Beach reopens two years after unexploded munitions found in sand dunes

PACIFIC RIM NATIONAL PARK, B.C. – Strolling the delicate dunes of the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve on Vancouver Island is once again possible, after the removal of a potentially deadly legacy from the Second World War.

The dunes have reopened, two years after the fragile ecosystem was roped off when unexploded munitions — left over from military practice starting in the 1940s— were discovered in the sandy soil.

The Department of National Defence has carried out an extensive geophysical survey.

The department says in a news release that while no such site can ever be declared completely hazard-free, the risk of uncovering any more unexploded weapons is considered low.

The dunes offer a panoramic view of the Pacific Ocean, just south of Tofino, B.C., and are also home to one of the rarest ecosystems in Canada.

Unique insects and plants, such as pink-sand verbena, are found in the sheltered, desert-like strip which flourishes between the ocean and the towering trees of the West Coast rainforest.