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Deadline to Submit Avatar Grove Protection Comments this Wednesday, Nov. 9th!

Nov 7 2011/in Take Action

Please WRITE a QUICK EMAIL to PROTECT the AVATAR GROVE and ALL of BC’s Endangered Old-Growth Forests.

After almost two years of intense public pressure led by the Ancient Forest Alliance and the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce, the BC government is looking to officially declare Avatar Grove off-limits to logging. They are proposing to include the Avatar Grove within 59 hectares of new Old-Growth Management Areas (OGMA’s), pending the completion of public input that closes this Wednesday, November 9.

This is a great step forward for the most spectacular, easily accessible stand of unprotected old-growth cedars and Douglas-firs on southern Vancouver Island. The Avatar Grove is extremely rare, valley-bottom ancient forest, about 95% of which has been logged on the South Island.

However, the logging company will be compensated with 57 hectares of forest (27 hectares of old-growth, 30 hectares of second-growth), while thousands of hectares of old-growth forests are logged each year across Vancouver Island, tens of thousands of hectares across BC, and millions of hectares of BC’s old-growth forests remain in jeopardy. Already 75% of the original, productive old-growth forests have been logged on Vancouver Island.

PLEASE TAKE 3 minutes to WRITE a quick EMAIL by this Wednesday, November 9 to the BC government at:

Ministry of Forests: RenfrewOGMA@gov.bc.ca
BC Forest Minister Steve Thomson: steve.thomson.mla@leg.bc.ca
Premier Christy Clark: premier@gov.bc.ca

***BE SURE to include your FULL NAME and ADDRESS so they know you are a real person!
***Please reference: Renfrew Amendments 2011

TELL THEM that you:

– Support the protection of Avatar Grove as an Old-Growth Management Area (OGMA) in the Renfrew 2011 Amendment and ultimately as a conservancy or park.

– Want ALL of BC’s endangered old-growth forests protected through a Provincial Old-Growth Strategy.

– Want the BC government to ensure the sustainable logging of second-growth forests and to ban the export of raw logs to foreign mills.

Til the Last Tree

Nov 3 2011/in Announcements

To make a pledge of any amount to Hall and Jackett’s ride to benefit the Ancient Forest Alliance, please go to: https://www.tilthelasttree.com/p/donate.html

Two cyclists on a cross-Canada bicycle trip to raise funds and awareness to protect BC’s old-growth forests are now nearing completion of their meandering, 11,000 kilometer cycling and bird-watching journey – almost 6 months after commencing their tour that they’ve dubbed “‘til the last tree” (see https://www.tilthelasttree.com/ ).Musician Jaime Hall and wildlife biologist Nigel Jackett began their tour from Newfoundland in May, taking sponsorship pledges for the Victoria-based environmental organization, the Ancient Forest Alliance (https://ancientforestalliance.org/),as they’ve progressed. The couple, now in BC, are due to arrive in Victoria around November 10.

Pledges are based on the number of bird species spotted by Jackett and Hall, and the couple have now seen more than 300 species. Individuals can also make a donation to down load Hall’s songs or simply make a straight donation to the Ancient Forest Alliance. They have now raised almost $4000 in donations and sponsorship pledges for the Ancient Forest Alliance, which so far has run on a budget of about $45,000 in 2011.

“What a phenomenal experience it has been to see the diversity of my own country with the detail that comes from traveling by bicycle. We’re glad to have had the opportunity to undertake such an epic journey, and to raise funds and awareness for a cause we truly believe in,” stated Jaime Hall. “As it turns out, cycling the distance of one and a half times Canada’s length has also got us into the best shape of our lives!”

“I’m amazed at the diversity of ecosystems in Canada –from the Carolinian deciduous forests of southern Ontario to the prairie grass lands of southern Saskatchewan to the temperate rainforests of British Columbia. I’m thrilled that such a great experience will contribute to the protection of Canada’s natural heritage and biodiversity,” stated Nigel Jackett.

Jaime Hall grew up in the Okanagan, was trained as a classical pianist, and is a song-writer and musician with a passion for nature and conservation. Nigel Jackett is an Australian-born biologist who worked for the BC government surveying for species-at-risk in 2007 and 2008.

Highlights of their trip have included:

– Newfoundland. The people are friendly and the starkly beautiful landscapes are unique in Canada

– Secretly camping in a Toronto waterfront park, and going unnoticed.

– Experiencing the spectacle of spring and fall bird migration.

– An 82 year-old retired coastguard taking them in his boat to look for puffins off the southern tip of Nova Scotia.

– Communicating, or rather trying to communicate, in their broken French in Quebec and New Brunswick: “Nous traverson le Canada en bicyk!”

– Arriving at the gates to BC: the foot of the Rocky Mountains in Alberta!!

The Ancient Forest Alliance is a new, Victoria-based non-profit environmental organization working for the protection of BC’s old-growth forests, to ensure the sustainable logging of second-growth forests, and to end the export of raw, unprocessed logs from BC to foreign mills. The organization was founded in January, 2010, and works within the law through rallies, hiking trips, slideshows, photography, letter-writing campaigns, petition drives, and media campaigns to inform and mobilize citizens to push the BC government to protect ancient forests and BC forestry jobs. See the organization’s photo gallery of Canada’s largest trees and stumps at: https://ancientforestalliance.org/photos-media/

“We’re most grateful to Hall and Jackett for their great support in promoting our cause. As a new organization with very limited funds, the completion of their tour will greatly bolster our organization at a critical time,” stated Ken Wu, Ancient Forest Alliance co-founder. “We’re looking forward to celebrate their arrival after 6 months!”

To make a pledge of any amount to Hall and Jackett’s ride to benefit the Ancient Forest Alliance, please go to: https://www.tilthelasttree.com/p/donate.html

The Ancient Forest Alliance will host a welcoming event and slideshow on Monday, November 14 by Hall and Jackett where they will present photos of the highlights of their tour from 7:00-8:30 pm at the Garry Oak Room in the Fairfield Community Center at 1335 Thurlow Road by Moss St.

Welcome to Avatar forest in B.C.

Nov 3 2011/in News Coverage

PORT RENFREW, B.C.—Pink ribbons knotted to tree branches at the side of a gravel logging road mark the entry to an amazing earthly experience, something so different from anything most people have experienced it might be on another world.

The air is cool, damp and even smells green. Look up and there is no blue sky, just scraggy branches and the tops of 60-metre trees, that allow sunlight to hit the mossy ground only in broken beams of light.

This is Avatar Grove, a 50-hectare piece of untouched old-growth forest, about 110 kilometres northwest of Victoria.

Through a karma-like convergence, natural-born enemies, environmentalists, business leaders and politicians are joining hands to protect it from logging and create a nature-lover’s paradise.

It’s as if the happy-ending script is writing itself at Avatar Grove — a sequel of sorts to the Hollywood blockbuster, unfolding in the few remaining dark, moody and ancient big-tree forests on southern Vancouver Island.

“When we came across the area, it was at the same time the movie ‘Avatar’ was released,” said Ken Wu, co-founder of the Victoria-based Ancient Forest Alliance. “‘Avatar’ was about saving old-growth forests, albeit on an alien moon.

“We wanted people to make the connection that here on earth we have real spectacular old growth (forests) that are endangered and that need protecting,” he said, standing near a huge cedar marked in spray paint with the number five, signifying that it once faced a chainsaw death.

Wu said choosing the name Avatar Grove, courting the business community in nearby struggling Port Renfrew and getting the ear of the B.C. government has sparked a groundswell to declare the rugged coastal area the Big Trees Capital of Canada.

The Ancient Forest Alliance spent the summer taking busloads of tourists into Avatar Grove to see the mysterious forest, especially the alien-shaped western red cedar, nicknamed Canada’s gnarliest tree for is Volkswagen-sized burl that makes it look like something out of one of J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy novels.

“Port Renfrew really is the biggest trees capital of Canada,” said Wu. “The fact is the largest Douglas fir tree on earth is near town. The biggest spruce tree in Canada is also near town. The biggest tree in Canada, the Cheewaht cedar, is also north of town.

“And we’ve got the gnarliest tree at the Avatar Grove,” he said. “It’s an exceptional place for big-tree tourism and I think this is the year people are starting to recognize that and are coming to see them.”

Rosie Betsworth, Port Renfrew’s Chamber of Commerce president, agrees with Wu and the Ancient Forest Alliance that the big trees are something to see. It’s also offering a tourism boost to the community that, until recently, considered logging and fishing its lifeblood.

“The majority (here) can see the value of tourism dollars,” she said. “And now that there’s probably a handful of loggers left in this community, it is no longer a logging town.”

Betsworth said environmentalists like Wu and photographer T.J. Watt, who discovered Avatar Grove in 2009 while scouting the area’s few remaining old-growth stands, convinced locals that there is money in saving trees as opposed to cutting them down.

“For a small group of very broke guys, my God, they’ve made so much movement,” she said.

Steve Thomson, B.C.’s minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resources, said the government halted planned logging of Avatar Grove and is awaiting the results of a public consultation process on the area’s future.

But he suggested it already appears logging is no longer a viable option.

“The province has published its intent to adjust the old-growth management area to protect that grove,” he said.

Watt said Avatar Grove and the other huge trees in the Port Renfrew area, where many hillsides are scarred from clear-cut logging, are living examples of Mother Nature’s majesty that are located steps from easily accessible roads.

“Right away we knew we had something special because I couldn’t think of anywhere else where you could see trees of this size and get there in something like a Honda Civic.”

Direct lin to article: https://www.thestar.com/travel/northamerica/article/1080406–welcome-to-avatar-forest-in-b-c

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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