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Gospel Rock: Conservation Area

Gospel Rock is a rocky bluff looking over Howe Sound and Georgia Strait, just north of the town of Gibsons. It is one of the most spectacularly beautiful and ecologically sensitive places on the entire Sunshine Coast, and is home to the last stretch of natural waterfront within the Town of Gibsons.

Trees over a century and a half old stand in the mature dryland Douglas Fir-Arbutus forest which stretches from the upper bluffs down to the shoreline.

This type of forest grows exactly where people want to work and live - in sunny areas near the shoreline. As a result, almost all the stands like it on the Sunshine Coast have been logged and developed. Gospel Rock is one of only a couple of small parcels like this that remain between Gibsons and Pender Harbour.

As of March 30, 2022 - after more than 35 years of community, non-profit, and local government effort - 16.6 acres of rare and sensitive forests on “Gospel Rock” are now permanently protected!

Gospel Rock, Sunshine Coast, BC, photographed by Carl Olsen.
Gospel Rock, Sunshine Coast, BC, photographed by Carl Olsen.

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Send us copies of your high-quality photographs of Gospel Rock. Your name will be credited below the photograph, and we'll link to your website if you wish!

A View from Gospel Rock. Photograph by Sarama.
A View from Gospel Rock. Photograph by Sarama.

Why Protecting Gospel Rock Matters

Sunshine Coasters have known in their hearts for generations that the Gospel Rock area is special. Currently available scientific information, provided through the Province's Conservation Framework, strongly supports this widely held point of view.

The land in the Gospel Rock Neighbourhood Plan area is within the Coastal Western Hemlock very-dry maritime biogeoclimatic subzone;. one of the most heavily disturbed ecosystems in the lower mainland and along the coast, second only to the Coastal Douglas Fir moist maritime.

Approximately 8% of this type of subzone occurring on Crown land in the Sunshine Coast Regional District has been protected. Less than half of this land is in old growth condition, due to the history of human settlement and industrial, agricultural and forestry-related uses.

The particular site type of the standing forests above and below Gower Point Road is naturally rare. The Province recognizes these stands as Imperiled and Imperiled to Vulnerable.

Updates on Gospel Rock

Conservation Values in the Gospel Rock Neighbourhood Plan Area

24 June 2010

Sunshine Coasters have known in their hearts for generations that the Gospel Rock area is special. Currently available scientific information, provided through the Province’s Conservation Framework, strongly supports this widely held point of view.To continue reading this article, click Read more, below.Read the Questions to the Conservation Data Center about Gospel RockCarmen Cadrin answers for […]

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