Upon discovering cruising lines and flagging tape at this site, indicating that the cedar trees were soon to be logged, Radies raised concerns with local conservationists: Roy Howard (McBride), Hugh and Kathy Perkins (Dome Creek), and Rick and Julie Zammuto (Crescent Spur). These concerns eventually caught the attention of Nowell Senior, who was planning the Driscoll Ridge Trail. Upon visiting the area, Nowell was struck by the majesty of the forests and determined that he and the Caledonia Ramblers must create a trail through the area, ensuring it would be accessible for all to enjoy.

Since then, other researchers, such as PhD student and lichenologist Dr. Curtis Björk, have repeatedly emphasized the ecological significance of the forest.

Dr. David Connell described what he called a special memory. He was walking through the forest when the realization of his impact hit him, how he was apart of something much bigger than himself. Originally from Southern Ontario, professor Dr. Connell applied for a position at UNBC, relocating in 2005 to Prince George. He attended a screening of the documentary “Block 486,” which focused on the preservation of the area that is now the Ancient Cedar Forest Provincial Park. This experience lead him to want to contribute to the preservation of these old growth trees, eventually leading him to join his colleagues in conducting research and contributing to conservation efforts.

Describing it as a “blank slate” for research, Dr. Darwyn Coxson estimates that ongoing research with Curtis Bjork and Trevor Goward has found about 2,400 species of plants, lichens, and mosses in the Robson Valley. “They are finding new species every year,” he said. According to Dr. Coxson, just a few years ago, a new species of yellow monkey flower was discovered there. The cedar trees in the wet bench area of the Forest show no signs of drought, suggesting that precipitation levels, specifically snowfall, in that area have been consistently high.

The scientific evidence for the age of the old growth trees was limited at the time. When speaking with Dr. Connell, he described dendrochronology sampling of the western red cedar trees within the Ancient Forest to be quite challenging. The trees experience heart rot, a fungal disease that rots away the core of trees in areas with high precipitation. Meaning that when a sample is taken from the tree, the core has mostly rotted away, leaving little to no evidence of the age of the trees. Most biologists estimate the trees to be at least 1,000-1,500 years old, but there’s hesitancy to push that date back further.

Other methods of dating have determined that the forest itself is much older. According to Dr. Coxson, “our best evidence for when the inland rainforest community first emerged in the Robson Valley comes from sampling of lake bed sediments by Daniel Gavin at the University of Oregon. His research showed that pollen from characteristic inland rainforest tree species such as western redcedar and western hemlock first occurred in lakebed sediment cores (which can be aged year by year much like a tree ring core) in the Robson Valley about 3,000 years ago.”