Island Timberlands began road construction in July 2013 into a formerly protected Ungulate Winter Range (UWR) for black-tailed deer in an old-growth forest near Port Alberni on Vancouver Island, an area referred to by conservationists as “Juniper Ridge”.
Juniper Ridge is an increasingly rare tract of old-growth forest filled with highly endangered old-growth Douglas-fir trees, sensitive ecosystems of brittle reindeer lichens growing on open rocky outcrops, and an abundance of juniper shrubs. The area, roughly 20 hectares in size, is a one-hour drive from the town of Port Alberni and is located between Ash and Turnbull Lakes. This is a popular recreational area where many Alberni locals and tourists fish, camp, canoe, and hike.
Sadly, the majority of the forest here was later logged. The fringes of old-growth that remain on the hillside are, as of 2024, now deferred from logging for the next 40 years under Mosaic’s BigCoast Forest Climate Initiative.
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Photography by TJ Watt.
