Volunteers & Visitors

Strathcona Wilderness Institute hosted a volunteer appreciation gathering yesterday - thanks again to all the Wilderness Centre staff, nature walk & talk and hike guides. SWI will be in touch with those who weren't able to attend.

A few highlights from the 2011 season:

6867 visitors assisted:
Centre staffed 82 days = overall average 84 visitors to the Centre per day.

In July, the Centre assisted 1589 visitors (25 days staffed=average 64 visitors/day); in August, 2814 visitors ( 28 days=average 103 visitors/day); and in September/Oct, 2464 visitors (29 days=85 visitors/day).

As in 2010, these numbers include those who attended walks, talks & hikes, as well as groups such as students who visited the Park. For 2011 these numbers also included those who attended the special Centennial events.

About 200 visitors were recorded at the Centre on the busiest days . The daily visitor averages in July were lower than in 2010, no doubt due to the late snow year, but the average numbers for August & September were similar to 2010. Overall numbers of visitors assisted was greatly increased from 2010 due to the Centre being staffed almost every day for the three summer months.

Visitors came from:
Comox Valley: 36%
North Vancouver Island : 9%
South Vancouver Island : 21.5%
Rest of BC : 8%
Rest of Canada : 8.5%
USA : 4.5%
UK/Europe/EU/Western Asia : 10%
Other Countries : 2.5%

The proportions are similar to 2010 with slightly higher CV & NVI visitors; slightly lower SVI visitors; slightly higher International visitors.

Countries represented:
Canada: 10 provinces/territories
BC, Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, NWT.
USA: 30 states
Alaska, Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, California, Montana, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Nebraska, Texas, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Louisiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York.
Europe/Western Asia: 23 countries
England, Scotland, Ireland, Iceland, Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Spain, Italy, Poland, Russia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Hungary, Israel.
Other countries: 16 countries
Australia, New Zealand
Japan, China, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong
South Africa, Botswana, Kenya, Tanzania
Mexico, Panama, Brazil, Guatemala .


Visitors were recorded from a much greater diversity of countries &  States than 2010.

Compare with last year's visitors here.