Rhododendron Lake

Rhododendron Lake lies in the Englishman River drainage about 20 kilometres (12 miles) west of Nanaimo at an elevation of 460 metres (1500 feet).   Click here for Google Earth Placemark. The main feature of the area is a small grove of Pacific Rhododendron (Rhododendron macrophyllum), a rare plant in British Columbia.   This small grove of about 2 hectares (5 acres) is one of only two localities on Vancouver Island (there is another even smaller grove south of Nanaimo near Weeks Lake between Shawnigan and Port Renfrew).  On the mainland of British Columbia, the Pacific Rhododendron is most prevalent in the Skagit Valley on the western slope of the Cascade Mountain Range and is readily seen from the highway near the western entrance to Manning Park.  Recently, another small grove has been discovered on the slopes of  Mt. Elphinstone on the Sechelt peninsula (see article in October 2006 issue  of Vancouver Rhododendron Society Newsletter) .  The Pacific Rhododendron is much more common in the State of Washington where it was adopted as the state flower.  It is most prevalent in the State of Oregon and occurs in several locations in California (see maps and descriptions in the Western North American Rhododendron Species Project).

Rhododendron Lake is located on forest land owned by Island Timberlands LP (formerly MacMillan Bloedel) and access is gained from their Northwest Bay road network.  [For information about access times and road conditions, telephone the North West Bay regional office at 250 468-6810.]      From the parking lot, there are trails into the rhododendrons with interpretative signs. The peak flowering season is in early June.  Other wildflowers of interest include bunchberry (Cornus canadensis), bog kalmia (Kalmia polifolia) and Labrador tea (Rhododendron groenlandicum).  [ See article by Lillian Hodgson. 1985 ARS Journal vol 39, No. 4, pp. 206-208.] The Englishman River watershed is part of the Mount Arrowsmith Biopshere Reserve that was designated in November 2000 by the Man and Biosphere Program of the United Nations’ Education, Science, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The Pacific Rhododendron has a vigorous root system and is more drought tolerant than many of the hybrids available from commercial nurseries.  There are selected forms which have been introduced into cultivation that have a range of flower colours from white to darker red than the native form.

Dr. Ben Hall and his associates at the University of Washington have studied DNA variation within the Pacific Coast Rhododendron (see the article in the winter 2006 issue of the Journal of the American Rhododendron Society Volume 60, number 1, page 37).  They found that DNA samples collected from plants in BC, Washington, Oregon and California could be grouped into four categories.  These categories are thought to share a common ancestor and are called clades. 

Clade 1 is generally found near the ocean.  Clades 2 and 4 are the principal forms at mountainous sites in British Columbia and southern Oregon.  Clade 3 is the main type found in the Cascade Mountains in Oregon.   The Mt Elphinstone and Weeks Lake (Shawnigan) populations contain clade 1, as do the plants around Puget Sound.  However, the plants at Rhododendron Lake have clades 2 and 4, indicating that they are closely related to those in Manning Provincial Park.

Description	Click photo to enlarge
Aerial View looking southeast View in January with Rhododendron Lake in the lower right of the image, looking over the ridge of Okay Mountain toward Mount Benson.  Mount Baker can be seen in the distance 185 kilometres (116 miles) to the southeast.  The right of way for the Cheekeye-Dunsmuir power line runs east of the lake toward the north fork of the Nanaimo River.
Aerial View of the lake The rhododendrons are located   adjacent to the shore of the lake at the bottom of the picture & extend up the hill into the trees.
Interpretive Signs Clive Justice and the late Harold Johnston of the Vancouver Rhododendron Society arranged for the signs which were donated by MacMillan Bloedel Ltd.  See the article by the late Lillian Hodgson in the 1985   ARS Journal Volume 39, Number 4.

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Last Updated: January 16, 2012