The list of provincial parks of Vancouver Island contains the provincial parks located on the island, which is part of the province of British Columbia. It includes parks from the seven regional districts of Alberni-Clayoquot, Capital, Comox Valley, Cowichan Valley, Nanaimo, and the island portions of Mount Waddington and Strathcona. These parks are administered by BC Parks under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy.
Media related to Provincial Parks of Vancouver Island at Wikimedia Commons
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, forests, lakes, mountains, inland deserts and grassy plains, and borders the province of Alberta to the east, the Yukon and Northwest Territories to the north and the US states of Washington, Idaho and Montana to the south. With an estimated population of 5.3 million as of 2022, it is Canada's third-most populous province. The capital of British Columbia is Victoria and its largest city is Vancouver. Vancouver is the third-largest metropolitan area in Canada; the 2021 census recorded 2.6 million people in Metro Vancouver.
Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is 456 km (283 mi) in length, 100 km (62 mi) in width at its widest point, and 32,100 km2 (12,400 sq mi) in total area, while 31,285 km2 (12,079 sq mi) are of land. The island is the largest by area and the most populous along the west coasts of the Americas.
The Gulf Islands are a group of islands in the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the mainland coast of British Columbia.
The Cowichan River is a Canadian Heritage River on Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. Its headwater is Cowichan Lake. The river flows east over Skutz Falls and through Marie Canyon towards its mouth at Cowichan Bay. The river's drainage basin is 795 square kilometres (307 sq mi) in size.
The British Columbia Rugby Union (BCRU) is the provincial administrative body for rugby union in British Columbia, Canada. The BCRU consists of nine sub-unions and 65 clubs. It was originally organized in New Westminster in 1889 where Alfred St. George Hamersley, the former England rugby union captain and recent immigrant to Vancouver, and member of Vancouver Football (Rugby) Club, became the first President. The same man is credited with founding the Amateur Athletic Club of British Columbia. and previously had introduced the game of rugby to the youth of South Canterbury, New Zealand. The current headquarters is on the west side of Vancouver.
Parts of this article have been adapted from the BC Parks website.
Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park, originally Carmanah Pacific Provincial Park, is a remote wilderness park located inside traditional Ditidaht First Nation ancestral territory. 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, 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 word kwaabaaduw7aa7tx, or Carmanah, meaning "thus far upstream" 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.
Fossli Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada, located on Stirling Arm of Sproat Lake on Vancouver Island. The 52-hectare park, west of Port Alberni, is accessible by water or private logging road. It has few services, but has a 30-minute hiking trail to an old homestead site. The homestead belonged to Helen and Armour Ford, who donated the land for the park to the province in 1974. Saint Andrew's Creek runs through the park, and is a fall spawning ground for coho salmon.
French Beach Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada.
Gordon Bay Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada.
Kitty Coleman Provincial Park, also known as Kitty Coleman Beach Provincial Park, is a Class C provincial park located in British Columbia, Canada. It is located on Vancouver Island, in the Comox Valley, south of the mouth of the Oyster River just northeast of Courtenay.
MacMillan Provincial Park is a 301-hectare (740-acre) provincial park in British Columbia, Canada. Located 25 km (16 mi) west of Qualicum Beach and 16 km (9.9 mi) east of Port Alberni, the park straddles Highway 4 and the Island Rail Corridor in central Vancouver Island. It is nestled on the western shore of Cameron Lake, and protects the delta of the Cameron River. The park is home to a famous, 157-hectare (390-acre) stand of ancient Douglas fir, known as Cathedral Grove, which draws visitors from all over the world. The park provides the only highway-accessible protected old-growth Douglas-fir forest in British Columbia. In 2007 Cathedral Grove made the short list on CBC's competition Seven Wonders of Canada.
Memory Island Provincial Park is a provincial park located on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. It was established by BC Parks on 23 August 1945 to protect a small island located at the southern end of Shawnigan Lake.
Nimpkish Lake Provincial Park is a provincial park on northern Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada on Vancouver Island. The park is 3,949 ha. in area and was established on 1995. It is 32 km south of Port McNeill and on the southwest side of Nimpkish Lake. Primary access is by boat launch, though radio-controlled logging roads lead to the edge of the park. Western Forest Products in Woss, British Columbia should be contacted for road advisories. The park is in the traditional territory of the Namgis First Nation.
Schoen Lake Provincial Park is a provincial park in northeastern Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, located east of the community of Woss Lake 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 Natural Region. The park covers a total area of 8,775 hectares. Within those hectares of park land is a number of lakes, creeks and mountain ranges.
Stamp River Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada. The 327-hectare park is located 14 km north of Port Alberni on Vancouver Island. There are 23 camping spaces and 2 km of trails within the park along the Stamp River, named for Edward Stamp, a sawmill pioneer in the Alberni Valley.
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.
Nitinat Lake is a large lake and inlet on the southwestern coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The lake is about 150 km (93 mi) northwest by road from Victoria, BC's capital on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, and about 60 km (37 mi) southwest by road from the town of Lake Cowichan. The city of Port Alberni is about 80 km (50 mi) by road to the north.
