Mount Douglas ( ) is a prominent, hill in Saanich, British Columbia. It is located in PKOLS (Mount Douglas Park) in the municipality of Saanich. "Little Mount Douglas" or "Little Mount Doug" is a smaller secondary peak about west of the main peak.

Name

The Saanich people call the hill (), which means 'white stone' in

SENĆOŦEN Saanich (also Sənčáθən, written as in Saanich orthography, ) is the language of the First Nations Saanich people in the Pacific Northwest region of northwestern North America. Saanich is a Coast Salishan language in the Northern Straits dia ...

(the Saanich language). The hill has been a culturally significant gathering and meeting place for the Saanich and

Lekwungen The Lekwungen peoples (natively lək̓ʷəŋən) are a Coast Salish people who reside on southeastern Vancouver Island, British Columbia in the Greater Victoria area. They are represented by the Songhees First Nation, Songhees and Esquimalt First ...

indigenous peoples since time immemorial, a site for ceremonies and sharing important news. In the mid-nineteenth century, it was called ''Cedar Hill'', and was home to logging operations. Local mills supplied the growing city of Victoria, including the original

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

fort, transporting lumber south along present day Cedar Hill Road. It was brought under protected status in 1889. Finding no cedars on the hill called "Cedar Hill," Captain

Henry Kellett Vice Admiral Sir Henry Kellett, (2 November 1806 – 1 March 1875) was an Irish naval officer and explorer. Career Born at Clonacody in Tipperary County, Ireland, on 2 November 1806, Kellett joined the Royal Navy in 1822. He spent three years ...

renamed it "Mount Douglas," as recorded in the Fort Victoria Journal by Roderick Finlayson. Although this informal renaming occurred in James Douglas's lifetime (it was given the appellation "Mount" to honour the governor's status), the name "Mount Douglas" was not officially adopted until 1910. In 2013, an effort was started to restore its indigenous Saanich-language place name. The Reclaim PKOLS movement appealed to the BC Geographical Names Office for a formal name change. On August 15, 2022, Saanich Council approved a request from the W̱SÁNEĆ Leadership Council to move forward with a municipal park name restoration for PKOLS (Mount Douglas Park).

Neighbourhood

The namesake neighbourhood around the base of Mount Douglas is a mix of residential neighbourhoods,

hobby farm A hobby farm (also called a lifestyle block, acreage living, or rural residential) is a smallholding or small farm that is maintained without expectation of being a primary source of income. Some are held simply to bring homeowners closer to n ...

s and working farms, roughly bounded by Cedar Hill Road, Cordova Bay Road, the Blenkinsop Valley and Parkside Crescent. The farms of the Blenkinsop Valley (such as Madrona Farm) are protected by the provincial

Agricultural Land Reserve British Columbia's Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) is a collection of land where agriculture is designated as the priority use. Farming is encouraged and non-agricultural uses are restricted. The ALR was established by the British Columbia New De ...

Mine

Mount Douglas has fifteen officially designated trails. One trail in particular, on its south side (near the north-most point of Glendenning Trail), has an old abandoned mine. The mine has a small entrance, but it opens up inside. The mine is about in length.

Park

The hill is located in PKOLS (Mount Douglas Park) in Saanich, BC, which covers 188 ha. It was established as a government reserve in 1858 by Governor James Douglas, and it became Mount Douglas Park in 1889 when the land was transferred to the

city of Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

. Victoria managed the park until 1990 when it was transferred to the

District of Saanich A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

. Located entirely in the Coastal Douglas-fir Biogeoclimatic zone, Mount Douglas contains some of the most endangered and at-risk ecosystems and species in all of Canada. At least six plant and animal species have already been

extirpated Local extinction, also extirpation, is the termination of a species (or other taxon) in a chosen geographic area of study, though it still exists elsewhere. Local extinctions are contrasted with global extinctions. Local extinctions mark a chan ...

from park boundaries since its establishment.

References

External links

*
Description of the park from the Saanich municipal website

A description of the area, including some historical information

Website for ''Mount Douglas High School''W̱SÁNEĆ Leadership CouncilHistory of PKOLS (Mount Douglas Park)
{{VictoriaNeighbourhoods

Douglas Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals * Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking * Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil ...

Neighbourhoods in Saanich, British Columbia