One of BC's most beloved parks, MacMillan Park, which is part of Cathedral Grove, is threatened from overuse, logging at its boundaries, blow-down of its towering ancient Douglas firs and a five-acre parking lot proposed to be built in critical elk winter feeding range. Located alongside Highway 4, the only highway leading to Port Alberni and Clayoquot Sound, MacMillan Park's main problem is that it is too small. This paper lays out WCWC's 2004 campaign to protect and expand this most famous of BC's provincial parks.

Cathedral Grove: Last Remnant of BC's Vanishing Douglas Fir Forest

Wilderness Committee Educational Report Vol.23-No.06 - Summer 2004

History of MacMillan Park

Ancient Douglas Fir

Cathedral Grove has one of the most accesible stands of ancient Douglas fir trees in BC.Photo: WCWC File Photo

1886 Robert Dunsmuir receives 1.9 million acres of land including Cathedral Grove in return for building part of the island’s railway.

1901 James Fletcher urges government to preserve the forests around Cameron Lake.

1944 Premier Hart offers H.R.MacMillan,a new manager of Victoria Lumber & Manufacturing Company, an exchange of government-owned land for the big giants in Cathedral Grove. The company retained right-of-way through the park to log remaining timber adjacent to the park.

1947 MacMillan Park officially declared a provincial park.