McLaughlin Ridge

McLaughlin Ridge is a roughly 400-hectare tract of ancient Douglas-fir forest near Port Alberni that biologists have classified as critical habitat for both wintering deer and nesting endangered Queen Charlotte goshawks. 

The land was formerly protected as an Ungulate Winter Range (UWR) for black-tailed deer and as a Wildlife Habitat Area (WHA) for the endangered goshawk until 2004 when the then BC Liberal government removed 88,000 hectares of land from its Tree Farm Licenses and transferred the land completely to the private ownership of Island Timberlands, thus removing most environmental protections on those lands. 

McLaughlin Ridge, the Cameron Valley Firebreak, and Mount Horne were all intended to be protected as Ungulate Winter Ranges for wintering deer and/or elk until negotiations between the BC government and Island Timberlands fell apart. Island Timberlands began logging the  500-hectare tract of old-growth forest on McLaughlin Ridge, clearcutting 100 hectares or more from both sides of the grove, while about 400 hectares of the core area still remains.