Sarita River
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The Sarita River is an approximately -long river on the west coast of
Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are of land. The island is the largest ...
,
British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...
,
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
, just north of the hamlet of
Bamfield Bamfield is a community that is surrounded by Crown Land, First Nation Lands belonging to the Huu-ay-aht Nations, and portions of the Pacific Rim National Park, located on Barkley Sound, Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. The commu ...
.


History

The Sarita River basin is the traditional homeland of the Huu-ay-aht Peoples. The river was important to the Huu-ay-aht for thousands of years as a source of food and as a means of transportation between villages throughout the territory. The Huu-ay-aht wintering village, Nuumakimyiis, was located at the mouth of the river. In the twentieth century,
logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidder, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or trunk (botany), logs onto logging truck, trucks By 1997, 62% of the watershed had been logged. In 2018, the Huu-ay-aht First Nations announced plans to begin a
salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...
renewal program to bring back the important food staple to the Sarita River. On October 19, 2024, the Sarita River flooded due to an
atmospheric river An atmospheric river (AR) is a narrow corridor or filament of concentrated moisture in the atmosphere. Other names for this phenomenon are tropical plume, tropical connection, moisture plume, water vapor surge, and cloud band. Atmospheric rivers ...
, part of the 2024 British Columbia floods. The road to
Bamfield Bamfield is a community that is surrounded by Crown Land, First Nation Lands belonging to the Huu-ay-aht Nations, and portions of the Pacific Rim National Park, located on Barkley Sound, Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. The commu ...
washed out, killing two people.


River course

The river has its
source Source may refer to: Research * Historical document * Historical source * Source (intelligence) or sub source, typically a confidential provider of non open-source intelligence * Source (journalism), a person, publication, publishing institute ...
in the mountainous interior of Vancouver Island, not far from the Nitinat River basin. The river flows westerly into
Sarita Lake Sarita Lake is a lake located on Vancouver Island an expansion of Sarita River and east of Numukamis Bay, Barkley Sound. See also *List of lakes of British Columbia This is an incomplete list of lakes of British Columbia, a province of Cana ...
and empties the lake over Sarita Falls before meandering through a lowland valley towards the ocean at Numukamis Bay on the eastern edge of the
Barkley Sound Barkley Sound, also known historically as Barclay Sound, is south of Ucluelet and north of Bamfield on the west coast of Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of ...
. The Sarita River has a braided river mouth with a number of
distributaries A distributary, or a distributary channel is a stream channel that branches off and flows a main stream channel. It is the opposite of a ''tributary'', a stream that flows another stream or river. Distributaries are a result of river bifurca ...
. The main tributary for the Sarita River is the South Sarita River. The South Sarita River starts south-west of the Sarita River in the Somerset Range. It flows north-east and meets the Sarita River west of Sarita Lake. The Bamfield Road, the main road to
Bamfield Bamfield is a community that is surrounded by Crown Land, First Nation Lands belonging to the Huu-ay-aht Nations, and portions of the Pacific Rim National Park, located on Barkley Sound, Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. The commu ...
, follows the middle course of the Sarita River valley.


See also

*
List of rivers of British Columbia The following is a partial list of rivers of British Columbia, organized by drainage basin, watershed. Some large creeks are included either because of size or historical importance (See Alphabetical List of British Columbia rivers ). Also includ ...


References

{{Authority control Rivers of Vancouver Island