Cumberland is already well known as a “Village in the Forest”. Over the past 23 years the Cumberland Community Forest Society (CCFS) has purchased and protected over 550 acres of privately owned forest lands for our community. This year the CCFS is also turning their attention to Forest within the Village.
Urban areas have a vital role to play in the global effort to manage impacts from climate change. Urban forests protect biodiversity, provide habitat, filter air pollution, sequester carbon, reduce surface temperatures during heat waves, and respond to extreme weather events like atmospheric rivers and droughts through storing and slowly releasing water.
The rapid growth of our community has increased the need to protect and enhance the urban forest canopy. New development nodes are lacking adequate green spaces and many trees in our older neighbourhoods are at the end of their life cycle. New and replacement plantings are both needed to ensure our future includes a thriving urban forest.
In addition to their ongoing role in protecting lands in our local watershed, the CCFS is taking action to protect the forests within our Village to help build a climate resilient Cumberland.
Forest in the Village is a pilot project to enhance the urban forest of Cumberland through community engagement, education and action. The project responds to key recommendations in the Village of Cumberland’s Urban Forest Management Plan and is focused on increasing the Village’s urban canopy through collective action, urban biodiversity tours, community education, bulk purchasing of climate resilient species, and neighbourhood plantings in the fall of 2023.
IMPORTANT DATES!
First Round Tree Sign Ups June 19-27
Second Round of Sign Ups is September 11-18
Community Planting Date Oct 15th
The Forest in the Village pilot has been made possible by the Comox Valley Community Foundation, First Credit Union and generous CCFS supporters.