Gulf Islands National Park Reserve

Gulf Islands National Park Reserve is a national park located on and around the Gulf Islands in British Columbia, Canada. In the National Parks System Plan, this park provides representation of the Strait of Georgia Lowlands natural region, the only place in Canada with a Mediterranean climate of dry, sunny summers and mild, wet winters, the result of a rain shadow effect from surrounding mountains between the region and the ocean. It has similar dominant vegetation as the Pacific Northwest, such as coastal Douglas-fir, western red cedar, shore pine, Pacific dogwood, bigleaf maple, and red alder, but also contains the northern extent of some of the more drought tolerant trees such as Garry oak and Arbutus. The park was created in 2003 as the fortieth national park. It covers of area on 16 islands and more than 30 islets, reefs and surrounding waters, making it the sixth smallest national park in Canada.

History

A high proportion of land on the Gulf Islands, over 75%, has been converted to private properties. As settlement and development was impacting character, ecosystems and recreational values, several means of conservation had been initiated. While the province was promoting tourism to the Gulf Islands and establishing provincial parks, such as, among others, D'Arcy Island Marine Park and Princess Margaret Marine Park on D'Arcy Island and Portland Island, respectively, they also established the Islands Trust whose mandate for the gulf islands is "to preserve and protect the trust area and its unique amenities and environment". On the federal level, the local member of parliament David Anderson advocated for an organized conservation effort and Minister of Fisheries Jack Davis commissioned, in 1971, a feasibility study of establishing a marine park. A year before, Parks Canada had released its National Parks System Plan which identified 39 natural regions which should be represented in the park system. The unrepresented Strait of Georgia Lowlands natural region, the smallest and most urbanized natural region in the country, includes the Fraser Lowland and the valleys and islands along the Strait of Georgia, like the Gulf Islands. In 1973 Parks Canada and the US Parks Service jointly published a feasibility study of creating a transboundary protected area here, along with the San Juan Islands and Point Roberts. However, with the provincial government satisfied with the provincial park system in the Gulf Islands and reluctant to forgo resource extraction and development rights, progress towards establishing a national park was delayed until the 1995 announcement of the Canada-British Columbia Pacific Marine Heritage Legacy program. Both the federal and provincial governments pledged $30 million each to acquiring land for conservation purposes generally in the Strait of Georgia area but with the intent of establishing a national park.

On July 26, 2002, of ecologically sensitive land on Saturna Island was donated to the Gulf Island National Park Reserve by Ulla Ressner and John Fry. The park was formally announced on May 9, 2003, with the signing of a memorandum of understanding to take the steps necessary to transfer the agreed upon of lands to the federal government for use as national park. The province followed through in April 2004 with Orders-in-Council 402-404 releasing the properties and all their rights to the Parks Canada including nine provincial parks (Beaumont Marine Park, Cabbage Island Marine Park, D'Arcy Island Marine Park, Isle-de-Lis Marine Park, Princess Margaret Marine Park, Sidney Spit Marine Park, Winter Cove Marine Park, Prior Centennial Park and McDonald Park), as well as the Saturna Island Ecological Reserve and the Brackman Island Ecological Reserve. The former-provincial parks would include almost all of the new National Park's recreational facilities (e.g. camping sites, anchorages, etc.). In addition, more land on Saturna and Pender Islands were added, as well as Reay Island, Greig Island, Hawkins Island, Imrie Island, the Belle Chain Islets, the Channel Islets, and the Red Islets, among other islets.

Climate

The park, along with the Strait of Georgia Lowlands natural region, is situated in a low-lying coastal area surrounded by mountains. While the area experiences the warm air from the Pacific Ocean jet stream, the surrounding mountains of Vancouver Island and the Olympic Mountains strips that air of moisture creating a rain shadow effect. The summers are consequently dry with only a few cloudy days which is classified as a Mediterranean climate. The winters, however, are influenced by Arctic air mixing with Pacific air flows resulting in heavy precipitation and cool temperatures. The park includes a climate monitoring station, in operation since 1989, on Saturna Island; the area experiences an average of of precipitation each year, with over half of that falling in the four-month period between October and February.

Ecology

The terrestrial portion of the park lies within what the province terms the Coastal Douglas-Fir Biogeoclimatic Zone based on the climax vegetation. Coastal Douglas-fir is the most common tree species and is accompanied by western red cedar and grand fir in wetter soils and Arbutus and Garry oak in drier soils. Also present are red alder, shore pine, Pacific dogwood, bigleaf maple, and bitter cherry. In the shrub layer are salal, dull Oregon-grape, oceanspray, baldhip rose, bracken fern, sword fern, lady fern and spiny wood fern. In wetter areas salmonberry, false lily of the valley, vanilla-leaf, and skunk cabbage may be present.

In the sea waters swim orcas, porpoises, seals, salmon, lingcod, shiner perch, saddleback gunnel and three-spined stickleback, among others. The largest land animal in the park would be the black-tailed deer. Fallow deer are also present but are an introduced species from some of the island's history as private hunting grounds. Other terrestrial animals include mink, river otters, raccoons and deer mice. Birds that be seen in the park include cormorant, bald eagle, red-tailed hawk, falcon, turkey vulture, rhinoceros auklet, Brant geese, great blue heron, Hermann's Gulls, and oystercatcher.

Geography

The park consists of of land and of water scattered over and around 16 islands and more than 30 islets and reefs at the southern end of the Gulf Islands archipelago in the Strait of Georgia, Haro Strait and Boundary Pass on the Canadian side of the international border with the United States. The islands have a northwesterly-southeasterly alignment which is partly the result of sedimentary folding within the Nanaimo Basin. Also partly responsible for the shape of the land is the effects of the last ice age when 1.5 km of ice was top off the land and the erosive force carved out softer deposits as the melting water drained into the Pacific Ocean via the Strait of Georgia. Also, the land continues to experience post-glacial rebound which has lifted certain lands higher.

SMONEĆTEN Campground

The park's most accessible feature is the SMONEĆTEN Campground in North Saanich on Vancouver Island, just north of the Town of Sidney. While it covers a area consisting of second-growth forest, the site is divided by the Highway 17 and the Swartz Bay Road overpass and surrounded by urban and agricultural development. The campground had been operated as a provincial park since 1948 before being transferred to Parks Canada in 2004. The campground includes 49 drive-in, frontcountry campsites with potable water, pit toilets, and picnic tables. In 2021, the campground was renamed from McDonald Campground to SMONEĆTEN in collaboration between Parks Canada and the W̱SÁNEĆ Leadership Council.

Sidney Island

The Sidney Island portion of the national park comprises the northern of the island along with another of foreshore area. Its most prominent features are two spits which create long, sandy beaches. Sidney Spit extends for more than to a light beacon at its point. Hook Spit is situated partly down the island and creates a sheltered lagoon with beds of eelgrass