The park is located on and around ȽÁU,WELṈEW̱ (Mount Newton), a small mountain (elevation 305 m) in the traditional territory of Wsanec First Nations,[2] itself situated 20 km north of Victoria, the provincial capital city.

The peninsula is only about 8 km wide where it straddles the park, and scenic views of Saanich Inlet to the west and of Cordova Channel, to the east are obtainable from marked vantage points.

The Greater Victoria region is known for its mild climate, tourism, government and technology sectors, ferry service to the Lower Mainland, and for the naval base CFB Esquimalt.

In First Nations culture, the top of the mountain was called ȽÁU,WELṈEW̱, the high land that enabled them to survive the great flood-they anchored their canoe with a western red cedar rope to a tall arbutus tree at the summit.

It is referred to as the "big soccer ball" by citizens due to the appearance of its radome, but is in fact situated upon a massive foundation tower with top at 25 metres above the ground.

“Any potential impact by trees or foliage will be evaluated by flight checking after construction.” Raytheon Canada Ltd. received the contract to construct ready turnkey installations, using a standard tower configuration of a 25 meters height.

The tree species in the park include: western red cedar, coast douglas-fir, red alder, one shore pine, grand fir, arbutus, garry oak, some western hemlock (most abundant off the valley mist trail), bigleaf maple, the occasional pacific yew, some small black cottonwood, and shrub-like pacific serviceberry, cherries (genus Prunus), and a few willows (genus Salix).

The park also contains rare native wildflowers, the pileated woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus), and the increasingly endangered Garry oak (Quercus garryana var.

There are approximately 6 km of well-marked hiking trails maintained by an organization of local citizens called the Friends of John Dean Park.