Qualla: Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region

Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region: Introduction

Thu, 17 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit MH, CC BY-SA 4.0. In 1925, from the summit of Mount Arrowsmith, Don and Phyllis Munday looked out across the Strait of Georgia and picked out the far-off summit of Mount Waddington. It is the kind of thing this mountain has always been good for - not difficulty so much as vantage. At 1,819 metres it is the highest peak east of Port Alberni, a basalt tower standing where the Vancouver Island Ranges lean toward the sea, and from its top you can trace the whole shallow bowl of country that now carries its name: 118,592 hectares designated by UNESCO in 2000 as the Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region.

Image: MH | CC BY-SA 4.0

Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region: A Reserve That Is Growing Back

Thu, 17 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Carport, CC BY-SA 3.0. Most biosphere reserves are argued for on the strength of what has survived. This one was argued on the strength of what is returning. The designation protects a large second-growth coast Douglas fir ecosystem in the watersheds of the Little Qualicum and Englishman rivers, land w...

Image: Carport | CC BY-SA 3.0

Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region: Two Rivers Off One Shoulder

Thu, 17 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit MH, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Little Qualicum and the Englishman both drain the northeastern slope of Mount Arrowsmith, and they carry the region's geography downhill in a hurry. Nine protected areas sit inside the biosphere region, and reading the list is a decent itinerary in itself: Arbutus Grove, Engl...

Image: MH | CC BY-SA 4.0

Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region: Jagged Points Facing Upward

Thu, 17 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit MH, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Tseshaht name for the mountain is kal-ka-c'alh - Jagged Points Facing Upward - which describes the summit ridge better than the English one does. Captain George Henry Richards attached the name Arrowsmith around 1853, honouring the London cartographers Aaron Arrowsmith and hi...

Image: MH | CC BY-SA 4.0

Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region: An Unlikely Table

Thu, 17 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit w:en:Kjfmartin (talk, contribs), CC BY-SA 3.0. Biosphere reserves need someone to run them, and in 2013 the members of the Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Foundation voted to dissolve their own society and hand management to Vancouver Island University and the City of Parksville. The following year VIU created the Mount Arrowsmith...

Image: w:en:Kjfmartin (talk | contribs) | CC BY-SA 3.0