Schoen Lake Provincial Park is a

provincial park Ischigualasto Provincial Park A provincial park (or territorial park) is a park administered by one of the provinces of a country, as opposed to a national park. They are similar to state parks in other countries. They are typically open to the ...

in northeastern

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are o ...

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 ...

, located east of the community of

Woss Lake Woss, also commonly known as Woss Lake after the nearby lake of the same name, is a small village in the Nimpkish Valley, located southeast of Port McNeill and north of Campbell River on Highway 19, in northeastern Vancouver Island, British C ...

and southwest of Sayward. The park lies inside the Nimpkish Valley watershed. On October 28, 1977, the " Class A" park was officially created to protect, exhibit and interpret an example of the natural features and processes of the

Insular Mountains , photo = Ghinde2.jpg , photo_caption = Golden Hinde, south aspect, August 2006. , country = Canada , region_type = Province , region = British Columbia , parent = Pacific Cordillera , range_coordinates = , a ...

Natural Region. The park covers a total area of 8,775 hectares (21,684 acres). Within those hectares of park land is a number of lakes, creeks and mountain ranges.

Geography

The largest lake is Schoen Lake which is long and has a mean depth of . Kiwi Falls is a prominent

horsetail waterfall A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several wa ...

that cascades down from the mountains southeast of Schoen Lake. With a total height of 475 m (1,558 ft), it ranks as the 8th tallest confirmed waterfall in British Columbia and the tallest on Vancouver Island.

Ecology

The higher elevations of the park surrounding Schoen Lake also consist of

mountain hemlock ''Tsuga mertensiana'', known as mountain hemlock, is a species of hemlock native to the west coast of North America, found between Southcentral Alaska and south-central California. Description ''Tsuga mertensiana'' is a large evergreen conifer ...

Pacific Silver Fir ''Abies amabilis'', commonly known as the Pacific silver fir, is a fir native to the Pacific Northwest of North America, occurring in the Pacific Coast Ranges and the Cascade Range. It is also commonly referred to as the white fir, red fir, lov ...

and

Yellow Cedar Yellow cedar is a common name for several trees and may refer to: *''Cupressus nootkatensis'', native to northwestern North America *' *''Thuja occidentalis ''Thuja occidentalis'', also known as northern white-cedar, eastern white-cedar, or arbo ...

with the majority residing in old growth forests around the upper portions of the lake. Wildlife in the area consists primarily of black bears, Columbian

black-tailed deer Two forms of black-tailed deer or blacktail deer that occupy coastal woodlands in the Pacific Northwest of North America are subspecies of the mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus''). They have sometimes been treated as a species, but virtually all r ...

cougar The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large Felidae, cat native to the Americas. Its Species distribution, range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mamm ...

Roosevelt elk The Roosevelt elk (''Cervus canadensis roosevelti)'', also known commonly as the Olympic elk and Roosevelt's wapiti, is the largest of the four surviving subspecies of elk (''Cervus canadensis'') in North America by body mass (although by antle ...

and

wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; plural, : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large Canis, canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus, subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been reco ...

. The Adams River herd of Roosevelt Elk use the valley bottoms, wetland areas and avalanche chutes for their summer ranges in Schoen Lake Provincial Park. Roosevelt Elk rut in the fall season and can usually be observed frequently in the Nisnak Meadows area of the park. Columbian black-tailed deer use the old growth forests that make up Schoen Lake Provincial Park as their summer and winter ranges. Because deer require at least 65% covered canopy within old growth forests to be able to survive the winter months, Schoen Lake Provincial Park plays a vital role in their survival. The numbers of Columbian black-tailed deer within the park during the mid 1970s was high but because of the increasing wolf predation, their numbers have decreased substantially since.

Waterfowl Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae (three species of screamers), Anseranatidae (the magpie goose), and Anatidae, the largest family, which in ...

in Schoen Lake Provincial Park is limited to

loon Loons (North American English) or divers (British / Irish English) are a group of aquatic birds found in much of North America and northern Eurasia. All living species of loons are members of the genus ''Gavia'', family Gaviidae and order Gavi ...

s and

merganser ''Mergus'' is the genus of the typical mergansers , fish-eating ducks in the subfamily Anatinae. The genus name is a Latin word used by Pliny the Elder and other Roman authors to refer to an unspecified waterbird. The common merganser (''Merg ...

s but the Nisnak Meadows and upper meadows in the Nisnak Lake area are very important for migrating waterfowl as reported in the

Canada Land Inventory The Canada Land Inventory (CLI) is a multi-disciplinary land inventory of rural Canada. Conceptualized in the early 1960s by the Department of Forestry and Rural Development (later the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources), the CLI was a fed ...

classification on land capability for waterfowl.

Facilities

At the west end of Schoen Lake is a 9 sit
campground
with a natural boat launch. Nestled in old growth forest consisting of coastal

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 ...

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 ...

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 North A ...

and

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, w ...

, the campgrounds offer prime access to recreation activities that lead to a true remote wilderness experience. The campgrounds offer picnic tables, pit toilets, fire pits and a camp host during the months of May to September. The road into the campground from highway 19 is narrow and rough and not maintained. Campers, motor homes, rv's and vehicles towing trailers use the road access regularly despite the challenges associated with the poor condition of the gravel road.

References

*
Schoen Lake Provincial Park Master PlanLand Capability For Wildlife - Waterfowl

External links

A view of Kiwi Falls from Nisnak Meadows in Schoen Lake Provincial Park, 2016
Provincial parks of British Columbia Northern Vancouver Island Protected areas established in 1977 1977 establishments in British Columbia {{BritishColumbia-park-stub