Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park

Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park
Map showing the location of Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park
Map showing the location of Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park
Location on Vancouver Island
Map showing the location of Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park
Map showing the location of Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park
Location in British Columbia
Map showing the location of Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park
Map showing the location of Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park
LocationBritish Columbia, Canada
Nearest cityPort Alberni, British Columbia
Coordinates48°38′59″N 124°38′59″W / 48.64972°N 124.64972°W / 48.64972; -124.64972
Area164.5 km2 (63.5 sq mi)
Established1990
Governing bodyDitidaht First Nation, Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council, Christopher Knighton Watts Katrina Valeen Knighton
Map

Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park, originally Carmanah Pacific Provincial Park,[2] is a remote wilderness park located inside traditional Ditidaht First Nation (also spelled diiɁdiitidq[3]) ancestral territory.[4] The park covers a land area of 16,450 ha (63.5 sq mi) immediately adjacent to Pacific Rim National Park Reserve's West Coast Trail on the south-western, coastal terrain of Vancouver Island. The provincial park comprises the entire drainage of Carmanah Creek (northwest of the mouth of the creek hosted the kwaabaaduw7aa7tx village, a "local group" whose alliance makes up one branch of the Ditidaht Nation[4]), and a good portion of the lower Walbran River drainage, both of which independently empty into the Pacific Ocean. The park is named after the Anglicized diitiid?aatx[3] word kwaabaaduw7aa7tx, or Carmanah, meaning "as far up as a canoe can go"[5] and John Thomas Walbran, a colonial explorer and ship's captain. Access to the park is by gravel logging road from Port Alberni, Lake Cowichan, or Port Renfrew.

The Carmanah Walbran protects extensive tracts of luxuriant Pacific temperate rainforest, and is famous for its ancient old growth, which includes giant western redcedar, coast Douglas-fir, western hemlock, and towering groves of Sitka spruce that grow along the productive riverside flats. Some of the western redcedar in the area are well over 1,000 years old,[6] and Canada's tallest tree, a Sitka spruce named the Carmanah Giant, measured at 95.836 m (314 ft), estimated to be around 400 years old, lives along the lower reaches of Carmanah Creek. However, trails to the Carmanah Giant and many other portions of the park are currently inaccessible due to the neglect and disrepair of the park's boardwalk trail system—trail access via the boardwalk is essential in preserving the area's delicate ecosystem. Although BC Parks received a funding increase in 2012 for the first time in over ten years,[7] BC's provincial government has repeatedly cut funding to the BC Parks' budget, the result of which is BC Parks' inability to staff a sufficient number of Park Rangers to maintain the network of trails and keep the park safe from cedar poachers and illegal logging.[8][9][10]

  1. ^ "Protected Planet | Carmanah Walbran Park". Protected Planet. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  2. ^ "Carmanah Walbran Park". BC Geographical Names.
  3. ^ a b First Peoples' Heritage, Language and Culture Council. "Wakashan Languages: Diitiidʔaatx̣". First Peoples' Language Map of British Columbia. First Peoples' Heritage, Language and Culture Council. Archived from the original on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 28 February 2014.
  4. ^ a b Ditidaht First Nation. "The Traditional Ditidaht Territory". Ditidaht History. Ditidaht First Nation. Archived from the original on 28 February 2014. Retrieved 28 February 2014.
  5. ^ "Our history & culture". Ditidaht First Nation. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  6. ^ Francis (ed), Daniel (2000) [1999], Francis, Daniel (ed.), Encyclopedia of British Columbia, Harbour Publishing, p. 116, ISBN 1-55017-200-X {{citation}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  7. ^ Post Media Network Inc. (25 May 2012). "Parks' budget increased". Courier - Islander. ProQuest 1016645701.
  8. ^ Lavoie, Judith (17 May 2012). "Poachers Steal Giant Red Cedar; 800-Year-Old-Tree Cut through and Hauled Out". Times Colonist.
  9. ^ The Canadian Press (2011). "BC parks grossly underfunded: environmentalists". CBC News. Retrieved 22 March 2014.
  10. ^ British Columbia Government and Service Employees' Union. "Save BC's Parks". BCGEU. BCGEU. Archived from the original on 21 April 2014. Retrieved 22 March 2014.