In March of 2021, the Lower Perseverance Creek Corridor was flagged for harvesting. Timber markets were hot, roads we’re being built and the CCFS had to quickly mobilize to defer the harvest. We have found ourselves in the unexpected position of negotiating another land purchase less than a year after completing the last one.  We did NOT expect to be here so soon. But there is a lot of action in the forests of BC right now.

The 40-acre Lower Perseverance Creek Corridor flanks lower Perseverance Creek. This biodiversity corridor offers safe passage for a variety of species from Island Mountains to Comox Lake including black bears, cougars, and river otters. The creek side forest is amazing bird habitat. The area is a hot spot for bats, including the at-risk little brown bat. Riparian wetlands border the creek and nourish ferns and Devils club. Big firs and cedars shade deep pools and gravel bars where Coho salmon spawn.

The corridor feeds Comox Lake, the drinking water for 50,000 Comox Valley residents through the CVRD water service. It contains the old Wellington Colliery Rail path to the historic #4 Coal Mine site and connects directly to both Coal Creek Historic Park and the Cumberland Community Forest.

Protecting the Lower Perseverance Corridor is a tangible example of Natural Climate Solutions. In addition to helping absorb the impacts of extreme weather events, the corridor is an important carbon sink, with the trees absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere and storing it in biomass and soil.  Harvesting this forest would not only remove the trees that are absorbing CO2 and temporarily halt carbon sequestration; it would also turn the area into a carbon source for the next 15 years. Our forest protection work is an important local contribution toward mitigating climate change impacts and meeting global emission reduction targets by 2030.

Year End donations will directly support our current efforts to secure this parcel by Spring 2022 and to initiate critical research and restoration planning for Perseverance Creek. Please consider us as part of your charitable giving for 2021. Donate HERE