A path through a young West Coast forest

Comox Valley Land Trust seeks to raise $2.4M to protect trees in Puntledge Forest

By Madeline Dunnett, The Discourse Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

On a crisp morning in early October 2023, Tim Ennis, executive director of Comox Valley Land Trust (CVLT) trekked through the trails of Nymph Falls Nature Park and explained that CVLT was working on a complex purchase of forest on a chunk of BC Hydro land in Nymph Falls, and a possible other section in the Puntledge River Recreation Trails area. 

“The property that we’re walking onto here is owned by BC Hydro … and the timber on the property — the trees — they’re owned separately,” he said.

The lands themselves are part of the traditional unceded territory of the K’ómoks First Nation, who are descendants of the Sathloot, Sasitla, Ieeksen, Xa’xe and Pentlatch. Many surrounding areas get their namesake from the Éy7á7juuthem, Kwak̓wala, and Pəntl’áč languages — including the Puntledge River itself, which stems from the word Pəntl’áč (Pentlatch). 

Ennis, who is also a conservation biologist, explained that the timber harvesting rights on the 98 hectares of land are owned by an arm of Manulife Investment Management that works in timberland and agriculture investment on behalf of its clients. He said CVLT learned that the group had planned to do some forest harvesting in the Bevan Trails area, an abandoned townsite that now boasts a second growth forest and is part of the Puntledge Forest. 

Logging plans were announced for the forest in 2020, which is when CVLT became aware that the trees were not protected.

“So they [Manulife IM] posted some signs with maps showing what they plan to harvest … And because that area is so popular with so many people who like to recreate there, it raised quite a few eyebrows,” Ennis said. “I think everyone was a little bit shocked to learn that this was part of their timber harvesting land base.” 

With funding from government grants, Comox Valley Land Trust has already been able to purchase 61 hectares of the trees in the forest for protection. Now, the group is campaigning to raise $2.4 million — through government grants and community funds — by March 2025 to purchase trees on the remaining 37 hectares in the Bevan Trails area. 

Puntledge Forest area a high priority for protection

Ennis said CVLT had already worked with Manulife before on previous land purchases, and the group reached out to CVLT to see if there was a conservation angle for the Puntledge Forest lands. 

After some community outreach, CVLT confirmed that the area was regarded as a high priority to protect and Ennis said Manulife was not interested in harvesting land that was of big importance to the community. 

The forests along the Puntledge River and the nearby K’ómoks Estuary (which feeds into the river) are not only biodiverse, but are home to artifacts that are thousands of years old. Today, it is largely used as a place for the broader community to recreate in nature.

“This is a recreational hub for the community,” Ennis said, as someone jogged down the trails past him. “On the other side, you can ride horses along the river, people like to swim in it, people like to fish in it, people like to paddle board in it, there’s mountain bike trails. It connects from here all the way upstream to the Comox Lake Dam.” 

The Puntledge Forest was logged in the early 1900s, making the trees in the forest 100 to 120 years old, according to CVLT. It was allowed to regenerate naturally, contributing to its biodiversity. It houses up to 30 species of wildlife that are of conservation concern and 22 rare plant communities. It also has high potential to capture and store carbon. The Puntledge River is a significant salmon-producing river and is also home to steelhead and resident trout.

Of the $2.4 million that is needed to protect the rest of the forest near Bevan Trails, CVLT aims to raise $1.9 million from grants that the organization applied for. The remaining $500,000 is being sought from fundraisers and community donations. The rights to the trees in the forest costs $2.3 million, according to Ennis, and $100,000 will go towards extra costs such as employee time and legal fees.

Puntledge Forest and surrounding lands have a dark and complex history

The history of the word, Puntledge, is important to remember, Ennis said. It comes from Pəntl’áč (Pentlatch), a People that now makes up part of K’ómoks First Nation. The area is historically important and has been occupied by K’ómoks First Nation for millennia.

Ennis said it was crucial that K’ómoks First Nation consented to the project, especially considering the colonial history of land theft in the area. 

In a news release from Comox Valley Land Trust, K’ómoks First Nation expressed support for the campaign to protect the forest through a statement.

“Our nation is hopeful that the CVLT will be successful in securing the remaining portion of the timber reservation, which would positively contribute to protecting fish habitat in the Puntledge River.,” the statement says. “Protecting these pockets of high-value ecosystems will only help mitigate climate change, and work towards reducing rising river temperatures.”

There was essentially no opposition to this project from the community as a whole, Ennis said. But despite the community consensus, Ennis said protecting the trees in the area was complicated.

These complications stem from the fact that CVLT isn’t buying land, but is buying a section of a timber reservation on land that is still owned by the province through BC Hydro.

The history of how BC Hydro came to own the land involves the early days of what many now refer to as ‘Canada’. This land is a small portion of two million acres on Vancouver Island that was given away through the E&N Land Grant. The land privatization deal dates back to when B.C. joined Canada in the 1870s. The E&N Land Grant deal was done without consultation, consent or negotiations with the many First Nations who have called that land home for millennia. 

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The Discourse previously reported that the colonial government of the time gave away an enormous tract of land to the E&N Railway Company in exchange for a promise to build a railway. The grant spanned the east side of the Island between what is now Langford and Campbell River. 

The railway was called the Esquimalt Nanaimo (E&N) railway, and was supposed to go all the way to Campbell River. It was built as far as Courtenay. 

A major player in the building of this railroad was Robert Dunsmuir. He was a coal baron, politician and the richest man in the province at the time who pushed for the building of the railroad due to his interest in potential coal reserves along the route. Dunsmuir became president of the E&N Railway Company in 1884, and held nearly half of the company’s shares. 

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When the E&N Railway Company was granted the land, it subdivided it into parcels and sold it off to private landowners and settlers — mostly forestry companies. Today, 60 per cent of Hul’qumi’num territory, which makes up a large part of the area covered by the E&N Land Grant, is owned by just three forestry companies. Much was ultimately sold off for urban development and agriculture, too. The result is the patchwork of private ownership up the coast of the Island today. 

“For the Hul’qumi’num peoples, the deal marked the beginning of a gradual, unremitting decline in our economic, cultural and social well-being, in which we witnessed the loss of most of our land and resources — almost 85 per cent,” the Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group says. The group also calls the E&N Land Grant deal “a clear act of colonial theft,” and continues to dispute its validity.

In the early 1900s, the Dunsmuirs developed the hydroelectric potential in the area to support coal mining operations. In 1953, as the coal mining industry declined,  BC Power Commission (a predecessor to BC Hydro) acquired the Puntledge Dam and the land around it and used it to power the community. 

“But when the Dunsmuirs sold the land to the BC Hydro and the power authority, they kept the trees by way of what’s called a timber reservation,” Ennis said. “Usually land and timber goes together. Like, if you buy a property with trees on it, those are your trees. But they didn’t do that. They severed it and maintained ownership of the merchantable timber around the property by way of this weird legal mechanism called the timber reservation.” 

The history and specifics behind how the timber reserves changed hands from the Dunsmuirs to Manulife aren’t clear. Boston-based Hancock Natural Resource group came to own the timber reserves in the area, and Manulife acquired the timber reserves after a merger with Hancock, according to its website and Ennis. 

Ennis said purchasing the timber rights from Manulife has involved negotiations with multiple groups due to the complicated history of the land.

More than a century after the E&N Land Grant

In October, before the first purchase of trees in Puntledge Forest went through, Ennis told The Discourse that he was excited for the story to be shared. However, he didn’t want to ask the community for donations until he felt more stable about moving forward with the project, and he wanted to work out the timing of the purchases as well. 

“We want the full story to be told. It’s a fantastic story,” he said. “Now that we’ve broken it down into subsequent phases, it will make a difference if the community steps up in a local fundraising campaign.”

Now, Ennis said the Comox Valley Land Trust is feeling confident that the partnership with Manulife is stable, and they are working through various purchase and sales contracts. The next step is fundraising for $2.4 million to purchase and protect trees on another 37 hectares of land in the Bevan Trails area.

“Word is starting to get out in the community pretty well. I think we’re going to need to just keep pressing on that,” Ennis said. 

The Comox Valley Land Trust is also hoping to reach out to larger foundations and potential donors who may be interested in supporting the campaign, as those groups have historically contributed to moving the lever so CVLT could reach its fundraising goals.

Those who are interested in learning more about the campaign can visit the Comox Valley Land Trust website.

Top image credit: Those walking through Nymph falls will see remnants of the first time it was logged, such as this nurse stump. – Photo by Madeline Dunnett

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