Edinburgh Mountain Ancient Forest

About Edinburgh Mountain

Edinburgh Mountain near Port Renfrew is home to elk, deer, bears, wolves, cougars, and is one of the finest old-growth rainforests left on Earth. The Edinburgh Mountain Ancient Forest includes about 1500 hectares of intact old-growth, of which more than half is open to logging, while about 40% is tenuously protected in Wildlife Habitat Areas, Old-Growth Management Areas, and an Ungulate Winter Range. These reserves are not as rigorously protected as provincial parks, meaning they can be reversed or changed by the BC Cabinet without a vote in the Legislative Assembly. The Edinburgh Mountain Ancient Forest is adjacent to the Fairy Creek watershed, forming the largest contiguous areas of old-growth forest on southern Vancouver Island outside of a park. This huge expanse of primeval forest is of enormous value for wildlife and biodiversity in a region hit hard by decades of industrial logging.

About Eden Grove

The most spectacular area of the Edinburgh Mountain Ancient Forest is the unprotected Eden Grove. This stunning tract of towering redcedars and Douglas-firs provides denning habitat for black bears, as well as foraging habitat for coastal black-tailed deer, Roosevelt elk, and elusive cougars. A short trail with boardwalk sections winds through the forest giving visitors an incredible view of one of the finest old-growth forests in the country.

The grove is also part of a 2100-hectare Wildlife Habitat Area (WHA) for the endangered Queen Charlotte Goshawk, however, this weak designation still allows logging in 90% of it, despite goshawks needing thousands of hectares of old-growth and mature forest in order to survive and reproduce. In 2010 and 2012, a number of the very largest trees in Canada — some 13 to 16 feet in diameter — were logged within this WHA.

Adjacent to Eden Grove stands Canada’s second largest Douglas-fir tree, ‘Big Lonely Doug’, which was once part of this contiguous ancient forest until the tree’s surrounding neighbours were clearcut in 2011. The stark image of this colossal, skyscraper-sized tree towering over a clearcut has become an icon for the fate of BC’s threatened old-growth forests and the struggle to preserve them. Though many of these irreplaceable forests have been lost, we still have the chance to protect Eden Grove and the diverse wildlife that depends on it. Its exceptional beauty and proximity to Port Renfrew, ‘Canada’s Tall-Tree Capital’, could make it a world-famous tourist destination, similar to nearby Avatar Grove, which provides significant economic benefits for the local community as well as enormous ecological values. Efforts to protect this grove remain of the highest priority.