Tofino plays host to a number of annual festivals. The more popular festivals include The Pacific Rim Whale Festival, Feast Tofino, The Tofino Oyster Festival and there are several more large and small events throughout the year.
A complete listing of Upcoming Festivals
Ucluelet is located 40km (25mi) south of Tofino on the west coast of Vancouver Island. In contrast to the beautiful sandy beaches of Tofino, Ucluelet (or ‘Ukee’) offers a spectacular & rugged coastline. Ucluelet boasts the Wild Pacific Trail, an impressive network of well-marked trails that run along the rocky coastline. Ucluelet’s population and size is similar to Tofino with 1,600+ permanent residence. The main industries are tourism and resource based.
Clayoquot Sound (adjacent Tofino) is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. The following information is available at clayoquotbiosphere.org, the Clayoquot Biosphere Trust.
On May 5, 2000, representatives of First Nations, local governments, the Governments of Canada and the Province of British Columbia, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) were joined by local residents and invited guests from around the world to officially commemorate the designation of Clayoquot Sound as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.
Prime Minister Jean Chrétien was in attendance to celebrate and announce a $12 million federal grant for an endowment fund for the Clayoquot Biosphere Trust (CBT) the cornerstone of the Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. The CBT will use the income from the endowment fund to support local research, education and training in the Biosphere Reserve region.
Biosphere Reserves are areas of terrestrial or marine ecosystems which are internationally recognized within UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Program for promoting and demonstrating a balanced relationship between people and nature. Individual countries propose sites within their territories which meet a given set of criteria for this designation.
Biosphere Reserves serve to combine the three following functions:
Biosphere Reserves form a World Network. Within this network, exchanges of information, experience and personnel are promoted. Biosphere Reserves develop local solutions on conservation and sustainable development that can be shared with other Reserves and with peoples around our planet. This website serves as a vehicle to connect the Clayoquot Biosphere Reserve region, it’s people, businesses and the researchers in the area with the global community and the network of Biosphere Reserves.
With the designation of the Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, a new chapter opened for our area. This honour brings new possibilities and opportunities for local communities.
The Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve has as a guiding principle the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations philosophy “Hishuk ish ts’awalk”, or “everything is one.” This stresses the importance of recognizing and learning about the interconnections within and between ecosystems in order to promote truly sustainable local communities and economies, while protecting the environment for future generations.
Pacific Rim National Park Reserve was established on the southwest coast of Vancouver Island in 1970. The park’s 500 km(2) have three components, including the Long Beach Unit, the West Coast Trail Unit, and the Broken Group Islands Unit. This group of over 100 islands and islets accounts for most of the park’s 150 km of shoreline, and includes 106 km2 of marine habitat. The Long Beach area is 304 km from Victoria. The park reserve, along with South Moresby / Gwaii Haanas National ParkReserve, protects over 2 200 km2 of the Pacific Coast Mountains Natural Region. Pacific Rim is located in the Pacific Maritime Eco-zone.
Climate
The park reserve’s maritime climate ensures an abundance of heavy rains, prolonged cloudiness, and moderate temperatures. Dominated by the onshore flow of Pacific air, the climate is generally moist and mild. Winters see frequent rain storms, while large pressure areas off the coast cause lengthy spells of warm sunshine. Winter temperatures average above freezing, while summer days rarely go above 30ºC.
Geology
The world’s largest ocean dominates this park. The Pacific waters pound the shores of Vancouver Island, an island that was once a chain of volcanic mountains that collided with the mainland. Much later, glaciers advanced from the mountains out to sea, and their retreat left sand, gravel, and clay, to form a coastal plain on which the park is located. The rocky shoreline, with its tidal pools, sea caves, and surf-swept headlands, is rich with marine life.
Vegetation
By far the most conspicuous plant life on Pacific Rim is the towering coastal spruces and firs that thrive in the abundant moisture and long growing season. Sitka spruce are the main coastal species, while cedar, hemlock, and amabilis fir grow further inland. Areas of bog and muskeg support shorepine, Labrador tea, and bog laurel. Thick growths of salal, salmonberry, and huckleberry can rise 2-3 m above the ground, while mosses, ferns, and bunchberries compete for sunlight on the forest floor.
Wildlife
Land mammals are abundant in the park reserve. Occasionally one will see red squirrels, mink, martens, and raccoons. Black-tailed deer frequent glades along the shore, while large predators like black bears, cougars, and wolves are more often seen during the quieter off-season months. The birdlife in the park reserve includes forest species like pileated woodpeckers and red crossbills, and shoreline species like sandpipers, gulls, diving ducks, loons, cormorants, murres, grebes, and bald eagles. Beaches are alive with razor clams, sea worms, and beach hoppers, while the tidal pools teem with barnacles, mussels, hermit crabs, small fish, sea stars, and sponges. Offshore, halibut, sole, cod, and schools of salmon feed on shrimp, plankton, and small fish. Ocean mammals include killer, gray, sperm, hump-backed and blue whales, sea lions, and harbour seals.
Activities
Long Beach contains most of the park’s recreational facilities, including one campground, short hiking trails, picnic areas, scenic roadways, the Wickaninnish Interpretive Centre and Green Point Theatre. Primitive camping is available at eight sites in the Broken Group Islands Unit. Popular activities in the park include beach-combing, sea kayaking, scuba diving, whale and bird watching, boating, and fishing. Visitors can also participate in a full range of interpretive programs.
Vancouver Island, located in the westernmost Canadian province of British Columbia, is the largest island on North America’s west coast. Comparable in size to The Netherlands, Vancouver Island has something to offer for everyone. The physical landscape varies widely, ranging from ocean to rainforest to mountains.
The city of Victoria is the capital of British Columbia and the largest city on Vancouver Island. Located on the southern tip of the island, Victoria can be accessed directly by ferry boat from both Vancouver and Seattle.
Vancouver Island has been voted #1 Temperate Island in the World by the readers of the influential Condé Nast Traveler Magazine.
Tourism Tofino is the official tourism agency supporting the Tofino area. Tourism Tofino is an excellent source of information for visitors to the area. The Visitor Information Centre is located on Pacific Rim Highway.
Phone
(Toll-Free) 1.888.720.3414
(Local) 1.250.725.3414
Visitor Information Centre
1426 Pacific Rim Highway
Tofino, B.C.
Hours
9am – 5pm (varies by season)
Mailing Address
Box 1140
Tofino, BC, Canada
V0R 2Z0
Tofino was named in 1792 by Spanish explorers for hydrographer Don Vincent Tofino, the area remained largely the territory of coast Natives who lived off the land and reaped the benefits of the surrounding forests and ocean.
In the early 1900s, there were only a handful of non-native settlers living in the area, considered then as one of the most remote parts of Canada. In 1913, a church was built at Tofino, soon followed by a post office, logging camps and stores. Access to the remote outpost was by ship until the threat of invasion in World War II saw the building of a military airport. Road access began Tofino’s transformation from a remote fishing village in the spectacular Clayoquot Sound to a world-class tourism destination.
Today Tofino boasts over 1,800 permanent residence and the population swells much higher in the summer months. Tofino has retained much of its charm & beauty by carefully managing development in the region. Tourism is the primary industry in the region.
Tofino Botanical Gardens are twelve acres of gardens, forest, and shoreline that explore the relationship between culture and nature. A network of paths and boardwalks will take you from the Visitor Centre past kitchen gardens, the Frog Pond, Children’s Garden into the forest, where clearings have been transformed in a series of pocket gardens.
Some of these gardens display plants that once thrived in other coastal temperate rainforests around the world, others celebrate the various cultural groups that have made Clayoquot Sound their home now and in the past, particularly the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations, early pioneer homesteaders, Japanese fishing families, and, of course, Hippies.
In May 2000, Clayoquot Sound was designated a United Nations Biosphere Reserve, an international recognition of the area’s unique ecosystem and its people’s relationship with it.
Tofino Botanical Gardens is dedicated to the creation of a living classroom where future generations will learn about the natural and cultural history of Clayoquot Sound and the remaining coastal temperate rainforests of the world.
Tofino Botanical Gardens is evolving on very special twelve acre site. Just one mile from the village of Tofino, we are adjacent to over sixty acres of forest reserve. Our shoreline looks onto more then five thousand acres of protected wildlife habitat including Vancouver Island’s most important migratory shorebird area. This unique location has provided a very rich basis for the development of a valuable biological and horticultural resource.
Location:
1084 Pacific Rim Highway, Tofino, BC
Open daily from 9am till dusk
Phone:
(250) 725-1220
Tofino is a temperate rainforest, receiving significant rainfall year round. The winter months are especially wet but the abundant rainfall supports the breathtaking beauty and eco-diversity unique to the region. Summer is typically warm and relatively dry in the Tofino area. Being located on the ocean, year round temperatures are moderated by the sea, rarely getting very hot in the summer, nor very cold in the winter.
