Miracle Beach Provincial Park

Miracle Beach Provincial Park
IUCN category II (national park)
Map showing the location of Miracle Beach Provincial Park
Location of Miracle Beach Provincial Park in British Columbia
Location British Columbia, Canada
Nearest city Campbell River, Courtenay
Coordinates 49°51′00″N 125°06′00″W / 49.85000°N 125.10000°W / 49.85000; -125.10000Coordinates: 49°51′00″N 125°06′00″W / 49.85000°N 125.10000°W / 49.85000; -125.10000
Area 137 ha (340 acres)
upland: 109 ha (270 acres)
foreshore: 28 ha (69 acres)
Established 1950
Governing body BC Parks

Miracle Beach Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada, located at Black Creek on the eastern shore of Vancouver Island between Comox and Campbell River.

Vegetation in the park is typical for the region's forests with Douglas-fir most prominent. Common associates include Western hemlock, Sitka spruce, red alder and bigleaf maple. Salal is the most abundant shrub. Most of the park's soils were mapped as well-drained gravelly loamy sands or sandy loams (Dashwood-Shawnigan complex, mapped as "D-S") and classified as brown podzolic in a soil survey published in 1959.[1] However, the abundance of bleached sand grains on forest trails is evidence of an albic horizon characteristic of podzols.

The Strait of Georgia forms the park's eastern boundary. Sandy beaches are extensive, especially at low tide. Black Creek, which flows through the park, is a spawning area for salmon.

History

Archaeological findings show that the Coast Salish used the area, though only one stone tool (a hammerstone) has been discovered within the park boundaries. The land was surveyed in 1886 and 1893 into individual lots for forestry use, primarily hemlock and fir, and it is was all logged shortly after. A second cut was taken in the 1920s and 1930s. The property was purchased by a private citizen, Frank Pottage, in 1948 with the intention to subdivide and develop it for residential purposes. To achieve road access to proposed waterfront parcels, Pottage and the provincial government entered into an agreement involving the province purchasing 57.5 hectares for park purposes, 6 hectares at mouth of Black Creek being gifted to the province, and the construction of a public road that would access both the park and the proposed residential lots.[2] Miracle Beach Drive was constructed in 1952 and a year later, Seaview Road and the first set of residential lots were created adjacent to the park land. The provincial government officially established the Miracle Beach Provincial Park as a Class A park with 57 ha (140 acres) in 1950 with Order-in-Council 2259.[3] The following year, an additional 35 ha (86 acres) south of the park was purchased from Pottage and added to the park.[4][5] The foreshore component, which had remained crown land, was added to the park in 1956.[6] A nearby property owner later donated 3 ha (7.4 acres) of wetland that drains into the Black Creek estuary to be added to the park as an exclave.[7]

Recreation and facilities

For recreational purposes, the park is used for beach enjoyment, swimming, nature appreciation, scenic viewing, picnicking and camping. Approximately 30 ha (74 acres) of the park is used as a campground with 202 vehicle accessible campsites, a sani-station for disposing sewage from recreational vehicles, a shower building, playground, and several drinking water facets and outhouses. Closer to the beach, are picnic shelters, a changehouse and additional outhouses for day-use visitors. The Miracle Beach Nature House is a nature centre located in the park. The centre features natural history displays and offers seasonal environmental education programs for campers and the general public.[8]

Geography and ecology

Miracle Beach Park comprises 137 hectares, with approximately 665 metres of shoreline along the Strait of Georgia on the east coast of Vancouver Island. The beach component of the park extends outward approximately 340 to 410 metres from the shoreline to the tide's low water mark. The tide floods this sandy foreshore area twice daily. The extensive beach area is an intertidal sandbar, the result of coastal sediment transport from Williams Beach, and other nearby shorelines, driven by winds and waves from the southeast, as well as sediment from spilling out from Black Creek and Oyster River. Following this sediment transport pattern, the sands of Miracle Beach are being transported northward to Saratoga Beach. The shoreline is composed of a cobble and gravel surface with driftwood logs. Native species growing in the saline environment of the shoreline include gumweed, American dunegrass, Vancouver wildrye. The intertidal area is heavily trafficked by park visitors but animal life that can be found there include sand dollar, purple shore crab, green shore crab and green burrowing anemone. Coho Salmon swim up Black Creek from the sea in the fall.

The terrestrial portion of the park lies within what the province terms the Coastal Western Hemlock Biogeoclimatic Zone, based on the climax vegetation, in the very dry maritime subzone (CWHxm1).[9] The air masses coming from the Pacific Ocean loses much of its moisture as it passes the Vancouver Island Ranges, resulting in this area experiencing warm summers with little rain but wet winters. This leads to western hemlock being the potential dominant tree species. However, in second-growth forest the most abundant tree is usually Douglas-fir. Western redcedar and grand fir grow in the drier nutrient-rich sites and red alder and bigleaf maple grow where disturbance has resulted in sun exposure, like along the borders of clearings. In the mature forest areas, shade-tolerant plants grown in the understory, such as salal, Oregon grape, sword fern, and deer fern.

See also

References

  1. ↑
  2. ↑ "Order-in-council 0595". Government of British Columbia. March 30, 1950. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  3. ↑ "Order-in-Council 2259". Government of British Columbia. October 16, 1950. Retrieved September 28, 2018.
  4. ↑ "Order-in-Council 2267". Government of British Columbia. September 25, 1951. Retrieved September 28, 2018.
  5. ↑ "Order-in-Council 0126". Government of British Columbia. January 23, 1952. Retrieved September 28, 2018.
  6. ↑ "Order-in-council 1262". Government of British Columbia. May 23, 1956. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  7. ↑ "Order-in-council 3869". Government of British Columbia. November 1, 1972. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  8. ↑ Miracle Beach Provincial Park Management Plan (PDF). British Columbia Ministry of Parks. 1989.
  9. ↑ http://cfcg-forestry.sites.olt.ubc.ca/files/2012/12/mapCWH4.gif
  • Day, J.H., L. Farstad, and D.G. Laird, 1959. Soil Survey of Southeast Vancouver Island and Gulf Islands, British Columbia, B.C. Soil Survey, Rept. No. 6, Can. Dept. Agric.
  • "Miracle Beach Park". BC Geographical Names.
  • Stetski, Wayne (1988). Natural History Theme Study of Miracle Beach Park. BC Parks.
  • Szczawinski, A.F.; Underhill, J.E. (1958). A Botanical Survey of Miracle Beach Park. BC Parks.
  • Barnes, Raymond (1962). A Description of Miracle Beach with an Ecological Emphasis. BC Parks.
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