Cameron Valley Ancient Forest / Cameron Valley Firebreak
Now Deferred
Cameron Valley near Port Alberni. Hupačasath, Tseshaht, Snaw-naw-as, Snuneymuxw, and K’ómoks territory.
~150 hectares
Private – Owned by Mosaic Forest Management
Just a half-hour drive from Cathedral Grove is an ancient forest that is just about as impressive – the Cameron Valley Ancient Forest or “Firebreak.” This area is a valley-bottom-to-mountain-top old-growth Douglas-fir forest originally left as a moist, old-growth rainforest firebreak to stifle the spread of forest fires raging through the dry clearcuts. It was supposed to have been protected as an Ungulate Winter Range for the legions of magnificent Roosevelt elk and black-tailed deer that live here.
Unfortunately, in 2004 the BC Liberal government environmentally deregulated the area by removing it from the Tree Farm Licence, allowing then-Island Timberlands to log about one-third of its 150 hectares in 2012. Ancient Forest Alliance has continued to campaign for the protection of this area and most recently, the grove was included in a suite of private land old-growth deferrals undertaken by Mosaic Forest Management, the current landowner. Permanent protection for this incredible ancient forest is now needed as 99% of BC’s old-growth Douglas-fir trees have now been logged, making this an extremely rare grove.
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