Are you interested in helping to support of safe, sustainable, low impact public access on the Wellington Colliery Corridor through Lower Perseverance Creek out to the Conservation lands at Comox Lake (aka Coal Beach).
Let’s face it, the ‘cat is out of the bag’ and people know about this place. Visitor numbers have been increasing exponentially over the past 5 years (growing like Cumberland is growing) and now we’re at a CRITICAL CROSSROADS – can we protect the conservation values that have informed the recent purchase and protection of these lands and secure low impact public access at the same time?
The cumulative human impacts are real – feet, tires, strollers and wagons are being dragged through fish bearing Perseverance Creek, fires lit at the beach, illegal motorized activity is preventing any natural regeneration of this 135 year old industrial site, toilet paper and human waste are accumulating, dog waste bags left behind, and our crew are down there twice a week picking up cans, glass and garbage. Use patterns are creating real wildfire risks and contributing to the continued degradation of this site.
This space is also a cultural corridor, filled with indigenous and industrial history, integral to the regions drinking watershed, ecologically significant, home to species at risk, 100+ year old trees, floodplain forests, medicinal plants and fungus, ravens, cougars, salmonids, frogs, and lampreys.
Its not a park. Its no longer private timber land. Its a conservation and watershed protection area and it needs our community to help protect and restore it.
As one of the landowners in the area (along with the CVRD and Village), the Cumberland Forest is leading a collaborative effort to shift the access and activities on these lands in support of the values and objectives outlined in the Conservation Plan for Lands at Lower Perseverance and Comox Lake.