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HIKE – SUNDAY, JUNE 10: Avatar Grove Biodiversity Hike and Boardwalk Fundraiser!

Jun 5 2012/in Announcements

Summer is almost here and this is your chance to hike the Avatar Grove with three of BC’s finest naturalists! University of Victoria entomologist and old-growth biodiversity specialist Dr. Neville Winchester, president of the Victoria Natural History Society Darren Copley (and former Goldstream Nature Centre chief interpreter) and the Royal BC Museum’s senior collections manager of entomology Claudia Copley will be along for the hike to talk about the tremendous diversity of creatures living in our incredible ancient forests!

Join these special guests as well as Ancient Forest Alliance organizers Ken Wu, TJ Watt, and Joan Varley on the hike through Avatar and learn how you can help in the campaign to protect BC’s endangered old-growth forests!

TIME & PLACE: Meet 2:00 pm in Port Renfrew at the Coastal Kitchen Cafe after which time we’ll drive in a convoy to the Avatar Grove.
*NOTE – Please park alongside the side road opposite the cafe parking lot. Sundays are a very busy time and we must leave room for the regular customer parking. Thank you!
HIKE: 2:30 – 4:30 pm
COST: SLIDING SCALE – $20 to $200 per individual (children are free)
MAP: Printable Tall Tree Tour map of Port Renfrew

Funds from this hike will go towards the Ancient Forest Alliance’s exciting new project to build a boardwalk in the Avatar Grove! A boardwalk is essential to help protect the forests’ ecological integrity and enhance visitor access and safety. For $100 you can sponsor a 1 metre section of the trail.

Donations can be made securely online at: https://ancientforestalliance.org/boardwalk-donation.php

By credit card over the phone at: 250.896.4007

Or by mailing a cheque to the address listed here.

What can you expect from the trip?

– To see some of the largest and strangest looking trees in BC, including “Canada’s Gnarliest Tree”!
– To learn to identify some of the common rainforest trees, plants, lichens and fungi.
– To learn about the wildlife – the wolves, cougars, elk, bears, Sasquatch (**sightings not guaranteed), birds, amphibians, and other creatures that inhabit the Avatar Grove.
– To meet great new people and have an AWESOME TIME!

THINGS TO KNOW:

* Only those with moderate hiking abilities and who are comfortable on semi-rugged terrain, with a firm sense of balance, can attend this hike.
* All participants will be required to sign a waiver form.
* Participants must bring their own water, rain gear, hiking boots and wonderful attitude!
* Dogs must remain on a leash at all times – they can disturb wildlife including bears, elk, deer, cougars, wolves, raccoons, mink, and Sasquatch in the area.
* Be sure to support the local community by spending your dollars in Port Renfrew and Sooke!
* This event is a fundraiser for the Ancient Forest Alliance which is in need of funding to build an Avatar Grove boardwalk and to continue its vital campaigns to protect BC’s ancient forests and forestry jobs.

If you can, please email us at info@ancientforestalliance.org to let us know how many of you are coming so we can get a sense of our numbers.

It’s a land of giants in Port Renfrew’s ancient Avatar Grove

May 31 2012/in News Coverage

Link to original article: www.straight.com/article-697301/vancouver/its-land-giants-ancient-avatar-grove

The grey, weathered sticks poking out the top of the thick forest canopy near Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island’s southwest tip look like so much deadwood to an untrained eye.

But for a man whose aim is to draw visitors to the Island’s western shore to experience the awesomeness of old-growth forests, they are a reason to get excited. Very excited.

“Those candelabra tops are a sign of ancient red cedars,” explains T J Watt, cofounder of the Ancient Forest Alliance, a nonprofit organization that seeks to protect old-growth forests and ensure sustainable forestry jobs in B.C. “When I first saw those tops, I knew instantly we’d found a treasure trove of big trees.”

The year was 2009 and Watt was searching for an accessible, iconic stand of trees that could serve as a rallying point in a marketing campaign for the Alliance. He found the tract—dubbed Avatar Grove by the group after the James Cameron blockbuster film (brilliant marketing move or majorly lame, you decide)—just a 10-minute walk/scramble from a logging road and a 20-minute drive from the logging town of Port Renfrew. Single Mothers College Grants

Thanks to the Alliance’s efforts, this extraordinary collection of giant western red cedars, Douglas firs, and Sitka spruces—which is estimated to be between 500 and 1,000 years old—has been mapped and is now protected from logging.

Finding the grove takes a bit of pre-trip planning. There are no location markers, just paper signs in plastic sleeves and flagging tape hanging from trees to mark the starting point of the primitive trail. Visitors will need a map (available for free on the Alliance’s website) or, better yet, a guide to find the giants. Watt is happy to lead groups to the most impressive trees, including, in his words, “Canada’s gnarliest”: a massive cedar with a four-metre-wide trunk that’s distorted with lumpy, bumpy fungus growth.

These days, the Alliance is busy fundraising to build a boardwalk to the grove. “We’ve had thousands of people visit in the last two years,” Watt says. “Steps on the trail’s steeper sections and boardwalks around the most popular trees will protect the forest floor and make it easier for people of all abilities to see the incredible trees.”

Keen for more? The Alliance’s website also provides directions to the Red Creek Fir (the world’s largest Douglas fir) and the San Juan Sitka spruce (Canada’s largest spruce), both located near Port Renfrew and accessible via poorly maintained gravel roads.

Access: To reach Avatar Grove, take Highway 14 to Port Renfrew (just over a two-hour drive west of Victoria) and follow the directions at the Ancient Forest Alliance website

Avatar Grove Boardwalk – DONATIONS NEEDED!

May 24 2012/in Announcements

Avatar Boardwalk – Donations Needed!

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For $100 YOU CAN HELP SPONSOR the construction of 1 METER section of BOARDWALK in Avatar Grove – and help us build a stronger, more powerful ancient forest movement!

ANY amount you can donate will add up, whether $10 or $1000!

Please DONATE securely online at: https://ancientforestalliance.org/avatar-grove-boardwalk-now-completed-and-open/

By PayPal Here

Or phone us at: 250-896-4007
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As most of you know, the magnificent Avatar Grove near Port Renfrew was protected in February as the result of a two year campaign spearheaded by the Ancient Forest Alliance and the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce (see our previous media release here)

Thanks to the support of thousands of people over the past two years like yourself, Avatar Grove’s magnificent trees and its elk, wolves, bears, cougars, owls, and salamanders are now safe from logging!

WHY is a BOARDWALK NEEDED in AVATAR GROVE?

1. To maintain its ECOLOGICAL INTEGRITY. Strategically placed boardwalk sections will prevent the wetter areas from turning into mud pits and protect the roots of the most popular trees.

2. To increase visitor SAFETY. Parts of Avatar Grove are somewhat difficult to navigate, particularly the entry points from the road embankment into the forest. Boardwalk and some wooden stairs will greatly increase access and safety for young and old hikers alike.

3. To support the local ECO-TOURISM economy. A boardwalk will draw more visitors from around the world who will spend their dollars in local businesses. It’s VITAL that rural communities like Port Renfrew see economic benefits from protecting old-growth forests, otherwise such communities that are often lacking in employment and revenues have less incentive to challenge the status quo of large-scale industrial resource extraction and logging that historically built their economies. Avatar Grove has been an experiment in environmental campaigning that has been successful so far. We need to complete this project. It is a model that can be applied in other areas.

An INTENSE Two Year Campaign

Since the AFA’s founding just over 2 years ago, Avatar Grove quickly became BC’s highest profile ancient forest campaign in a decade – and it has supercharged the overall movement to protect BC’s endangered old-growth forests.

Over two years AFA activists organized countless hikes, events and rallies involving thousands of people, while thousands more visited the Grove on their own. Avatar Grove quickly became BC’s “second Cathedral Grove”. We partnered with the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce to build support among local businesses. A seemingly endless torrent of news media covered our campaign, including the international TV news network Al-Jazeera, the Toronto Star, West World Magazine, and the Globe and Mail, where we made the front page.

Finally, on February 16, 2012, the BC government announced that Avatar Grove would be protected in an Old-Growth Management Area which prohibits logging and mining. See our media release at: https://ancientforestalliance.org/afa-supports-avatar-groves-protection-calls-for-provincial-old-growth-plan/

But we have much work to do – our main goals are to protect ALL of BC’s endangered old-growth forests through a new Provincial Old-Growth Strategy and to ensure sustainable forestry in second-growth stands. In the Avatar Grove, we’d ultimately like to see a provincial conservancy or park which will show up on a provincial highway map and which are the most secure protective designations.

Previously it was illegal under the Forest and Range Practices Act to build a trail in the Avatar Grove when it was slated for logging. However, with its recent protection, we’re now requesting permission from the Ministry of Forests to do so. We don’t anticipate this will be a problem – however, as a new, small organization, raising the funds will be a challenge.

PLEASE HELP SPONSOR a TRAIL and BOARDWALK in AVATAR GROVE

We are asking for YOUR generous support to help us build a kilometer long trail and boardwalk in Avatar Grove.

For $100 YOU CAN HELP SPONSOR the construction of 1 METER section of BOARDWALK in Avatar Grove – and help us build a stronger, more powerful ancient forest movement. ANY amount you can donate will add up.

Please DONATE online at: https://ancientforestalliance.org/avatar-grove-boardwalk-now-completed-and-open/ or phone us to donate at: 250-896-4007

THANK YOU for continuing to stand up for BC’s magnificent Ancient Forest Heritage!

– Ken Wu, TJ Watt, Joan Varley, Hannah Carpendale, Chris Lambden
Ancient Forest Alliance

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