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Clayoquot Sound Biosphere Reserve | |
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Location | Clayoquot Sound, British Columbia, Canada |
Nearest city | Tofino |
Coordinates | 49°18′N125°56′W / 49.300°N 125.933°W |
Area | 349,947 ha (1,351.15 sq mi) |
Established | 2000 |
Administrator | Clayoquot Biosphere Trust Society |
World Heritage site | UNESCO Clayoquot Sound |
Clayoquot Sound Biosphere Reserve is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve situated in Clayoquot Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. A diverse range of ecosystems exist within the biosphere reserve boundaries, including temperate coastal rainforest, ocean and rocky coastal shores. [1]
Nine of the large forested valleys remain untouched by logging or other industrial development. The area's temperate rainforest, lakes, rivers and alpine peaks provide habitats for a vast array of species, a significant number of which are endangered or rare. Given that development is increasingly resulting in the fragmentation of forest and alpine ecosystems and loss of biodiversity in coastal rainforests, this biosphere reserve provides a refuge and centre for the natural dispersion and re-establishment of species. [1]
The primary habitat of the Clayoquot Biosphere is temperate rainforest (Coastal Western Hemlock), covering 85% of the terrestrial component and extending to altitudes of about 900 m. The habitat is dominated by large trees including the Western Hemlock, Western Red Cedar, Amabilis Fir, Western Yellow Cedar, Sitka Spruce, Pine, Douglas Fir, Yew and Red Alder. There are approximately 300 vertebrate species, including the American black bear (Ursus americanus), cougar (Puma concolor couguar), American mink (Neovison vison) and grey wolf (Canis lupus). [1]
The second common habitat covering 12% of the Clayoquot Sound above 900 m is temperate rainforest (Mountain Hemlock). Dominant trees include the Mountain Hemlock, Western Yellow Cedar and Amabilis Fir. Fewer species are found at such a high altitude, but include some those of those found at lower altitudes. [1]
The marine component of the Clayoquot supports mud flats, beaches and estuaries. The reserve contains the largest cover of eelgrass on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Cetaceans such as humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae), gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus), orcas (Orcinus orca), and a variety of other whale, dolphin and porpoise species are common. Steller's (Eumetopias jubatus) and California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) are also found in the reserve. Commercial aquaculture of native salmon species and introduced Atlantic salmon, oysters and scallops constitute significant economic activities. [1]
The permanent population amounts to about 5,000 people. At least one-third are Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations (of Aboriginal ancestry), whose traditional territories encompass the entire biosphere reserve. Since 2000, the local economy has shifted from being based on industrial forestry and fisheries towards a more ecologically sensitive approach informed by Nuu-chah-nulth cultural principles. The First Nations and provincial government are working together to develop small-scale alternatives built around a conservation economy. Aquaculture is well established. [1]
Because of the nature of the resources, tourism and related services have been encouraged. They are developing rapidly along the coast, both in and between two towns accessible from the only road into the biosphere reserve. Seasonal visitors amount to about 1 million annually. [1]
Protected areas located within the biosphere reserve include:
Clayoquot Sound is located on the west coast of Vancouver Island in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is bordered by the Esowista Peninsula to the south, and the Hesquiaht Peninsula to the North. It is a body of water with many inlets and islands. Major inlets include Sydney Inlet, Shelter Inlet, Herbert Inlet, Bedwell Inlet, Lemmens Inlet, and Tofino Inlet. Major islands include Flores Island, Vargas Island, and Meares Island. The name is also used for the larger region of land around the waterbody.
Pacific Rim National Park Reserve is a 511 km2 (197 sq mi) national park located in British Columbia, Canada, which comprises three separate regions: Long Beach, the Broken Group Islands, and the West Coast Trail. It is located in the Pacific Coast Mountains, which are characterized by rugged coasts and temperate rainforests.
The Nuu-chah-nulth, also formerly referred to as the Nootka, Nutka, Aht, Nuuchahnulth or Tahkaht, are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast in Canada. The term Nuu-chah-nulth is used to describe fifteen related tribes whose traditional home is on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
Flores Island is a small island in Clayoquot Sound, off the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.
Clayoquot is an anglicization of the Nuu-chah-nulth language name "Tla-o-qui-aht", one of the indigenous tribes of the region so named. It may refer to:
The Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations are a Nuu-chah-nulth First Nation in Canada. They live on ten reserves along the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The band is part of the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council. There were 618 people living in the Tla-o-qui-aht reserves in 1995. Their primary economic activities are fishing and tourism.
Nuu-chah-nulth, a.k.a.Nootka, is a Wakashan language in the Pacific Northwest of North America on the west coast of Vancouver Island, from Barkley Sound to Quatsino Sound in British Columbia by the Nuu-chah-nulth peoples. Nuu-chah-nulth is a Southern Wakashan language related to Nitinaht and Makah.
Hesquiat Lake Provincial Park is a provincial park located on the west coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. It was established on April 5, 2001 to mature coastal forests of Western hemlock, western red cedar and lodgepole pine along the eastern shores of Hesquiat Lake.
Hesquiat Peninsula Provincial Park is a provincial park at the western extremity of the Clayoquot Sound region of the West Coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The park was established by order-in-council on July 12, 1995 as part of the Clayoquot Land-Use Decision.
Sydney Inlet Provincial Park is a provincial park in the Clayoquot Sound region of the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, located north of the settlement of Hot Springs Cove and northwest of the resort town of Tofino. Sydney Inlet was the name of the post office in the area from its creation in 1947 to 1948, when it was renamed Hot Springs Cove, though that post office was subsequently closed in 1974.
Strathcona Provincial Park is the oldest provincial park in British Columbia, Canada, and the largest on Vancouver Island. Founded in 1911, the park was named for Donald Alexander Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal, a wealthy philanthropist and railway pioneer. It lies within the Strathcona Regional District. The Clayoquot Sound Biosphere Reserve, established in 2000, includes three watersheds in the western area of the park.
The Western Canada Wilderness Committee is a non-profit environmental education organization that aims to protect Canada's wild spaces and species. Paul George, along with Richard Krieger, were the founding directors, and formed the Wilderness Committee in the province of British Columbia in 1980. It now has a membership of over 30,000 people with its head office in Vancouver and field offices in Victoria, British Columbia; Winnipeg, Manitoba; and Toronto, Ontario.
Kyuquot Sound is a complex of coastal inlets, bays and islands on northwestern Vancouver Island in the Canadian province of British Columbia.
Opitsaht, spelled also as Opitsat and Opitsitah, is a First Nations settlement/community in the Southwest area of the Meares Islands, Clayoquot South, British Columbia. This peninsula-like region is the home to Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations of the Nuu-chah-nulth nation. The Tla-o-qui-aht are an Indigenous group from the Pacific Northwest region in the lower Vancouver area, known for their lifestyle revolving around the marine life trade and culture within the community.
Marktosis, also spelled Maaqtusiis in the Nuu-chah-nulth language, is one of the principal settlements of Ahousaht First Nation, located off the west coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada, just southeast of the Hesquiat Peninsula on Flores Island. Accessible only by water or air, Marktosis is a small community predominantly composed of First Nations people from the Nuu-chah-nulth nation. Marktosis has approximately 900 residents.
The Central Pacific coastal forests is a temperate coniferous forest ecoregion located in the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington, as defined by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) categorization system.
Friends of Clayoquot Sound is a Canadian grassroots non-profit environmental organization, based in Tofino, British Columbia. It focuses on protecting Clayoquot Sound's globally rare ecosystem of temperate rainforest and ocean, and on building a local, conservation-based economy.
The Clayoquot protests, also called the War in the Woods, were a series of blockades related to clearcutting in Clayoquot Sound, British Columbia. They culminated in mid-1993, when 856 people were arrested. The blockades in the summer of 1993 against logging of the temperate rainforest were the largest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history until the 2021 Fairy Creek blockades.
The Hesquiat Peninsula is a peninsula on the West Coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, located northwest of the town of Tofino and Clayoquot Sound and Nootka Sound to the northwest. It marks the division between the two regions formed by those sounds and is named for the Hesquiaht people of the Nuu-chah-nulth, and is the location of Hesquiat Peninsula Provincial Park. The Estevan Point lighthouse is at the apex of the peninsula.`
Whaling on the Pacific Northwest Coast encompasses both aboriginal and commercial whaling from Washington State through British Columbia to Alaska. The indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast have whaling traditions dating back millennia, and the hunting of cetaceans continues by Alaska Natives and to a lesser extent by the Makah people.