Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park
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Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park
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| location | British Columbia (Canada) | |
| surface | 320.35 km² | |
| WDPA ID | 18643 | |
| Geographical location | 49 ° 47 ' N , 117 ° 8' W | |
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| Sea level | from 1250 m to 2850 m | |
| Setup date | February 6, 1922 | |
| administration | BC parks | |
The Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park is a 32,035 ha large provincial park in Canada's British Columbia . The park was established in 1922 and is located a few miles west of Ainsworth Hot Springs in the Regional District of Central Kootenay .
The word Kokanee is the Anglicization of a word from the Salish language and means "red fish", the word refers to the sockeye salmon .
investment
The park, located in the Kokanee Range , which is part of the Slocan Ranges and a sub-chain of the Selkirk Mountains, is characterized by numerous mountains. Several of the mountains reach a height of more than 2500 m . At 2801 m, Cond Peak is the highest point in the park and also the highest mountain in the Kokanee Range. The reserve includes numerous mountain lakes and streams, which are fed by the Kokanee Glacier, the Caribou Glacier, the Woodbury Glacier and three other small glaciers. The Kokanee Glacier is the largest of them with an area of about 4 km². The park is a category II protected area ( national park ).
history
As with almost all provincial parks in British Columbia, it is also true that long before the area was settled by European immigrants or it became part of a park, it was a hunting and fishing area of various First Nations tribes , here the Ktunaxa and the Okanagan . However, no archaeological finds were made.
The Kokanee Glacier Area has had a rich history of alpine mining since the late 1880s, which began as early as the late 1880s. During the mining boom, the mountains around the Kokanee Glacier were also explored. Deposits of silver, lead, zinc and small amounts of gold were found. In the early 1900s, there were numerous small production sites and mines throughout the area that is now the park. Many of the park's hiking trails that exist today were originally laid out by the miners for transporting ore.
The park was established on February 6, 1922, making it, along with Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park, the fourth oldest of the Provincial Parks in British Columbia .
The park gained notoriety in Canada in 1998 when the son of former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and brother of future Prime Minister Justin Trudeau died in an avalanche accident.
Flora and fauna
Due to its altitude between 1350 m and 2800 m , most of the park is in a subalpine vegetation zone . British Columbia's ecosystem is divided into different biogeoclimatic zones using the Biogeoclimatic Ecological Classification (BEC) Zoning System . Biogeoclimatic zones are characterized by a fundamentally identical or very similar climate and the same or very similar biological and geological conditions. This results in a very similar population of plants and animals in the respective zones. Within the British Columbia ecosystem, the area is assigned to seven different zones (the Alpine Tundra Zone , the Englemann Spruce-Subalpine Fir Zone with four different subzones and the Interior Cedar-Hemlock Zone with two different subzones). The largest part of the park is assigned to the Englemann Spruce-Subalpine Fir Zone .
The vegetation is typical for this altitude. Only lichens and other low hardy plants are found on the exposed rock and gravel moraine near the peaks. Up to the tree line are Engelmann spruce , Pinus albicaulis , Rocky Mountain fir , lodgepole pine , western hemlock American and the giant tree of life (in the English language "Western Red Cedar" called) common. With a share of around 30%, large parts of the forest cover are still assigned to primary forest cover .
Numerous small and large mammal species live in the park and the surrounding area. An important reason for the enlargement of the park in 1995 was that in addition to puma and black bear , grizzly bears also live in the park . Other larger mammal species living in the park are the mountain goat , the white-tailed deer and the elk . Smaller mammal species in the park are for example the fishing marten , the wolverine , the ice-gray marmot , the pika or the Columbia ground squirrel .
Bull trout (an endangered species on the Red List of Endangered Species ), cutthroat trout , brook trout and the coregonine species Prosopium williamsoni ( English mountain whitefish ) can be found in the lakes and streams . In addition to bullheads , Western ornamental turtles can also be found in the waters.
Many bird species are native to the park area, the park administration identifies around 60 different species in the park, including the pine grouse , the white-tailed ptarmigan , the titmouse and the winter hammer . The diademed jay , the heraldic bird of British Columbia, also occurs in the park. The largest bird of prey in the park is the bald eagle .
activities
There is no access to the park via developed roads. Access is only possible via various lumberjack roads. The best access provides it in the Kokanee Creek Provincial Park on Highway 3A branching "Kokanee Glacier Park Road". Since the park can only be reached on poorly developed roads, it is mainly used by hikers and mountaineers as well as for heli-skiing.
There are various types of accommodation available ("Kokanee Glacier Cabin", "Silver Spray Cabin", "Woodbury Cabin") but their capacity is limited. These accommodations are not managed and serviced by BC Parks, but by the Alpine Club of Canada . There is also a campsite at Kaslo Lake.
Trivia
The park is also known in Canada because the Grays Peak located there (at 2753 m the second highest point in the park) is shown on the label of the Kokannee Glacier Beer from Columbia Brewery , which belongs to the Labatt Brewing Company .
Neighboring parks
In the area which is bounded by Kootenay Lake and Slocum Lake as well as Highway 6 and Highway 31 there are further provincial parks. In addition to Kokanee Creek Provincial Park in the south, these are Kootenay Lake Provincial Park and Cody Caves Provincial Park in the east . Goat Range Provincial Park and Summit Lake Provincial Park can be found in the north and Rosebery Provincial Park in the west .
Web links
- Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park . In: BC Geographical Names (English)
- Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park The park's English-language website at BC Parks
- Information to the park on britishcolumbia.com (Engl.)
Individual evidence
- ^ Cond Peak in the Internet version of the English-language Canadian Mountain Encyclopedia
- ↑ World Database on Protected Areas - Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park (English)
- ↑ Biogeoclimatic Zones of British Columbia. British Columbia Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations , accessed March 20, 2018 .
- ^ Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park - Management Plan. (PDF, 53 MB) British Columbia Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks , January 2010, accessed on March 20, 2018 .
- ^ Ecosystems of British Columbia. (PDF, 10.31 MB) British Columbia Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, February 1991, accessed on March 20, 2018 .
- ^ Background Report. (PDF, 778 KB) British Columbia Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks, January 2004, accessed on March 20, 2018 .
- ↑ Grays Peak in the Internet version of the English-language Canadian Mountain Encyclopedia