Hornby Island of

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, is one of the two northernmost

Gulf Islands The Gulf Islands are a group of islands in the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the mainland coast of British Columbia. Etymology The name "Gulf Islands" comes from "Gulf of Georgia," the original term used by George Vancouver in his ...

, located near Vancouver Island's

Comox Valley The Comox Valley is a region on the east coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, that includes the city of Courtenay, the town of Comox, the village of Cumberland, and the unincorporated settlements of Royston, Union Bay, Fanny B ...

, the other being

Denman Island Denman Island, or Sla-dai-aich (Taystayic), its Indigenous name, is one of the Northern Gulf Islands and part of the Comox Valley Regional District of British Columbia, Canada. It is a member of the Islands Trust group of islands and is home ...

. A small community of 1,016 residents (as of the 2016 census), Hornby is home to many artists, retired professionals, small business owners, remote workers, and young families who share a love of rural island life. Over the past 30 years, the island has become a coveted destination and its population easily quadruples in size during the summer months. The shoulder seasons are a preferred time for hiking, mountain biking, marine activities, weddings, and retreats. Most people reach the island by ferries from Buckley Bay, Vancouver Island. A growing number of private boats also visit through mooring at the Ford Cove Marina or anchoring at Tribune Bay. The closest airport is Comox Valley Airport in Comox, which provides regional, national, and international service. The primary destinations on Hornby are

Tribune Bay Provincial Park Tribune Bay Provincial Park is a provincial park located on Hornby Island in British Columbia, Canada. It features a broad, crescent-shaped beach of white sand, Tribune Bay (a shallow, warm-water bay), and spring wildflowers. There are opportuni ...

, Helliwell Provincial Park, Ford's Cove, Heron Rocks and Whaling Station Bay. The island is also a popular mountain biking destination, with a variety of designated trails in

Mount Geoffrey Regional Nature Park Mount Geoffrey Regional Nature Park is regional park in British Columbia, Canada, located on Hornby Island. It covers an area of , including the summit of Mount Geoffrey, the highest point on the island. There are facilities for hiking, mountain ...

Mount Geoffrey Escarpment Provincial Park Mount Geoffrey Escarpment Provincial Park is a Class-A provincial park in British Columbia, Canada, located on the southwest coast of Hornby Island. It covers an area of , stretching from the Shingle Spit ferry landing in the west to Ford Cove in ...

and Crown Land. The total land area is , of which 40% is parkland.

Island geology and history

Mariano Salvador Maella - Pedro López de Lerena

The island is geographically distinctive as it was formed by

post-glacial rebound Post-glacial rebound (also called isostatic rebound or crustal rebound) is the rise of land masses after the removal of the huge weight of ice sheets during the last glacial period, which had caused isostatic depression. Post-glacial rebound ...

with the retreat of the last ice age. Before the arrival of European settlers, the island was inhabited by the Pentlatch, a

Coast Salish The Coast Salish is a group of ethnically and linguistically related Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, living in the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon. They speak one of the Coa ...

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

band who called the Island Ja-dai-aich, meaning The Outer Island. The island was found and named Isla de Lerena during the 1791 voyage of the Spanish ship '' Santa Saturnina'', under Juan Carrasco and

José María Narváez José María Narváez (1768 – August 4, 1840) was a Spanish naval officer, explorer, and navigator notable for his work in the Gulf Islands and Lower Mainland of present-day British Columbia. In 1791, as commander of the schooner '' Santa ...

. The name honors the Spanish Finance Minister, Don Pedro López de Lerena, who supported the movement of Spanish Ships over there. In 1850 the British renamed it after Rear Admiral Phipps Hornby, then Commander of the

Pacific Station The Pacific Station was created in 1837 as one of the geographical military formations into which the Royal Navy divided its worldwide responsibilities. The South America Station was split into the Pacific Station and the South East Coast of ...

Vegetation and soils

Hornby Island is mostly covered by mixed forest dominated by

Douglas-fir The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Oregon pine, and Columbian pine. There are three va ...

Western red cedar ''Thuja plicata'' is an evergreen coniferous tree in the cypress family Cupressaceae, native to western North America. Its common name is western redcedar (western red cedar in the UK), and it is also called Pacific redcedar, giant arborvitae ...

western hemlock ''Tsuga heterophylla'', the western hemlock or western hemlock-spruce, is a species of hemlock native to the west coast of North America, with its northwestern limit on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, and its southeastern limit in northern Sonoma ...

grand fir ''Abies grandis'' (grand fir, giant fir, lowland white fir, great silver fir, western white fir, Vancouver fir, or Oregon fir) is a fir native to the Pacific Northwest and Northern California of North America, occurring at altitudes of sea leve ...

and

lodgepole pine ''Pinus contorta'', with the common names lodgepole pine and shore pine, and also known as twisted pine, and contorta pine, is a common tree in western North America. It is common near the ocean shore and in dry montane forests to the subalpin ...

are the other large conifers present. The smaller Pacific yew is scattered in the understorey. The

arbutus ''Arbutus'' is a genus of 12 accepted speciesAct. Bot. Mex no.99 Pátzcuaro abr. 2012.''Arbutus bicolor''/ref> of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae, native to warm temperate regions of the Mediterranean, western Europe, the Canary Islan ...

, a broadleaf evergreen species, is plentiful. Broadleaf deciduous trees include

bigleaf maple ''Acer macrophyllum'', the bigleaf maple or Oregon maple, is a large deciduous tree in the genus '' Acer''. It is native to western North America, mostly near the Pacific coast, from southernmost Alaska to southern California. Some stands are al ...

red alder ''Alnus rubra'', the red alder, is a deciduous broadleaf tree native to western North America (Alaska, Yukon, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho and Montana). Description Red alder is the largest species of alder in Nort ...

black cottonwood ''Populus trichocarpa'', the black cottonwood, western balsam-poplar or California poplar, is a deciduous broadleaf tree species native to western North America. It is used for timber, and is notable as a model organism in plant biology. ...

, Pacific flowering dogwood, cascara and several species of

willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist so ...

. Populations of

Garry oak ''Quercus garryana'' is an oak tree species of the Pacific Northwest, with a range stretching from southern California to southwestern British Columbia. It is commonly known as the Oregon white oak or Oregon oak or, in Canada, the Garry oak. ...

occur on the southern end of the island and at Helliwell Provincial Park. Only about of undisturbed stands for older forest have been identified on Hornby Island, which amount to roughly 3.5% of the island's area. There are roughly of older second-growth stands on the island, which amount to 19% of the island. The island's soils have developed from marine deposits of variable texture, except for the higher elevations and steeper slopes where weathered clastic

sedimentary Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

provides the parent material. Most of Hornby's soils are sandy or gravelly, but some deep black loams occur in the northwestern part and many of the sands at the southern end have loam-textured

topsoil Topsoil is the upper layer of soil. It has the highest concentration of organic matter and microorganisms and is where most of the Earth's biological soil activity occurs. Description Topsoil is composed of mineral particles and organic matt ...

Podzol In soil science, podzols are the typical soils of coniferous or boreal forests and also the typical soils of eucalypt forests and heathlands in southern Australia. In Western Europe, podzols develop on heathland, which is often a construct of ...

s are common and the bleached sand grains associated with their eluvial (A₂, Ae or E) horizons lend a salt-and-pepper appearance to many forest trails. In most cases, though, the E is not very thick and may be discontinuous. On this account, the soils were mostly classified as

Brown Podzolic Brown podzolic soils are a subdivision of the Podzolic soils in the British soil classification. Although classed with podzols because they have an iron-rich, or spodic horizon, they are, in fact intermediate between podzols and Brown earths. T ...

in a soil survey published in 1959. All of the island's soils are strongly acidic in their natural state except for those which have developed on shoreline shell middens.

Fossils

Fossil collectors have found Ammonite and Baculite fossils at Boulder Point on Hornby Island. A species of saurodontid fish (previously considered a pterosaur) called ''Gwawinapterus beardi'' was identified based on a fossil found on a beach on Hornby Island.

References

External links

Hornby Island Commerce Website

Hornby Island Residents' & Ratepayers' Association

2006 census data

2016 census data

2021 census data

{{authority control Populated places in the Comox Valley Regional District Islands of the Gulf Islands