predominate, but also normal birds such as the Small Yellowlegs occur.
The sea and the numerous small and large rocks provide habitat and food, for example in the form of the Pacific herring or the surf perch and the numerous species of salmon, for seals and Steller's sea lions as well as for the common porpoise , the white-flanked porpoise and the killer whale . The snub-nosed six-gill shark also lives here .
Neighboring parks
In addition to this park, there are other provincial parks on Hornby Island. At the beginning of the headland on which Helliwell Provincial Park is located, there is Tribune Bay Provincial Park . Mount Geoffrey Escarpment Provincial Park is on the west coast of the island . There are also municipal parks on the island.
activities
The park does not have a well-developed tourist infrastructure. In addition to a picnic area, the park only has very simple sanitary facilities. In addition to these, various short hiking trails have been laid out in the park.
The park's waters, as well as the waters of Tribune Bay Provincial Park, are popular and excellent cold water diving locations. The French marine researcher Jacques Cousteau has described the entire diving area on the east coast of Vancouver Island and around the Gulf Islands as the best cold water diving area in the world.
See also
Web links
- Helliwell Provincial Park . In: BC Geographical Names (English)
- Helliwell Provincial Park . In: English language website of the park at BC Parks
- Information to the park on britishcolumbia.com (Engl.)
Individual evidence
- ↑ World Database on Protected Areas - Helliwell Park (English)
- ^ Helliwell Provincial Park - Purpose Statement and Zoning Plan. (PDF; 299 kB) British Columbia Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks , February 2003, accessed on January 24, 2013 (English).
- ^ Ecosystems of British Columbia. (PDF; 10.31 MB) British Columbia Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations , February 1991, accessed on January 24, 2013 .
- ↑ Biogeoclimatic Zones of British Columbia. British Columbia Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, accessed May 3, 2016 .
- ↑ For some of the best diving, look no further than BC theglobeandmail.com, April 26, 2011, accessed on September 30, 2015 .