Mosaic Forest Management, the owner and operator of Couverdon Real Estate, is proud of our joint heritage in the protection and preservation of the Beaver Lodge Lands with the people of Campbell River. In 1931, the Elk River Timber Company, a Mosaic predecessor company, gifted 400 hectares to the Province of British Columbia in trust for the purpose of experimental forest management and reforestation. In 1993 the Beaver Lodge Forest Trust Renewal Act was passed, expanding the lands to 502 hectares and protecting them by an act of legislature.
Throughout the years the Beaver Lodge Lands have been enjoyed by outdoor adventurers. The new Jubilee Heights development, which borders the Beaver Lodge Lands to the south, will initially provide a trail on the west side of South Dogwood Street for safe community access during Jubilee Heights buildout. A second trail, near Beaver Creek on the west side of the development lands, will be constructed during a future phase for additional integration of the neighbourhood and the Beaver Lodge Land’s extensive trail systems.
In 2016, Couverdon provided completion funding for the Campbell River Museum’s Beaver Lodge Lands documentary. This video was created to ensure there was a documented history and account of the creation and ongoing preservation of the Beaver Lodge Lands.
In 2018, Mosaic Forest Management also gifted a 5.43 hectare wetland, recently named Burrell Bog, after late environmental steward Ron Burrell, located at the north east corner of the Jubilee Heights development. We are honoured to be a part of providing ongoing stewardship for these historic lands.
Wetland Protection
The Lot 10 wetland (now Burrell Bog) was identified through the Jubilee Heights development process as an environmental feature of significant ecological value to be retained in the public domain for conservation purposes. The wetland has been legally separated from the Jubilee Heights development area with an established lot boundary that maintains a vegetated buffer between the wetland and surrounding area. With Covuerdon’s dedication of Lot 10, the wetland feature will now be conserved in its entirety, and co-managed by the City of Campbell River and the Province of BC (as purveyors of the Beaver Lodge Lands) with the help of Campbell River’s Greenways Land Trust.
Ecological Significance
Ecologically, wetlands like Burrell Bog are unique because they are uncommon on Vancouver Island. The southern portion of the wetland within Burrell Bog was identified through Couverdon’s environmental review process as a “bog” and inventoried to identify species such as: stunted shore pine (Pinus contorta); salal (Gaultheria shallon); labrador tea (Ledum groenlandicum); bog blueberry (Vaccinium ulginosum), and sphagnum moss (`Sphagnum sp), along with small areas of amphibian breeding habitat for young Pacific chorus frogs. The northern portion of the wetland extends into the Beaver Lodge Forest Lands and is mapped as a “swamp” with dominate vegetation of hardhack (Spiraea douglasii), Sitka sedge (Carex sitchensis) and occasional marsh pockets with herbaceous hydrophytes.
The addition of the wetland into protected status increases the recreational and conservation opportunities for the community and offers an educational experience for those interested in discovering a unique ecosystem within the boundaries of Campbell River. In total, more than 405 hectares have been donated to the community of Campbell River by Couverdon/Mosaic and its predecessor companies. We are pleased to work in partnership with the City of Campbell River, the province and stewardship groups to ensure this environmental legacy continues for future generations.
