Quennell Lake – MapleCross Forest

Together, we can protect rare and vulnerable Coastal Douglas-fir forest, wetlands, and peatlands at Quennell Lake on Vancouver Island forever. The Nature Trust of BC must raise $340,000 by November 1st to protect 136.8 acres of Quennell Lake’s ecologically significant land near Nanaimo, at risk of being lost forever if logged or harvested.

Why is protecting quennell lake – Maplecross forest so important?

1. It contains rare and vulnerable habitat. Quennell Lake is a part of the Coastal Douglas-fir moist maritime zone: the smallest, rarest and least protected ecological zone in BC.
2. It provides vital habitat for migratory birds. The land provides habitat for 159 waterfowl species and migratory birds, including blue-winged teal, cinnamon teal, and western sandpipers. 
3. It contains ecosystems at risk. The land contains three red-listed and three blue-listed ecological communities and supports rare plants and invertebrates that cannot thrive elsewhere.
4. It’s an essential carbon sink. In addition to forest, this land is also home to peatlands, Earth’s most effective terrestrial carbon sink.
   

   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 – MapleCross Forest shelters an extraordinary mosaic of habitats: mature Douglas-fir forest, carbon-rich peatlands, and wetlands vital to 159 species of waterfowl. Its waters and shorelines support birds from blue-winged and cinnamon teal to redhead and canvasback ducks, western and least sandpipers, long-billed dowitchers, and even the Wilson’s phalarope, a rare migratory shorebird.

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