Quennell Lake – MapleCross Forest

Together, we protected rare and vulnerable coastal forests and wetlands at Quennell Lake on Vancouver Island forever. With our supporters, The Nature Trust of BC raised $340,000 to protect 136.8 acres of Quennell Lake’s ecologically significant land near Nanaimo.

Why is protecting quennell lake – Maplecross forest so important?

1. It contains a rare and vulnerable ecological zone. Quennell Lake is a part of the Coastal Douglas-fir moist maritime biogeoclimatic zone: one of the smallest and rarest BEC zones in the province.
2. It provides vital habitat for migratory birds. The Quennell Lake area provides habitat for more than 150 waterfowl species and migratory birds, including green-winged teal, cinnamon teal, and western sandpipers. 
3. It contains ecosystems at risk. The land potentially contains globally imperiled ecological communities and supports rare plants and invertebrates.
4. It’s an essential carbon sink. The land contains wetlands that are critical for carbon capture on the landscape.
   

   Keep reading to learn more about the Quennell Lake – MapleCross Forest and what makes this land so special and critical to protect.

Quennell Lake – MapleCross Forest, located within the Stz’uminus, Snuneymuxw, and Snaw-naw-as Coast Salish First Nations traditional territory, is ecologically rich, culturally important, and urgently at risk. Its merchantable timber value means it could be harvested, forever changing the landscape.

Quennell Lake shelters an extraordinary mosaic of habitats: mature coastal forest and wetlands vital to 167 species of waterfowl. Its waters and shorelines support birds from blue-winged and cinnamon teal to redhead and canvasback ducks, western and least sandpipers.

Beneath the surface and along the edges live equally remarkable invertebrates, including the blue-listed blue dasher dragonfly and the delicate Oregon fairy shrimp — species found in few other places.

Quennell Lake photos by Doug Wortley