Princess Royal Island is the largest island on the North Coast of British Columbia, Canada. It is located amongst the isolated inlets and islands east of Hecate Strait on the

British Columbia Coast , settlement_type = Region of British Columbia , image_skyline = , nickname = "The Coast" , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Canada , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = British ...

. At , it is the fourth largest island in British Columbia. Princess Royal Island was named in 1788 by Captain Charles Duncan, after his sloop .

Access and settlements

The island is located in an extremely remote area of British Columbia, north of

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...

and south of

Prince Rupert Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Duke of Cumberland, (17 December 1619 (O.S.) / 27 December (N.S.) – 29 November 1682 (O.S.)) was an English army officer, admiral, scientist and colonial governor. He first came to prominence as a Royalist caval ...

. It is accessible only by boat or air. The Inside Passage ferry and shipping lane runs along its eastern flank, in Princess Royal Channel separating it from the mainland. The island is uninhabited, but used to be home to the community of Surf Inlet, a gold-mining town at the inlet of the same name (though also known as Port Belmont or Belmont), and Butedale, a mining, cannery, fishing and logging town on the island's east coast. The nearest communities today are Klemtu, on Swindle Island and Hartley Bay, on the mainland shore east of Gil Island.

Indigenous reserves

Indigenous reserve Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

s on or adjacent to Princess Royal Island are:

Hartley Bay Indian Band The Hartley Bay Indian Band is also known as the Gitga'at First Nation or the Hartley Bay First Nation. The members of the Gitga'at First nation are often referred to as Gitka'a'ata. The population of Gitk’a’ata peoples living in Hartley Bay ra ...

reserves: *Kahas Indian Reserve No. 7, on the west coast of Princess Royal at Barnard Harbour, 16.50 ha (40.8 acres) . *Kayel Indian Reserve No. 8, on the west shore of Princess Royal fronting on Campania Sound, 1.60 ha. (4.0 acres) at . *Lackzuswadda Indian Reserve No. 9, on an island at the entrance to Surf Inlet, on the southwest coast of Princess Royal, 2.20 ha. (5.4 acres) at .BC Names/GeoBC entry "Lackzuswadda 9 (Indian reserve)"
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Kitasoo/Xaixais First Nation The Kitasoo/Xaixais First Nation, also known as the Kitasoo/Xaixais Nation, is the band government of the First Nations people of Klemtu, British Columbia, Canada. The band comprises two ethnic groups who share an ancient alliance, the Kitasoo, a ...

reserves: * Canoona 2, on Princess Royal Island, north shore of Graham Reach, 219.30 ha. *Dil-ma-sow 5, on Kent Islet southwest of the Princess Royal Islands, 1.90 ha. *Kinmakanksk 6, on the southwest shore of Princess Royal Island on

Laredo Channel Laredo may refer to: Places * Laredo, Cantabria, the original Spanish town with this name * Laredo District, La Libertad, Peru United States and Mexico * Laredo–Nuevo Laredo, a bi-national metropolitan area ** Laredo, Texas *** Downtown La ...

, 11.70 ha. *Lattkaloup 9, on Princess Royal Island at mouth of Fowles Creek,

Laredo Inlet Laredo may refer to: Places * Laredo, Cantabria, the original Spanish town with this name * Laredo District, La Libertad, Peru United States and Mexico * Laredo–Nuevo Laredo, a bi-national metropolitan area ** Laredo, Texas *** Downtown La ...

, 0.40. ha. *Saint Joe 10, on Princess Royal Island at outlet of Bloomfield Lake into Laredo Inlet, 0.50 ha. *Ulthakoush 11, at head of Laredo Inlet on Princess Royal Island, 2.40 ha.

History

Twelve of the 17 crew of U.S. Air Force 44-92075 were found alive here in 1950, during the first lost nuclear/ Broken Arrow episode of the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

. The plane itself flew north after the crew bailed out, crashing on

Mount Kologet Swan Lake Kispiox River Provincial Park is a provincial park in northwest British Columbia, Canada. It lies within the territories of the Gitanyow and Gitxsan First Nations. The park and the area surrounding it are important to First Nations ...

, east of the Nass River to the northwest of Hazelton. Cannery Ruins, Butedale, BC

Geography

The island's northern tip is

Trivett Point Trivett Point is a headland at the northern tip of Princess Royal Island in the North Coast region of British Columbia, Canada. Name origin The point, and nearby Kingcome Point to its east, was named about 1867 by Captain Pender, RN, for J. ...

, its northwestern tip is Kingcome Point. The Canoona River drains the central part of the island, flowing east to the sea from Canoona Lake.

Ecology and environment

The island is classified by the

World Wildlife Fund The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the W ...

as part of their system's

Pacific temperate rain forest The Pacific temperate rainforests of western North America is the largest temperate rain forest region on the planet as defined by the World Wildlife Fund (other definitions exist). The Pacific temperate rainforests lie along the western side of ...

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of ...

. In the ecoregion system used by

Environment Canada Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC; french: Environnement et Changement climatique Canada),Environment and Climate Change Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of the Environment ...

, the island is in the

Pacific Maritime Ecozone The Pacific Maritime Ecozone, as defined by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), is a Canadian terrestrial ecozone, spanning a strip approximately 200 kilometres wide along the British Columbia Coast, then narrowing along the ...

. In the system of biogeoclimatic zones used by the British Columbia Ministry of Forests, the island is part of the Coastal Western Hemlock zone. Wildlife on Princess Royal Island includes kermode bears, black bears,

grizzly bear The grizzly bear (''Ursus arctos horribilis''), also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly, is a population or subspecies of the brown bear inhabiting North America. In addition to the mainland grizzly (''Ursus arctos horri ...

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the re ...

wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

and foxes, and nesting populations of

golden eagle The golden eagle (''Aquila chrysaetos'') is a bird of prey living in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the most widely distributed species of eagle. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. They are one of the best-known bird ...

bald eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche as ...

s, and the endangered marbled murrelet. Marine life around the island includes abundant

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus '' Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus '' Onco ...

, elephant seals,

orca The orca or killer whale (''Orcinus orca'') is a toothed whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family, of which it is the largest member. It is the only extant species in the genus '' Orcinus'' and is recognizable by its black-and-white ...

s and

porpoise Porpoises are a group of fully aquatic marine mammals, all of which are classified under the family Phocoenidae, parvorder Odontoceti (toothed whales). Although similar in appearance to dolphins, they are more closely related to narwhals a ...

s. Princess Royal Island is a core component of a regional preservationist campaign covering the North and Central Coast, which has been dubbed the

Great Bear Rainforest The Great Bear Rainforest is a temperate rain forest on the Pacific coast of British Columbia, Canada comprising 6.4 million hectares. It is part of the larger Pacific temperate rainforest ecoregion, which is the largest coastal temperate ra ...

by environmental groups.

References

External links

Princess Royal Island on BritishColumbia.com
{{Coord, 52, 55, N, 128, 50, W, display=title Islands of British Columbia Central Coast of British Columbia Uninhabited islands of British Columbia