Pacific Rim Park
Pacific Rim National Park is located on the Pacific West Coast of Vancouver Island, and stretches about 125 kilometres from Tofino in the north to Port Renfrew in the south. It is a thin strip of land surrounded by magnificent islands, beaches and temperate rainforests to the east. Pacific Rim National Park is divided into three geographically distinct park units: Long Beach (the most accessible), Broken Group Islands (about 100 islands in Barkley Sound), and the challenging 72 kilometre West Coast Trail.
Pacific Rim was established in 1987 as a national park reserve subject to the comprehensive claim of the Nuu-chah-nulth tribal Council and the Ditidaht First Nation. The park comprises a total area of 500 square kilometres. The sandy beaches, the most famous one being the Long Beach is located on the west, facing the open the Pacific Ocean.
Photo used under Creative Commons from jhf.
The geology and climate resulting from a combination of almost equal areas of land and water has created a coastal landscape thickly overgrown with vegetation, providing refuge for a wide variety of land animals and marine wildlife where a complex and vivid human history unfolds.
The moderate temperatures and high rainfall around The Pacific Rim produce dense vegetation characterized by mosses and ferns, giant Sitka Spruce amabilis fir, western hemlock, and western red cedar. Some of these giant conifers can be over 2,000 years old and 20 metres in circumference.
The shoreline of The Pacific Rim provides essential habitat for marine animals and wildfowl. In early spring, the rich mudflats and long sandy beaches around Tofino’s beaches create a prime-feeding environment for birds of many species. Flocks of sandpipers can be seen moving in united flocks up and down the outer beaches, plovers, whimbrels, and many other shorebirds can be seen foraging for food along the shoreline.
Grey whales, can be seen in April to September off the coast feeding off the bottom life around the kelp beds, before heading south again for the winter. International protection signed in 1947, helps protect them from being hunted to near extinction by commercial whalers. The sea otter which was virtually hunted to extinction by 1830, has re-established itself, and should eventually populate the park’s waters.
The abundant runs of salmon, schools of herring, cod, sole, and halibut around the Pacific Rim and Clayoquot Sound are of interest to sports fishermen.
Diving in the water of The Pacific Rim can be exiting. Scuba divers may catch a few crab and abalone. Clams, mussels and oysters can be gathered in spite of the park’s efforts to protect resources. At low tide, you can find in the tide pools around rocky areas of the coast colourful anemones, starfish and barnacles.
Within the woodland areas, deer, black bear, raccoon, marten and weasel can be seen rooming thre florests. The bald eagle is a common sight around here. Pacific tree frogs and several species of salamanders inhabit the forests.
