Only 5 days to go!
Only 5 days remain in an incredible quest to purchase and protect Middle Earth! For the past 18 months we’ve been working hard with fundraisers, event partnerships, funding applications and outreach to generous private donors to secure the final funds to make this incredible $2.1 million project possible. Over the past 3 months we’ve secured $65,000 in community donations and now we’re down to the final $5000 in fundraising to hit our target for this history making project! Any funds we raise above and beyond that target in these last 5 days will be dedicated directly to restoration and wildfire resiliency projects on the Middle Earth landscape! Have a look at this stunning video from our friends at Fox & Bee and explore Middle Earth HERE
A very special woman left us the foundation for this purchase…
Cumberland resident, neighbour, friend, potter and teacher Martha Johanson passed away peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, on Monday June 28, 2021. Those who knew Martha will remember
her tenacity, openness, and willingness to share her love of pottery with others, and she touched the lives of many local pottery students over the years. Her time in Japan also inspired her life and work and she carried a special connection to the Japanese history of the Village of Cumberland and she walked regularly through the Japanese #1 Townsite, Coal Creek Historic Park and Cumberland Forest with friends and dogs. Martha was a committed ally of the conservation work of the Cumberland Community Forest Society (CCFS) and took part in many events and far reaching discussions about the future dreams and ambitions of the society. She generously chose to leave her home to the CCFS to sell in support of future land protection efforts. Those funds provided the financial foundation for the Middle Earth project! A remarkable gift from a remarkable woman. Martha will be deeply missed by all who knew her.
More about Middle Earth…..
In the spring of 2025 the CCFS launched an exciting new purchase project to the east of the existing Cumberland Community Forest called Middle Earth, a 261 acre forest in the Trent River Watershed, K’omoks Territory. Wetlands, riparian corridors, rocky bluffs and multi-use trails wind through this forested landscape. This area is home to trails including Round Out, Outfox, Sapsucker, Rapture Genesis, and Resurrection. All of this is private timber land.
In addition to areas of high ecological value, and amazing non motorized multi-use trails, Middle Earth also includes forest lands targeted for ecological restoration and wildfire mitigation. This project is an important step in our work in landscape scale conservation, and in new ways of looking at conservation through a collaborative, integrated land management lens that brings together community and ecosystem values. We are also excited about new opportunities for collaboration with United Riders of Cumberland and the Village of Cumberland.
Our land protection work to date!
Since 2000, the CCFS has been engaged in land protection in the Puntledge / Pentlatch Watershed with 5 successful purchases to date the latest being the purchase of the Lower Perseverance Creek corridor in 2023. Our goals are consistent – to remove these lands from the industrial forestry base and bring them into local community ownership, to restore ecosystems, and to work collaboratively with our community and rights holders on sustainable, integrated, management plans – with future generations in our hearts and minds. We are grateful for a willing seller in Manulife Investment Management who continue to support our efforts to create this legacy for our community.
Our community has been incredible in stepping up to once again make conservation history on Vancouver Island.
If you have been considering making a charitable donation to the CCFS in 2026, now is the time to do it! Any surplus funds raised will be directed to forest management and wildfire resilience planning and action in the next 12 months. Donate HERE today!