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Cortes Island resident Fred Savage next to a 400-year old Douglas fir

Ancient Forest Alliance confirms vital old growth in threatened Cortes Island woods

Jan 16 2012/in News Coverage

During a brief visit to Cortes Island Friday, members of B.C.’s Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) documented a surprising number of rare, old growth Douglas fir trees slated to be logged by Island Timberlands.

Just one day after activists delivered a 6,200-signature petition appealing to the company, concerned Cortes residents received confirmation that the trees were among the most significant remaining old growth stands in British Columbia – a fact that could help gain provincial support to purchase the land from private owners.
•Logging of pristine B.C. island forest to begin in January by Brookfield Asset Management
•Petition against logging pristine B.C. forest draws Margaret Atwood, Mia Farrow and 4700 signatures
•Hand delivered petition urges Island Timberlands to reconsider logging of pristine B.C. forest

“In these parts, at least 99 per cent of the old growth of these firs have been cut,” said AFA Executive Director Ken Wu.

“Normally what you find is individual veterans, but you don’t get a whole stand of it like this,” he said, pointing out several groups of centuries-old trees at the heart of Cortes Island.

“That’s really rare. So to have a whole cluster of these is provincially significant.”

Community activists from Cortes took Wu and AFA tree photographer TJ Watt on a tour through island forests to document remaining old growth stands, which could be affected by impending logging operations. According to Wu, the potential loss of these stands is particularly troubling given the fact that the area’s dry maritime ecosystem is one of the most endangered forest ecosystems in the province.

“It’s like shooting a black rhino,” he said.

Purchasing power

The Ancient Forest Alliance was invited by Cortes residents to visit proposed logging areas, examine and document their ecological value. The organization works to preserve endangered old growth forests across British Columbia, as well as maintaining sustainable forestry jobs in the province. By photographing the biggest, oldest trees on Cortes Island, they can help advocates prove the significance of the stands and make a better case for their protection.

“I think what it means is that we can get off-island support to do a purchase,” said Fred Savage, a Cortes furniture builder who has volunteered countless hours to the cause.

With enough financial support, locals could potentially buy the “high priority” land areas from Island Timberlands. Savage has doubts that they could come up with the funds, as Island Timberlands has indicated they won’t sell for less than twice the appraised market value. But for Wu, this type of success story isn’t unheard of.

“Basically, Island Timberlands needs to agree to sell at the appraised value, not over-inflated values of the lands that the locals want to see protected,” said Wu, noting the possibility of extra support from the government.

“The province has to kick in like they did in Salt Spring Island under pressure,” he said.

Wu is referring to a well-known environmental campaign in the early 2000s, when Salt Spring Island residents protested logging by new landowners Texada Land Corporation. After significant opposition and fundraising efforts from the community, the province stepped in to contribute an additional $13.4 million needed to buy part of the land from the company.

“There’s no way the community’s going to raise $7 million, or whatever the price is,” said Wu.

“But the province – they coughed up over $12 million for Salt Spring.”

The precedent set by Salt Spring Island may offer hope to those on Cortes, but it is unknown whether the same support could be provided in this case. It is also worth noting that Brookfield Asset Management has given over $126,000 in campaign contributions to the BC Liberals since 2006.

An ongoing battle

The residents of Cortes Island have been actively trying to save these trees for decades, but since they’re on private land the owners have no legal obligation to retain them. Old growth trees are also the biggest and provide the most valuable timber, so they are often the most attractive for companies looking to cash in on their investments.

“As trees get older, you get higher quality wood, which is why people want the old growth,” said Wu.

Forest advocates say the older trees on the island could be anywhere from 200 to 500 years old, and logs their size and quality could be sold to markets overseas for over $25,000 each.

The area containing these high-value trees was previously owned by MacMillan Bloedel, a Canadian forestry company bought by Weyerhauser in 1999. Island Timberlands – a subsidiary of the multi-national firm Brookfield Asset Management – bought the land from Weyerhauser in 2005. Locals had arranged a hard-won agreement with former owners to protect sensitive old growth zones, but Island Timberlands is not bound by the same promises.

“It doesn’t have legal status, and Island Timberlands doesn’t know anything about it,” said Savage.

He repeats another islander’s analogy, saying it’s “like throwing Jell-o at the wall. We just keep doing it, and we don’t get anything to stick.”

Read article in the VO: https://www.vancouverobserver.com/sustainability/2012/01/14/ancient-forest-alliance-confirms-vital-old-growth-threatened-cortes-island

Environmental group balances jobs with old-growth protection

Jan 11 2012/in News Coverage

There was a time in the 1990s when a massive wedge existed between forestry workers and environmentalists. There was the ‘war in the woods’ and various other tension-ridden incidents and protests that led to acrimony and anger on both sides.

In 2010 a new environmentally-conscious organization appeared on the scene and met with a thumbs-up from both sides.

Ken Wu, one of the original founders (along with TJ Watt and others) said, “an organization can’t be based solely on ideals and divorced from how people make a living.”

The group spearheading the organization approached forestry workers, first in the Cowichan Valley, and the derision started to wear away.

“We started to make alliances with forestry workers,” said Wu.

Many of the ties that bind the two sides are the goals of the AFA; protection of the last remaining old-growth forests, and banning export of raw logs to foreign mills.

The problem now is that the B.C. government is opening up Chinese markets, where large scale manufacturing can be set up very, very fast, said Wu.

“It’s just a matter of time until they (the Chinese) start phasing out imports and shift to raw logs,” stated Wu.

He said this is “dangerous” because it is a lose, lose situation for British Columbia forests and forestry workers.

Old-growth forests are on the decline as they are logged now as they were in the past. The forestry companies are slow at re-tooling the machinery to handle second-growth logs and developing value-added wood industries. The alliance believes we should be logging second-growth at a slower rate, a more sustainable rate of cut and be manufacturing wood products in B.C.

There are other items as well on the alliance’s platform and they have instituted an on-line petition in an effort to get the B.C. government to protect old-growth forests and forestry jobs.

The Ancient Forest Alliance is not seeking charitable status because they feel they can be more effective in leveling stronger criticisms and gaining stronger support from politicians and political parties based on their stance.

The AFA would like the government to undertake a provincial old-growth strategy that will inventory old-growth forests in B.C. and protect them where they are scarce. Sustainable logging practices (which might include selective logging) on second-growth forests and an end to raw log exports are also in the alliance’s goals.

As environmentalists the AFA differs in that they realize jobs are important.

“There is a social pressure to make a living and we have to have a plan for economy at the same as environmental protection,” said Wu. “People need a way to work.”

[Sooke News Mirror article no longer available]

2012 Predictions – Environment – Ken Wu

Jan 7 2012/in News Coverage

While the strength of environmental campaigns vary each year, 2012 should be major. Here are five predictions:

The Climate Change Movement will Heat Up

The massive momentum in 2006 from Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth took a beating by a global recession, Copenhagen’s let-down and a huge climate denial industry that still wins over the uninformed and myopic. However, the latest UN climate summit in Durban created a new climate treaty framework that under massive pressure can be turned into something useful and vitally important. The movement is now supercharged with fury over Canada’s withdrawl from Kyoto, and will only grow. This time businesses, unions, and faith groups must be enlisted. The positive attributes of a sustainable, low carbon society should be emphasized, including expanded green businesses and jobs, more liveable cities, a healthier and happier quality of life, greater stability and world peace, and sustaining Earth’s tremendous diversity of life. We must also get a lot more political, working to toss out climate-sabotaging Conservative MP’s.

Slick Oil Industry PR will Spread to Pipelines

While the Keystone Pipeline to the U.S. and the Enbridge Pipeline to Kitimat from Alberta’s tar sands had setbacks in 2011, next year will be different. The dirty energy barons are sure to sink millions more into sophisticated, large-scale PR campaigns. Attacks on environmentalists as being foreigner-controlled, fear-mongering about job losses, and efforts to buy rural and working-class support to pit against “urban cappuccino-sucking tree huggers” are the common tactics of corporate anti-environmentalists.

The new spin also includes the “Ethical Oil” argument conjured up by a former tobacco industry lobbyist, which states that Alberta’s dirtiest tar sands oil is somehow more ethical and environmental than conventional oil from Saudi Arabia because of their human rights abuses. It’s like promoting child labour in Canada, due to lower standards in other nations. Meanwhile, opposition will grow against Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain Pipeline from Alberta to Burrard Inlet, which aims to expand oil tanker traffic along Canada’s most populated coastline, including by Victoria.

Ancient Forest Campaign will Target both B.C. Lib’s and NDP

The Ancient Forest Alliance’s growing strength, several large environmental groups moving to ramp-up their campaigns, and a provincial election in 2013 will drive a push for the B.C. Liberals and the NDP to commit to stronger old-growth policies. The B.C. Liberals still defend the destructive status quo, while the NDP who are likely to form the next government have made positive but vague promises with much wiggle room. Dix’s environmental platform during his NDP leadership bid committed to, “Develop a long term strategy for old growth forests in the province, including protection of specific areas that are facing immediate logging plans, such as Avatar Grove,” but fell short of calling for an end to old-growth logging in any major region.

The Fight against Fish Farms will go Viral

Viral in the sense that a salmon-killing virus, Infectious Salmon Anemia, has now been found by researchers in B.C.’s wild sockeye. It was first found in Norwegian fish farms and has wiped out salmon stocks in Europe and Chile. Investigations continue on the virus’ role in massive declines of Fraser sockeye runs. Combined with concerns about sea lice, waste, overharvesting smaller fish to feed farmed salmon, and the large-scale killing of sea lions by fish farmers, this new threat will make protests against open net-cage fish farms go viral.

Raw Logs on a Slow Boat to China will be Protested

The B.C. government has spent millions of taxpayer dollars to open up Chinese markets for B.C. wood. “Lumber, not logs” to China was the assurance of former Forests Minister Pat Bell in 2008 when questioned about the potential loss of B.C. milling jobs. However, in 2009 Bell allowed the first B.C. raw logs to be exported to China. With the flood-gates opened, raw log exports to China increased over 10-fold in 2010, to over a million cubic meters. In a nation where large-scale manufacturing capacity springs up seemingly overnight, it’s only a matter of time now before China shifts its imports of B.C. lumber to mainly raw logs to feed their own mills. Ten years from now, we’ll be able to thank the B.C. Liberals for the migration of the province’s wood manufacturing capacity to China. Protests will ramp-up in 2012.

Ken Wu is the executive director of the Ancient Forest Alliance and MASS (Majority for A Sustainable Society).

Link to Monday Magazine article: https://www.mondaymag.com/news/136700133.html

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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