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B.C. Chamber of Commerce hugs old-growth trees

Jun 3 2016/in News Coverage

The largest business-advocacy organization in B.C. has voted to protect old-growth forests while still also supporting loggers’ access to valuable resources.

In a move environmentalists are calling a “historic shift,” the B.C. Chamber of Commerce voted this week in favour of a motion calling on the province to expand protection of old-growth forests in areas where they have, or likely would have, greater economic value if left standing.

“It’s a huge, huge tectonic shift in the politics of land use in B.C.,” said Ken Wu, executive director for the Ancient Forest Alliance.

“It changes the narrative for a lot of the province, especially rural B.C., where the traditional belief has been that if you protect old-growth forests, you undermine the economy. But the opposite is being shown to be true now.”

The resolution also called on the province to enact new regulations — incorporating such strategies as an old-growth management area, wildlife-habitat area or land-use order — with an eye on eventually legislating permanent protection through provincial park or conservancy status.

The proposal would apply only to accessible old-growth forests and not to isolated forest stands, even if they have ecological value.

Dan Baxter, spokesman for the B.C. Chamber of Commerce, said the members took a balanced approach, recognizing that natural resources, forestry and mining remain the foundation of the economy.

“I think our membership took a holistic look at the issue and recognized that there are certain situations and communities where old-growth forests are a viable, long-term economic generator,” Baxter said.

“At the same time, our membership does recognize that we need to have certainty and predictability accessing land, so we have a resolution that also passed that looked at ways to ensure that we don’t unduly impact access to timber harvest lands, either.”

Dan Hager, president of the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce, said his community’s economy has shifted from logging to tourism — first sport fishing, but more recently as a big-tree destination with draws like Big Lonely Doug and the Red Creek Fir.

Since Avatar Grove was protected in 2012, area accommodation providers report increased demand of about 75 to 100 per cent each year, Hager said. And while tourism used to drop significantly in winter months — off-season for sport fishing — activity has steadily increased even when fishing charters are not operating.

“Thanks to the trees, Port Renfrew is no longer a one-industry tourism town and has been able to successfully brand itself the ‘Tall Tree Capital of Canada,’ ” said Hager, who co-owns Handsome Dan’s cottage rentals. Hager sponsored the old-growth protection resolution.

Both Wu and Hager expressed hope that the resolution might push the province to give regulatory protection to 3.2 hectares of Crown land in the Central Walbran Valley, where forest products company Teal Jones Group has a cutblock permit.

The old-growth forest already draws hikers and visitors. But B.C. Supreme Court granted the logging company an injunction extension to keep environmental activists from impeding its work.

Forests Minister Steve Thomson was not available for comment and a ministry spokesman did not say whether the province would consider the chamber’s resolution.

“While some communities on Vancouver Island have successfully diversified their local economies more into tourism, many are still heavily dependent on forestry,” a ministry spokesman said.

“Given that old-growth forests make up 45 per cent of public coastal forests, it is not possible to fully stop logging in old-growth forests without having a severe negative impact on local employment.”

Seventy-five per cent of the original, productive old-growth forests have been logged on B.C.’s southern coast, according to the Ancient Forest Alliance.

Port Renfrew is home to some of the finest ancient forests and largest trees in Canada

Historic Leap for Old-Growth Forests – BC Chamber of Commerce Passes Resolution for Expanded Protection

May 31 2016/in Media Release

Media Release: Historic Leap Forward for Old-Growth Forest Conservation – BC Chamber of Commerce Passes Resolution Calling on the Province to Expand Old-Growth Forest Protections

The BC Chamber of Commerce passed a resolution at its annual general meeting in Kelowna yesterday calling on the provincial government to increase protection for the province’s old-growth forests. The resolution calls on the province to: “Support the increased protection of old-growth forests in areas of the province where they have or can likely have a greater net economic value for communities if they are left standing for the next generation and beyond.”

See the resolution here: www.ancientforestalliance.org/news-item.php?ID=1009

The resolution, passed almost unanimously, is a historic shift in the politics of old-growth forests in the province, where in years past the protection of old-growth forests was often thought to be detrimental to the economy and rural communities by much of the business community. The BC Chamber of Commerce’s resolution is part of a growing momentum among various Chambers of Commerce, including the Port Renfrew, Sooke, and WestShore Chambers of Commerce, and various town councils including the Victoria, Metchosin, and Tofino councils and the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities (AVICC), representing 51 coastal cities, towns, and regional districts, all calling for the protection of old-growth forests in recent months. See: www.ancientforestalliance.org/news-item.php?ID=1001

This shift in the business community in favour of protecting old-growth forests – inconceivable a decade ago in the province – may be fostered by several factors: A growth in old-growth forest tourism in the province; the rapid expansion of the “green business” sector (eco-tourism, clean tech, organic agriculture, etc.); the increasing economic dominance of second-growth forests for the logging industry while old-growth forests have become scarce; closer cooperation between the environmental movement and tourism businesses; and a general growth in environmental awareness among consumers and business owners alike.

The BC Chamber of Commerce is the largest and most broadly-based business organization in British Columbia. Representing more than 125 Chambers of Commerce and Boards of Trade, and 36,000 businesses of every size, sector and region of the province, the BC Chamber of Commerce considers itself as the primary voice of business in BC.

“The publicity about old-growth forests near Port Renfrew in recent years has brought in a flood of visitors from Europe, the USA, Canada, and diverse countries. This has especially been true since the protection of the Avatar Grove in 2012. Big tree tourism has increased the total flow of dollars spent in Port Renfrew, in our rental accommodations, restaurants, grocery stores, and businesses in general. It has also greatly increased the property values in town. Along with sport fishing, old-growth forest tourism has become a staple of our local economy,” states Dan Hager, president of the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce which sponsored the resolution. “Visitors from around the world are also coming to see old-growth forests throughout much of the province. Given that the monumental stands of old-growth trees are a scarce commodity today for tourism, it makes business sense to protect them across the province in areas where they will benefit local communities.”

“The BC Chamber of Commerce’s resolution calling on the province to increase protection of old-growth forests is a tectonic shift in the province’s land use politics – it would’ve been inconceivable a decade ago. Times are changing, and so is the economy. Thanks to communities like Port Renfrew and Tofino, the narrative is quickly shifting from the belief that protecting old-growth forests is detrimental to rural communities, to the realization that protecting nearby old-growth forests greatly enhances and secures the economic future of communities”, stated Ken Wu, executive director of the Ancient Forest Alliance.

“Tourists are coming to see old-growth forests in BC, not clearcuts or tree plantations. Next only to the redwoods of California, the old-growth forests of British Columbia are the grandest forests on planet Earth, with trees as wide as living rooms and as tall as downtown skyscrapers. But time is running out and we need the province to break from their status quo policy of old-growth forest liquidation and to instead develop a new plan to protect our remaining old-growth forests to support tourism, endangered species, clean water, wild salmon, climate stability, and First Nations cultures, while ensuring a sustainable second-growth forest industsry”, stated TJ Watt, Ancient Forest Alliance photographer and campaigner.

MORE BACKGROUND INFO:

• See photos of some of BC’s largest old-growth trees at: www.ancientforestalliance.org/photos.php?gID=1

• See spectacular photos of the Walbran Valley at: www.ancientforestalliance.org/photos.php?gID=7

And https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.886074168153838.1073741889.823970554364200&type=3

And https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.973573459403908.1073741896.823970554364200&type=3

• See a recent Youtube clip using drone footage over the Central Walbran at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyMPXHOjlK0

• See “before and after” maps and stats of the southern coast’s old-growth forests at: www.ancientforestalliance.org/old-growth-maps.php

(*** Note: News media are free to reprint and repost all photos, maps, and videos. Photo credit to “TJ Watt” if possible)

Port Renfrew, formerly a logging town, has been transformed in recent years into a big tree tourism destination as hundreds of thousands of tourists have come from around the world to visit some of Canada’s largest trees in the nearby Avatar Grove, the Red Creek Fir (the world’s largest Douglas-fir tree), Big Lonely Doug (Canada’s 2nd largest Douglas-fir tree), San Juan Spruce (until recently Canada’s largest Sitka spruce tree – its top broke off in a recent storm unfortunately), the Harris Creek spruce (one of the largest Sitka spruce trees in Canada), and the endangered Central Walbran Valley.

Across the province, tourists are coming to see old-growth forests such as Clayoquot Sound by Tofino (including Meares Island, Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, Flores Island), Cathedral Grove near Port Alberni, Avatar Grove by Port Renfrew, the Koksilah Ancient Forest near Duncan, the Carmanah and Walbran Valleys near Lake Cowichan, Cape Scott and the North Coast Trail near Port Hardy, the Nootka Trail near Gold River, the Elaho Valley near Squamish, Cheakamus Lake near Whistler, Sumallo Grove near Hope, the Giant Cedar Trail near Revelstoke, the Ancient Forest Trail near Prince George, the south end of Chilliwack Lake, Capilano Canyon in North Vancouver, and Stanley Park in Vancouver. Numerous other old-growth forests are on the chopping block but have tremendous economic potential if they were left standing

While over 60% of the province is forested, most of the province’s forests are considered to be of low to no commercial value due to the small, stunted trees growing at high elevations, on steep rocky slopes with minimal soil, in vast coastal bogs and muskeg, and in far northern cold landscapes. The productive forests with the larger trees and where most conservation battles have occurred constitute a minority fraction of the province in the warmer valleys and lower elevations – while productive old-growth forests constitute an even smaller subset of these forests after a century of high-grade harvesting.

On BC’s southern coast (Vancouver Island and the southwest mainland), 75% of the original, productive old-growth forests have already been logged, including over 90% of the valley bottoms where the largest trees grow. 3.3 million hectares of productive old-growth forests once stood on the southern coast (with an additional 2.2 million hectares of bog, subalpine forests, and other low productivity old-growth forests of low to no commercial value with stunted trees), and today only 860,000 hectares remain, while only 260,000 hectares are protected in parks and Old-Growth Management Areas. Second-growth forests now dominate 75% of the southern coast’s productive forest lands, including 90% of southern Vancouver Island, and can be sustainably logged to support the forest industry. See “before and after” maps and stats of the southern coast’s old-growth forests at: www.ancientforestalliance.org/old-growth-maps.php

Much of the recent momentum for protecting old-growth forests has been driven by concern over the fate of the Central Walbran Valley near Port Renfrew. The Central Walbran Valley’s old-growth temperate rainforest has long been an area of public interest since hiking trails were built in the valley in 1990. In 1994, the BC government protected the Lower Walbran Valley, about 5500 hectares, as part of the larger Carmanah-Walbran Provincial Park, but left out the Central Walbran Valley (500 hectares) and the Upper Walbran Valley (7,000 hectares) from the park. Since then, most of the Upper Walbran has been heavily tattered by logging, but the Central Walbran remains largely intact. However, eight new cutblocks are planned in the Central Walbran, of which one (cutblock 4424) has been approved by the province. The Central Walbran Valley lies on Crown (public) land in the territory of the Pacheedaht band in Tree Farm Licence 46 held by licensee Teal-Jones.

Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce President Dan Hager stands before the Emerald Giant in the Central Walbran Valley.

Protecting Old-Growth Rainforests to the Economic Benefit of Tourism-Based Communities

May 30 2016/in Announcements

Today, May 30, 2016, the BC Chamber of Commerce membership at their Annual General Meeting almost unanimously passed the following resolution calling on the provincial government to expand the protection of old-growth forests across the province where they have or would likely have greater economic value if left standing (this is true throughout most of the southern half of the province…):

PROTECTING OLD GROWTH RAINFORESTS TO THE ECONOMIC BENEFIT OF TOURISM-BASED COMMUNITIES

Opening Statement

Old-growth forests in many parts of the province are important for supporting tourism, recreation, scenery, wildlife, clean water, and wild fisheries, and enhancing nearby property values. Large numbers of tourists from around the world visit the province’s old-growth forests every year.

Perhaps the grandest stand of unprotected old-growth forest in the province is the 500 hectare Central Walbran Valley near Port Renfrew on southern Vancouver Island. Port Renfrew has recently been dubbed as the “Tall Trees Capital of Canada”, and the tourism industry and numerous businesses in Port Renfrew and beyond stand to benefit significantly if the Central Walbran Valley was protected by the province as one of the world’s finest old-growth forest showcases. In many areas of the province, the local economies stand to receive a greater net economic benefit over the foreseeable future by keeping their nearby old-growth forests standing.

Background

Old-growth forests have significant economic, social, and environmental value as tourism resources, wildlife habitat, carbon sinks, clean water sources for fisheries, and are important parts of many First Nations cultures. Old-growth forests today are in scarce supply in much of BC, such as on southern Vancouver Island, where about 90% of the productive old-growth forests have been logged south of Port Alberni. Demand by the tourism industry is high for many remaining old-growth stands.

Port Renfrew has been transformed in recent years into an old-growth forest tourism destination as thousands of visitors are coming from around the world to visit some of the world’s largest trees and grandest groves in places like the Avatar Grove, Central Walbran Valley, Red Creek Fir, Big Lonely Doug, San Juan Spruce, and Harris Creek Spruce. Visitor expenditures by tourists coming to visit old-growth forests near Port Renfrew also generate revenues in other BC communities, including Vancouver, Victoria, Sooke, Lake Cowichan, Duncan, Ladysmith, and Nanaimo. Many tourists fly, boat, or drive into BC from international destinations to see the old-growth forests. The appeal of the tall trees is attracting significant investment into Port Renfrew, including generating a boom in the real estate market as new residents and real estate investors focus their attention on the town with its surrounding natural beauty and enhanced tourism appeal.

Near Port Renfrew on Crown land, the Walbran Valley is 13,000 hectares in extent, of which 5500 hectares lie within the Carmanah-Walbran Provincial Park and the other 7500 hectares lie outside the park. A 500-hectare area, known as the Central Walbran Ancient Forest, is the most intact and recreationally significant portion of the valley and lies outside the park. Thousands of people have visited the Walbran Valley for recreation. The valley lies on Crown land in the traditional territory of the Pacheedaht First Nation band and is currently within existing forestry plans. The most heavily visited areas in the Walbran Valley lie outside of the park in the Central Walbran. This includes the Upper and Lower Castle Grove, Emerald Pool, Fletcher Falls, Summer Crossing, Bridge Camp, Tolkien Giant, Karst Giant, and much more.

Significantly greater numbers of visitors can be expected to visit the region if the area is protected. Across British Columbia, many local communities economically would stand to receive a greater net benefit in revenues and jobs over the ensuing decades from the protection of key old-growth forests in their region.

Perhaps a most vital example of the economic value of protecting the old growth forest can be demonstrated in an anecdote from our Community. Port Renfrew has for many years been known as the location on the south coast of Vancouver Island for excellent sport fishing. Fishermen come from all over North America to fish out of San Juan Bay and out to Swiftsure Banks. However, because of its exposure to the open ocean and limited marina facilities the fishing in Port Renfrew is seasonal and until recently the Community was busy only from May long weekend until mid-September. October to April in Port Renfrew was quiet. The restaurants closed or kept limited hours and people moved away for the winter to find work and other opportunities.

In February of 2012, the Ancient Forest Alliance was successful in rallying the BC government to protect a spectacular ancient forest only a few kilometers from Port Renfrew called Avatar Grove. The designation by the Province gathered much media attention and by summer, visitors were flooding to Port Renfrew to see the massive trees and to hike in the pristine old-growth forest. Since that summer, local accommodation providers in Port Renfrew have reported that demand for accommodations has increased 75% to 100% year over year. What is especially noteworthy is that the off-season activity has steadily increased when sport fishing charters are not operating or operating on a limited schedule. Thanks to the trees, Port Renfrew is no longer a one-industry tourism town and has been able to successfully brand itself the “Tall Tree Capital of Canada”.

In 2012 a kayaking company in Discovery Islands did an illuminating economic analysis. It calculated the economic value of 60 hectares of timber scheduled to be logged above and around the kayaking base camp across from the world-famous Robson Bight. It was determined that the value of the 60 hectares of timber was worth about $3,600,000.00. Since the regeneration cycle meant the area could be cut only once every 60 years, the yearly economic value of the timber was $60,000. The economic value to the kayaking company, however, was $416,000 per year, or $24,960,000 for the same 60-year period. In stark contrast to the approximately 300 person-days employment from logging the 60 hectares just once, the kayaking company provided 20,160 person-days of employment during the 60-year cycle. And this simple economic analysis didn’t include the employment and earnings for the 40 other ecotourism businesses using the same area.

THE CHAMBER RECOMMENDS That the Provincial Government:

1. Support the increased protection of old-growth forests in areas of the province where they have or can likely have a greater net economic value for communities if they are left standing for the next generation and beyond.

2. Protect endangered old-growth forests by enacting new regulations such as an Old-Growth Management Area, Wildlife Habitat Area, or Land Use Order, with the intent to eventually legislate permanent protection for areas through provincial park or conservancies.

Submitted by the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce

2025 Activity Report & Financials

Apr 30 2026

2025 was a milestone year for the Ancient Forest Alliance and the old-growth campaign. Despite the BC government's backsliding on many of its old-growth commitments, there was still much work to be proud of, including celebrating our 15th year working to protect ancient forests. Check out our 2025 Activity Report & Financials to see the impact YOU made on 2025, plus, find out what we have in store for 2026!

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