Island View Beach Regional Park

From Telegraph Bay to a regional park

During the 1800s and early 1900s, this area was known as Telegraph Bay and was part of the District of Saanich (until Ward 6 seceded to form Central Saanich in 1951). The first recorded European visitors to the region were James Douglas and first mate Scott M. Jenkin in the late 18th century.

The park as a public space was born out of the vision of the Saanich Council over a century ago. In 1916, Saanich required a developer to donate half an acre of land at the end of Telegraph Bay Road (now Island View Road) for a public park. The following year, the council acquired an additional half-acre across the road, creating a one-acre park complete with a newly built pavilion, tea house, and beach conveniences by 1919. Early newspaper articles from this era praised the sweeping, sandy beaches, noting up to 500 feet of sand at low tide. While the massive sand deposits (originally from the collapse of Cowichan Head cliffs) have diminished over time, transforming the dunes into more organic landscapes, the legacy of that early park remains.

Wetlands and expansion

The flat lands to the west of the beach are a vibrant wetland ecosystem. During World War I, drainage canals were dug in the Tsawout section of these wetlands to dry the land for military training, utilizing a flapper gate to block tidal waters. Later, in 1936, additional ditches were dug to the south to control a severe mosquito infestation; these ditches are still visible and functioning today.

The park remained just one acre until 1966 when the newly formed Capital Regional District (CRD) acquired the larger expanse of land to the north, expanding Island View Beach into the 51.73-hectare regional park we enjoy today.

(Sources: Friends of Island View Beach, Visitor in Victoria)

Flora of the dunes

Growing in shifting sands is a challenge, but the plants of Island View Beach have developed incredible survival strategies:

• Yellow Sand-Verbena: An endangered plant that anchors itself with a massive, water-storing taproot. It uses thick, waxy leaves to retain moisture and protects itself from salt spray by wearing an "armour" of sand grains that stick to its stems.

• Large-headed Sedge: Uses long horizontal rhizomes to anchor itself in the unstable sand, sporting a spiky seed-head that protects it from being trampled.
  

Bird watching & marine life

Island View Beach is celebrated as one of Victoria's premier bird-watching destinations, hosting over 120 species throughout the year.

• Migratory resting ground: During spring and autumn migrations, exhausted seabirds and shorebirds land here to rest and feed on eelgrass, worms, and clams.

• Species at risk: Keep an eye out for threatened shorebirds like Oystercatchers, which lay their camouflaged eggs in simple pebble scrapes on the ground and use distraction tactics to fend off predators.

• Common sightings: Marbled murrelets, surf scoters, Brant, sandpipers, northern harriers, short-eared owls, bald eagles, ruby-crowned kinglets, and spotted towhees.
  

While land wildlife is mostly limited to rabbits, river otters, and mink, the waters offshore frequently host harbour seals, sea lions, and occasionally porpoises or orcas!

Protect Our wildlife: Please observe all birds from a distance, steer clear of any birds displaying evasive behaviors, and keep dogs on leash and strictly on the trail to protect ground-nesting sites.

(Sources: Capital Regional District, Central Saanich, Visitor in Victoria)