The Five Themes of Geography

Saltspring Island







Location-



Absolute: 48 45' /123 30'



Relative: Located in the Southern Gulf Islands, below Kuper Island, Galiano Island, Wallace Island, to the West off the Coast of Vancouver Island, between the Tricomali Channel and the Stuart Channel in the Pacific Ocean. Located to the East is Vancouver Island, to the North is Mainland Vancouver- 20-35 minutes ferry travel to Vancouver Island, and about an hour and a half to mainland Vancouver. Close to the 49th parallel, or the US/Canada border.







Place-



Physical characteristics: Saltspring is 185 sq. km, 72 sq miles. There are several lakes: Saint Mary Lake, Maxwell Lake, Cushion Lake, Stowel Lake, Ford Lake, Roberts Lake, and Bullock Lake. There are many mountains as well: Mount Erskine, Mount Maxwell, Mount Belcher, Mount Sullivan, Mount Tuam, Mount Bruce, Hope Hill, and Reginald Hill. There are 29 beaches in total, 9 swimming beaches: Arbutus Beach, Hudson Point, Fernwood Point, Long Harbour Beach, Churchill, Price Beach, Beddis Beach, Ruckle Beach, Isabella Point, Burgoine Bay, Erskine Bay, Baker Beach and Vesuvius Beach. Other Physical characteristics include: Eleanor Point, Isabella Point, Cape Keppel, Musgrave Landing, Bold Bluff, Burgoyne Bay, Maxwell Point, Booth Bay, Southey Point, Hudson Point, Athal Peninsula, Nose Point, Scott Point and Yeo Point.







Cultural/ man-made characteristics:



Saltspring contains a few ferry terminals and boating ports: Long Harbour Terminal, Vesuvius Terminal, Fulford Harbour as well as several public docks- such as the one located in Ganges. Major roads: Fulford- Ganges Road, Beaver Point Road, Steward Road, Beddis Road, Robbinson Road, Vesuvuis Road, Sunset Drive, Lower Ganges road as well as many others. Saltspring has many parks: Ruckle Park, Arnell Park, Maxwell, Mouat Park, Beaver Point Park, Drummond Park, and Portlock. The schools: Saltspring Elementary, Fulford Elementary, Fernwood Elementary, Pheonix Elementary, Center School, Gulf Islands Middle School, Gulf Islands Senior Secondary School, and Pheonix High. Other: Library, 225 farms, 1 fairground, 7 public docks, 4 commercial marinas, 3 post offices, 3 firehalls, 7 community halls, 1 movie theatre, 16 churches, 1 hospital, 2 golf courses, 1 swimming pool, 5 tennis courts, 2 major grocery stores, 2 major shopping centers, 16 resturaunts, 15 cafes, 2 pubs, 1 hotel, 1 motel, 4 gas stations and many resorts, bed and breakfasts, and cottages.







Region/ Cultural:



North America, Canada, Westcoast, Southern Gulf Islands. Saltspring is a part of the Pacific Rim and is a Southern Gulf Island located in the Strait of Georgia between Vancouver Island and Mainland Vancouver. It is also part of the Capital Regional District along with Municipalities of Greater Victoria.





Human/Environment Interactions:





Saltspring is located on the North American tectonic plate, on top of the submerging Juan De Fuca plate- this is a potential natural earthquake hazard. Forest fires are reoccurant during the summer, and hard to extinguish due to the hardship of getting help over to the island.





One of the environmental changes Saltspringers have made ot the island is draining and filling Swanson's Pond in order to have more space for residential housing developments. The placement of Aeraters into the St. Mary lake to suppress the growth of a certain fungi is another, as well as containing a potential avalanche area with synthetic grass and tree growth along a road leading to Fulford Harbour. Foresting on he mountains to create more residential area, the development of ferry terminals and public docks to make transportation more convenient and the creation of paved or gravel roads for on-island transportation.





One major environmental concern is rising sea levels. Because of global warming, the ice caps could melt and the sea levels would rise significantly, burying Saltspring under a blanket of sea water.





Movement-





The ferry terminal in Vesuvius can take you to Crofton in twenty minutes. The ferry terminal in Fulford can take you to Sidney in thirty five minutes. The ferry terminal in Long Harbour can get you to the Lower Mainland and outer Islands in anywhere from one to three hours. There are also three seaplanes that can take you to the mainland and Vancouver Island. For off island students attending Gulf Islands Senior Secondary, there is a water taxi that runs twice a day picking up and dropping off students from Pender, Galiano, Mayne and Saturna Island. It takes anywhere from thirty mintutes to forty five minutes, and they also run occasionally in the summertime.





Saltspring gets their electricity from BC Hydro, solar power and in some cases- wind power.

There are over 200 farms and greenhouses on Saltspring Island that sell their goods on the side of the road by the honor system, as well as two major grocery markets. A lot of the products we get off the shelves of our grocery store are shipped to the store by vessels from the mainland, but there is some produce, sea food, deli cheeses and meat (such as lamb) that is from the island itself. Things that are shipped to the island are usually from mainland BC or Vancouver Island, from Cowichan Valley.

Because BC is known for it's foresting and fishing, there's not many manafacturing plants for material products. Because of the size of Saltspring, it is hard to share the resources because we use them for our own sustainability. Some local artists may ship or sell their work, but it isn't very common.

For islanders, many houses have their own septic tanks, but on smaller streets houses may share tanks. For recyclable items, the island has a recycling depot and as for industrial waste, there is a dump on the island as well, but most garbage is shipped off island to bigger dumps.

Saltspring Island is very art-oriented. There are many local artists, musicians and authors who share their work on the island. This attracts other cultures and maintains ties with other places as well. We host art shows, we have a small venue called "Beaver Point Hall" where artists come and perform, and there are poetry readings held around Ganges on certain nights. The fact that we are a part of Western Canada connects us to Native culture as well. In the high school, GISS, there are many exchange programs for students through grades 10-12, such as students from Germany, Japan, Austria and many other places. The first Japanese settlers to discover the island have had some impact on it's growth culturally as well.