Sandbanks Provincial Park is a provincial park on the island of Newfoundland in the province of

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

. It is located on the southwest coast, approximately 150 km from the

Trans-Canada Highway The Trans-Canada Highway ( French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the Atlantic Ocean o ...

near the town of Burgeo, less than three hours from Corner Brook. The park is known for its expansive sandy beaches and dunes. Covering an area of , the park has over of beach and several inland hiking trails through bog and forested area. One path leads to a lookout at Cow Head.

Biology and ecology

The sand dunes are easily eroded. Visitors are encouraged to stay on designated trails.

Flora

Sandbanks is home to ''

Lathyrus japonicus ''Lathyrus japonicus'', the sea pea, beach pea, circumpolar pea or sea vetchling, is a species of flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae, native to temperate coastal areas of the Northern Hemisphere and Argentina. It is a herbaceous per ...

'', otherwise known as the beach pea. The fragile sand dunes are covered with beach grass (''

Ammophila breviligulata ''Ammophila breviligulata'' (American beachgrass or American marram grass) is a species of grass native to eastern North America, where it grows on sand dunes along the Atlantic Ocean and Great Lakes coasts. Beachgrass thrives under conditions ...

'').

Fauna

The piping plover, a near-threatened species of bird, nests on the beaches and in the sand dunes of the park. The park and surrounding area is an important bird migration route.

Notable visitors

Farley Mowat Farley McGill Mowat, (May 12, 1921 – May 6, 2014) was a Canadian writer and environmentalist. His works were translated into 52 languages, and he sold more than 17 million books. He achieved fame with the publication of his books on the Can ...

, who lived in Burgeo during the 1960s and wrote several books about the area, often visited the park with his dogs. Painter

Christopher Pratt John Christopher Pratt (December 9, 1935 – June 5, 2022) was a Canadian painter and printmaker.Justin Barbour Justin may refer to: People * Justin (name), including a list of persons with the given name Justin * Justin (historian), a Latin historian who lived under the Roman Empire * Justin I (c. 450–527), or ''Flavius Iustinius Augustus'', Eastern Rom ...

has also spent time at Sandbanks.

References

External links