The Cumberland Forest

From ancestral Pentlatch lands through decades of industry, the Cumberland Forest lives on through community stewardship and ongoing conservation.

In Cumberland, the community and the forest are inexorably linked. From preschool children heading off to “forest school” on a misty morning, to wanderers of all ages marvelling at the big trees and tiny mosses, to mountain bikers and trail runners climbing up through the lush woods into Cumberland’s trail network, the Cumberland Forest is the entrance point, the threshold between the Village and the great beyond.

The land’s layered history

Its story is complex. This unceded land was home to the Pentlatch people for thousands of years. Then, in the 1880s, a colonial land grant (the E &N Land Grant) saw two million acres of Vancouver Island turned over to a wealthy industrialist named Robert Dunsmuir in a handshake deal involving railway promises and a stack of cash. This deal shaped the entire east side of the Island, including the Comox Valley. From coal mining to logging, the areas surrounding the Village have been managed for the sole purpose of extraction since that time.

Over the years, local paths and trails have ribboned through a privately owned landscape. Some were trapper and prospector trails. Others were built by skeet shooters from the old Cumberland Rod and Gun Club, and still others were carved by the hikers and mountain bikers who called Cumberland home in the 1990s. But all of this happened quietly, unofficially, on land owned by timber companies.

Back in the late ’90s, much of the Village was surrounded by a mature second-growth forest. To innocent eyes, it may even have looked like old growth in places—big cedars rising up from the edges of wetlands and a lush understory of fern, devil’s club, fungus, and berries. For over 100 years it had regenerated naturally, offering habitat for myriad species big and small, from red-legged frogs and wandering salamanders to black bears, ravens, and owls.

When the village took back the trees

But when a new round of logging began, the Village woke up and took charge of the trees’ destiny. The Cumberland Community Forest Society (CCFS) was formed in the year 2000 with the sole purpose of raising funds and negotiating with private timber companies to purchase the forests closest to the Village. The vision was to remove them as a timber resource and protect them—to let them grow old. Between 2005 and 2023, the CCFS secured over 545 acres, creating a lush green heart for the community. The first two parcels, totalling 177 acres, were purchased in 2005 and 2006.

“Between 2005 and 2023, the CCFS secured over 545 acres, creating a lush green heart for the community.”

Growing a forest for the future

I have the great privilege of being a steward of this community effort, for the time being. I am tasked with holding up the vision of the original land purchases, and with managing the evolution of this story. Cumberland has grown significantly since the CCFS was founded. Every year, residents and visitors access this forest by the tens of thousands—some to wander in the shade of the trees, others to reach the expansive trail network on the private land beyond.

As part of this evolution, the CCFS has expanded our efforts, bridging the gap between simple land protection and the ongoing work needed to sustain and nurture the forests and wetland around us. We are learning how legacy land use and climate change are changing the ecology, impacting water resources, and increasing wildfire risk. We are engaging in stewardship projects to protect and restore ecosystems and habitat. And we celebrate our relationship with the forest through joyful initiatives like our annual Fungus Fest, Science Pubs, school programs, art projects, citizen science efforts, and trail races.

Looking ahead: a new chapter for the Cumberland Forest

We are also at a crossroads. As we launch an exciting new campaign to purchase 261 acres to the east of the existing forest (a parcel we’re calling Middle Earth) we are also exploring what it means to engage in forest conservation in 2025. Since the mid-nineteenth century, we have colonized the local landscape with fractured ownership, incorporation, conservation covenants, access agreements, and management plans. Are we ready to explore ideas and policies that challenge our current ideas of ownership and access? Can we begin to pull back these layers and heal our relationships with the land and with each other?

“As we launch an exciting new campaign to purchase 261 acres to the east of the existing forest we are also exploring what it means to engage in forest conservation in 2025.”

Join the movement to protect the Cumberland Forest

The Cumberland Forest story is beautiful and complex. As we celebrate our 25th anniversary, we have the opportunity to learn so much and to lay a path for conservation and community building for another 25 years. We hope you will join us on this adventure and help us celebrate the ongoing evolution of the forest.