page_title: Pacific Rim National Park Reserve
section_title: Inland ecology
hierarchical_section_title: Pacific Rim National Park Reserve / Ecology / Inland ecology
caption_attribution_description: English: Rainforests of Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, Canada
context_page_description: Pacific Rim National Park Reserve is a 511 km² park located in British Columbia, Canada, which comprises three separate regions: Long Beach, the Broken Group Islands, and the West Coast Trail. It represents the Pacific Coast Mountains landscape which is characterized by rugged coasts and temperate rainforests. Widespread vegetation found in the park includes western hemlock, Sitka spruce, western red-cedar, deer fern and sword fern. Animal species vary from marine and intertidal species, such as humpback whales and ochre sea star, to terrestrial mammals, such as Vancouver Island wolves. For recreational purposes, Long Beach is used for surfing and windsurfing, the Broken Group for sea kayaking, and the West Coast Trail for hiking, as well as camping in all areas and scuba diving in the winter months in the Long Beach and Broken Group areas.
  The Wickaninnish Beach Provincial Park formed the nucleus upon which the national park was assembled. After years of negotiation between the federal government and the provincial government of W.A.C. Bennett, a breakthrough was reached after Jean Chrétien took over for Arthur Laing as the federal minister responsible for parks.
context_section_description: The terrestrial portion of the park lies within what the province terms the Coastal Western Hemlock Biogeoclimatic Zone (very wet hypermaritime subzone), based on the climax vegetation. The wet, temperate and cool climate results in temperate rainforest conditions. The area's exposure to strong winds in the winter, sunny summers and low elevations make the large and sturdy western hemlock, Sitka spruce and western red-cedar the dominant tree species. There understory is dominated by moss (like Sphagnum), lichen and ferns (like deer fern and sword ferns). The forest is home to black bears, Vancouver Island cougar, Roosevelt elk, and marten, as well as numerous invertebrates like the banana slug and warty jumping-slug and birds like the marbled murrelet and the olive-sided flycatcher. Vancouver Island wolves are even present on the islands of the Broken Group. Six species of salmon are present in the park's watercourses, but are predominantly coho and sockeye. Cutthroat trout, red-legged frog, western toad, mink and river otter live in the lakes and wetland areas.
  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.
caption: Fern and moss understory of the park's temperate rainforest
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