As fog lifts from the rugged coast, islands appear in the sea, then disappear again. A bald eagle cries through the haze. An otter slips between giant roots and glides into the sea, while coastal wolves roam the shoreline and sundews thrive in forest marshes. This is the temperate rainforest of the Northwest Coast: a wild treasure.
The Misty Forest spans numerous areas across the coast and mountain valleys. Explore our online map to view permanently protected lands and recent aerial photos.
Porcher Island, Calvert Island, Scandinavia Bay
Along British Columbia’s wild Pacific coast, rain-soaked forests meet the sea. Islands rise from the mist, rocky shores disappear beneath the tide, and towering trees shelter life from forest floor to ocean.
Usk & Toba Valley
Deep in rugged mountain valleys, ancient forests rise beneath towering peaks. Wild rivers rush through moss-covered valleys, while mist clings to the slopes and clouds drift through the treetops.
Read Island & Carlisle Lake
Along the sheltered southern coast, lush forests meet quiet waters. Towering trees rise from carpets of moss, while mist drifts through the canopy and the rhythms of the Pacific shape life along the shore.
The Misty Forest is a place where land and sea are deeply intertwined.
Rain sweeps in from the Pacific, feeding ancient forests, mossy wetlands, quiet lakes and rushing rivers. Towering trees rise from the lush forest floor, while otters, coastal wolves, eagles and countless other species move through a landscape shaped by water.
Here, life doesn't simply grow; it continually gives way to new life. When an ancient tree finally falls, its story doesn't end. Its trunk becomes a home for mosses, fungi and countless small creatures, while its nutrients slowly return to the forest floor. In the forest, even death feeds life.
Across the coast, islands, and mountain valleys, these connected habitats create the shared character of the Misty Forest—a rich, interconnected landscape that stores carbon, provides vital habitat, and sustains life from the forest floor to the Pacific shore.
Among swaying seaweed and towering kelp, a playful mink pursues its favorite food, abalone.
Some of British Columbia’s coastal rainforest giants have been growing for hundreds, even more than a thousand, years. They cannot simply be replaced.
The Misty Forest is part of one of the world’s rarest temperate rainforest ecosystems. Here, ancient forests, wetlands, rivers, and coastal waters form a living network that supports an extraordinary diversity of life. These forests also store carbon, hold freshwater, and provide habitat for species that depend on old-growth ecosystems.
But these forests are under pressure. Logging and development continue to change parts of British Columbia’s coastal rainforest, putting these ecosystems and the connections between them at risk. When an ancient forest is cleared, we lose far more than trees. The habitats, nutrients, and relationships that have developed over centuries are disrupted, too.
That’s why we at Wilderness International have chosen to protect this region. By keeping these forests intact, we can safeguard an irreplaceable ecosystem—and the life that depends on it—for generations to come.
