Pacific Rim National Park Reserve is a national park in British Columbia, Canada. It covers an area of 511 km (197 sq mi) and includes three regions: Long Beach, the Broken Group Islands, and the West Coast Trail. The park is located in the Pacific Coast Mountains, which have rough shorelines and temperate rainforests.
The park has many types of plants, including western hemlock, Sitka spruce, western red-cedar, deer fern, and sword fern. Animals in the park include marine and intertidal species, such as humpback whales and ochre sea stars, as well as land animals like Vancouver Coastal Sea wolves. For recreation, Long Beach is used for surfing and windsurfing, the Broken Group Islands are used for sea kayaking, and the West Coast Trail is used for hiking. Camping is allowed in all areas, and scuba diving is permitted in the winter months at Long Beach and the Broken Group Islands.
The Wickaninnish Beach Provincial Park was the starting point for creating the national park. After many years of discussions between the federal government and the provincial government of British Columbia, a major agreement was reached when Jean Chrétien became the federal minister responsible for parks. In 1969, British Columbia passed the West Coast National Park Act, and in 1970, the two governments signed an agreement to create the park by combining land and ending logging rights. After long discussions, the park was added to the National Parks Act in 2000. It was classified as a "park reserve" because the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council claimed certain rights to the area.
History
The popularity of national parks like Banff and Yoho led to interest in creating more parks, including one on Vancouver Island with access to the Pacific Ocean. The potential for recreation at Long Beach was recognized, and the Canadian National Parks Association suggested it become a park in 1929. In 1930, the provincial government set aside land near Nitinat Lake for a reserve, and in 1948, it reserved land that later became Wickaninnish Beach Provincial Park.
Government representatives, including Hugh Llewellyn Keenleyside, visited the area and found reasons not to establish a park there at the time. These included the area’s remoteness, forestry issues, and challenges related to cold water and fog. Despite this, the Victoria Chamber of Commerce supported creating a park in 1947 by adding land near Clayoquot Arm to Strathcona Provincial Park.
In 1959, the provincial government opened Wickaninnish Beach Provincial Park (later expanded in 1961 and 1968) and built Highway 4, connecting Tofino to Port Alberni. This highway brought thousands of visitors to the area in the 1960s, including international surfing competitions from 1966 to 1968. However, the number of visitors overwhelmed local communities, leading to overcrowding, litter, and damage to the beach.
These issues led to calls for a national park, supported by the Vancouver Island Chambers of Commerce and local MLA Howard McDiarmid. However, disagreements between federal and provincial officials over park size, cost-sharing, and political differences delayed progress. After 1968, when Jean Chrétien replaced Arthur Laing, discussions with the federal government advanced.
The British Columbia government hesitated to give up control of the Effingham Islands or stop forestry activities in the West Coast Trail area. However, in early 1969, the province passed the West Coast National Park Act, allowing the provincial government to work with the federal government to create the park. An agreement was reached in 1970, with the province responsible for acquiring land and the federal government covering half the costs. By 1971, Wickaninnish Beach Provincial Park was transferred to the federal government to form the core of the Long Beach Unit.
The park officially opened in 1971, with Princess Anne of England attending the ceremony. She received a driftwood sculpture from Jean Chrétien, then Minister of Parks Canada, created by local artist Godfrey Stephens. However, the deadline to complete land acquisitions by 1975 was missed due to disagreements over compensation for timber rights held by companies like B.C. Forest Products Limited and MacMillan Bloedel.
By 1982, most of the park was secured, but disputes over timber value delayed the final agreement. In 1988, an agreement was reached to transfer the remaining lands, and the park was formally added to the National Parks Act in 2000 through Bill C-27.
The Canada National Parks Act defines areas with Indigenous rights claims as "park reserves," allowing traditional resource use by Indigenous people. The Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council submitted a claim in 1980, accepted for negotiation in 1983. Early park planning involved limited consultation with First Nations, but efforts began in 1995 to include Indigenous perspectives, leading to initiatives like the Nuu-chah-nulth interpretative trail and shared management roles.
The park boundaries exclude 21 Indian reserves belonging to seven First Nations, though most of the park lies within their traditional territories, which were never ceded. These include the Huu-ay-aht, Ditidaht, Pacheedaht, and Hupacasath. In the Long Beach area, the Tla-o-qui-aht claim traditional territory, declaring the Kennedy Lake watershed and Meares Island as a tribal park. On Benson Island in the Broken Group area, archaeological evidence shows human presence over 5,000 years ago. The Tseshaht are the only remaining group historically connected to the islands, though their summer village was abandoned, and a later village on Effingham Island burned down in 1914.
Geography
The Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, along with the Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve, represents the Pacific Coast Mountains natural region. This area includes Vancouver Island, Haida Gwaii, and the Coast Mountains. Parks Canada describes this region as Canada’s rocky west coast, formed by rock moving eastward, creating coastal mountains, deep fiords, and channels. Heavy rainfall and mild temperatures support temperate rain forests in the area.
The Long Beach Unit, 212 km long, is located along Highway 4 between Tofino and Ucluelet. It includes beaches, short trails, and a campground. Wickaninnish Bay is bordered by Long Beach, Combers Beach, and Wickaninnish Beach. Florencia Bay to the south has a more sheltered beach. The two bays are connected by a 3 km trail and the K isitis Visitor Centre. The Pacific Rim Visitor Centre, near the park entrance, is the main information center. A separate building for park operations is located closer to the campground and airport. The Tofino-Long Beach Airport is owned by the Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District and is within the park.
Grice Bay is on the north side of the Long Beach Unit. Its boat launch allows access to the bay, Clayoquot Sound, or the Browning Passage. The exclave at Kennedy Lake is a day-use area for picnics and swimming, surrounded by Kennedy Lake Provincial Park, which has a campground and boat launch.
The Broken Group Islands unit covers 106 km in Barkley Sound and includes over 100 small islands. The area is mostly marine, with rocky reefs and kelp beds. Beaches range from sandy to rocky. Strong winds and swells affect the outer islands and channels between them and Vancouver Island. The islands are uninhabited, but archaeological sites show evidence of abandoned villages.
For recreation, the area is used for sea kayaking, camping, and wildlife viewing. Motorboats are not allowed on islands with campsites. Kayaks are often launched from Toquart Bay or Ucluelet and Bamfield. Campgrounds are maintained on seven islands: Hand, Turret, Gibraltar, Willis, Dodd, Clarke, and Gilbert. The names of the islands come from a 1861 survey map by George Henry Richards. A campground on Benson Island closed in 2009 at the request of the Tseshaht First Nation, but day trips are still allowed.
The West Coast Trail Unit spans 193 km and includes a 75 km hiking trail between Port Renfrew and Bamfield. The trail was originally built as part of a telegraph line in 1889. After the SS Valencia shipwreck in 1906, the trail was upgraded to help shipwrecked people. By 1911, it was classified as a public highway. Maintenance was stopped in the 1950s and 1960s, but the trail remained popular. The provincial government sold timber rights, and the trail was protected in 1964. The park boundaries were finalized in 1988. The trail includes rocky beaches, rainforests, and muddy terrain. Campsites are located along the trail, with the southern trailhead near Port Renfrew and the northern trailhead near Bamfield. A 7 km trail to Cape Beale is also available.
The Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, along with Gwaii Haanas and Gulf Islands National Park Reserve, are the three national parks with direct access to the Pacific Ocean. Located on the west side of Vancouver Island, the park is on the Estevan Lowlands, a narrow coastal area between the ocean and the West Vancouver Island Fiordlands and Vancouver Island Ranges. Most of the Long Beach Unit is part of the Pacific Rim Terrane, separated from the Wrangellia Terrane by the West Coast Fault.
Climate
The park's climate is similar to nearby areas like Tofino and Ucluelet. This is because the park faces the ocean to the southwest and has mountains to the northeast. In winter, the main jet stream brings low pressure systems from the Gulf of Alaska over the ocean. This cool, moist air rises over the mountains, causing heavy rainfall. Hucuktlis Lake, inland from Broken Group in Barclay Sound, is one of the wettest places on Earth. The park area averages over 3,500 to 4,000 millimetres (140 to 160 in) of precipitation per year. The Kuroshio Current affects the sea water temperatures, which range from 8 °C (46 °F) in January to 14 °C (57 °F) in August. In summer, the jet stream brings high pressure systems with warmer air that holds moisture from the mid-Pacific, leading to drier, sunny weather. Air temperatures generally range from 5 to 18 °C (41 to 64 °F).
Ecology
The land part of the park is located in a region the province calls the Coastal Western Hemlock Biogeoclimatic Zone, specifically the very wet hypermaritime subzone, based on the type of vegetation that naturally grows there. The cool, wet, and temperate climate creates conditions similar to a temperate rainforest. The area experiences strong winter winds, sunny summers, and low elevations, which support large and strong tree species such as western hemlock, Sitka spruce, and western red-cedar. The plants growing beneath the trees are mainly moss (like Sphagnum), lichen, and ferns (like deer fern and sword fern). The forest is home to black bears, Vancouver Island cougars, Roosevelt elk, marten, many invertebrates such as banana slugs, warty jumping slugs, and birds like marbled murrelets and olive-sided flycatchers. Vancouver Island wolves are also found on the islands of the Broken Group. Six types of salmon live in the park's waterways, with coho and sockeye being the most common. Cutthroat trout, red-legged frogs, western toads, mink, and river otters live in the lakes and wetlands.
The park also protects Cheewhat Giant, a western red-cedar tree that is the largest known tree in Canada and one of the largest trees in the world.
The shoreline's sand dune habitat includes plants like pink and yellow sand-verbena, dune grass, and seaside centipede lichen, as well as animals such as black oystercatchers and glaucous-winged gulls. The intertidal zone supports eelgrass, aggregating anemones, echinoderms (like western sand dollars and ochre sea stars), sea snails (like northern abalone), and crabs. Native bivalves such as butter clams, littleneck clams, California mussels, and Olympia oysters live alongside invasive species like Manila clams, varnish clams, and Pacific oysters.
The park also includes a subtidal area with kelp forests that provide habitat for Steller sea lions, seals, and porpoises. This area is part of migratory routes for killer whales, humpback whales, grey whales, basking sharks, and Pacific herring.