Vision
The Cumberland Community Forest Society is a passionate, effective, and unifying leader championing land conservation, ecological stewardship, and environmental education to support ecosystem health, drinking water protection, and community well-being in Cumberland and across the Trent, Perseverance and Comox Lake watersheds.
Context
Since 2000, the CCFS has purchased and protected privately owned forest lands surrounding Cumberland in the unceded territory of the Pentlatch, Ieeksan, Sasitla, and Sathloot people known today as K’ómoks. The society has completed 5 land acquisitions totaling over 550 acres, protected through conservation covenants.
Since 2017, the CCFS has evolved from a primary focus on fundraising and land acquisition to include environmental stewardship, public education, collaborative land management, and regional leadership in watershed protection, sustainable economic development, and wildfire resilience.
The CCFS is currently engaged in its 6th major land acquisition, a 261-acre parcel known as Middle Earth.
Our work is guided by the belief that community ownership of local landscapes better serves diverse community values and provides meaningful agency in decision-making in support of the long-term economic, social, cultural, and environmental resilience of our community.
Community ownership allows for the broadest values to be integrated into the governance and management of local landscapes. These values include reconciliation, drinking water security, ecosystem protection and restoration, habitat and species at risk protection, environmental education, and low-impact recreation and community access.
We believe in…
Our shared responsibilities within an interconnected web upon which all life depends
Right relationships with nature, community and Indigenous peoples
Protecting and restoring land and water to our community
Meaningful collaboration, trust, and shared power
Sustainability of our efforts and our organization
Evidence-based conservation practices
Storytelling, creativity, and joy
Did you know?
Over 50 species are considered “at risk” of extinction or extirpation in the Comox Valley. Extirpation is when a species has been eliminated from one area, but still occurs in other places within its natural range. In Cumberland’s forests at least two species have already been extirpated: Western Screech Owl and Wolverine. The Northern Goshawk and Marbled Murrelet also likely nested in Cumberland’s forests in the recent past but no longer do so.