Carmanah: Artistic Visions of an Ancient Rainforest. Rev. ed.

Hans B. Neumann is a history lecturer at Scarborough College, University
of Toronto.

The first edition of this lavish book of artists’ impressions of the
Carmanah Valley rainforest on Vancouver Island’s west coast first
appeared in 1989. Conceived by the Western Canada Wilderness Committee,
the book served to publicize the need to prevent logging of the valley,
site of some of the last remaining stands of giant Sitka spruce
(including the 95-metre tall Carmanah Giant). It was owing in no small
measure to the national success of the first edition that the lower part
of the Carmanah was declared a provincial park in April 1990. The
current effort underway by conservationists is for the creation of a
full-valley park.

The first section of this folio-sized paperback, with a foreword by
David Suzuki, presents the background to the struggle for the creation
of the park, a discussion of the uniqueness of Carmanah’s ecosystem
and why it should be preserved in its entirety, and the manner in which
the contributors were selected. (Among the contributors is artist and
conservationist Robert Bateman.) The section is profusely illustrated
with gorgeous color photographs of the Carmanah basin.

The rest of the book is devoted to the 70 mainly Westcoast artists’
visual impressions of the valley. Each artist, after visiting the
rainforest, created a painting of it and related his or her experience
in an accompanying page of text. (A brief biographical sketch of the
artist is also included.) The result is a visual delight as an exquisite
palette of artistic styles, colors, and evocative approaches flashes by.
Nearly all contemporary styles of painting are represented in the
selections. It is difficult to choose favorites. But surely the
rendering of a male rufous hummingbird seeking nectar on a patch of
Western columbines, by artist Don Li-Leger, must rank as one of the
highlights. Others are equally impressive whether purely visually or in
their symbolic or allegorical content.

This is a rare book! It appeals to the intellect through the text, to
the eye with the photographs, and to one’s humanity with the artistic
purpose. And all that is presented in the name of preserving an
irreplaceable jewel in the crown of the world’s natural heritage.