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Hair Ice

Feb 27 2024/in Educational

Hidden among the rainforests of BC you can find wonders of ephemeral beauty and minute delicacy, and few of these are stranger or lovelier than the phenomenon of hair ice.

Also known as “frost beard” or “ice wool”, hair ice appears only on dead deciduous wood when the temperatures are hovering just below zero degrees and when the air is humid. At first, it looks like a silvery moss or fungus, but a closer inspection shows instead a mass of fine icy filaments. These are incredibly slender, about .02 mm in diameter. Densely packed, they form a pearly cloud of ice. The slightest touch of a warm finger or even a breath will dissolve this fragile sculpture like cotton candy on the tongue.

But where does it come from? This magical winter phenomenon, like so much that is strange and mystical in forest ecology, is associated with a particular species of fungus: a jelly fungus called Exidiopsis effusa.

Under ideal conditions, a process called “ice segregation” occurs. This is when water freezes on the outside of dead wood, sandwiching a thin film of water between this ice and the wood pores. At this “ice front”, water is then drawn up through the wood pores towards the ice surface, where it freezes and adds to the existing ice. Lignin and tannin from the fungus are found in the ice and are thought to work as a sort of anti-freeze, inhibiting the delicate ice from recrystallizing into coarser structures and helping stabilize their unique shape for hours.

Because hair ice is associated with a specific fungus inside the wood, the same pieces may produce hair ice year after year. Around Vancouver Island, these are commonly the dead branches of red alder trees. If you are lucky enough to find it, take careful note of the exact spot, you may be able to repeat the encounter, even several years later, when the conditions are once again just right!

It’s AFA’s 14th birthday!

Feb 23 2024/in Announcements

We’re celebrating our 14th birthday on February 24th and all we’ve accomplished this year together. Will you celebrate with us by giving $14 to help protect the ancient forests of BC?

Our birthday is upon us again and we have much reason to celebrate given the historic successes we’ve seen over the past year! And whether you just joined us now, or you’ve been with us since our founding in 2010, thank you — our work wouldn’t be possible without you. Together, we’re changing the course of conservation in BC in major ways.

In honour of our 14th birthday and recent milestones, and to support the critical work that still needs to be done, please consider giving $14 or more today to help us reach our fundraising goal of $14,000 by March 10, 2024. While $14 may seem like a small amount, it can add up quickly and will truly make a difference in what we can achieve this year!

Donate $14 or more.

What has your financial support resulted in?
See the milestones you’ve helped us achieve in just over ONE YEAR, including:

Over one billion dollars announced for nature conservation in BC through the BC Nature Agreement.
The launch of a $300-million conservation financing fund by the province.
The launch of a $100-million BC Old-Growth Fund to save the most at-risk old-growth forests.
The commitment by Premier David Eby to protect 30% of lands in BC by 2030.
The release of the draft Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework intended to prioritize ecosystem integrity over resource extraction.

It’s been amazing to see this progress — now let’s keep the momentum going!

With your continued support, we’ll be able to:

Expand our important work with key First Nations communities to support Indigenous-led protected areas initiatives in areas with the best old-growth forests in BC while fostering sustainable economic alternatives to old-growth logging. (See our current public projects, the Kanaka Bar IPCA & MMFN Salmon Parks)
Ensure that BC uses “ecosystem-based targets” that include “forest productivity distinctions” (i.e. big trees vs. small trees) to guide the expansion of protected areas in the province and the spending of its conservation dollars. This is now the most critical campaign piece needed.
Push for deferral or “solutions space” funding to help offset lost logging revenues for First Nations who are still deciding whether to implement deferrals in the most at-risk old-growth forests in their territories.
Continue to explore and document endangered old-growth forests in BC, bringing back professional images, videos, and stories to help educate citizens across BC and around the world, inspiring them to act.
Continue to broaden our support base to ensure that the province knows that people from all walks of life, including businesses, unions, faith groups, and more, want to see old-growth forests in BC protected!

From the major wins we’ve seen in the past year to the key work that still needs to be done, your passion, dedication, and generosity will play a vital role in our ability to help preserve the incredible old-growth forests we all love so much. We’re grateful for anything you can give. Thank you for standing with us.

For the forests,
—The Ancient Forest Alliance team

In the middle of a gorgeous green old-growth grove stand four women and two men, all with their hands in front of them, all smiling. A lush green fern sits in front of them and a large, hollowed out ancient cedar sits proudly behind them.

The AFA Team from left to right: Nadia Sheptycki, Joan Varley, TJ Watt, Kristen Bounds, Coral Forbes, Ian Thomas

SUPPORT OUR WORK

Mowachaht/Muchalaht awarded $15 million to protect old growth and salmon

Feb 16 2024/in News Coverage

November 10, 2023
By Eric Plummer
Ha-Shilth-Sa News

Original article here.

Nootka Sound, BC

A project to protect a significant portion of Mowachaht/Muchalaht territory has been pledged $15 million from the federal government, fueling an initiative to save old growth and salmon populations in Nootka Sound over the next generation.

On Oct. 30 Canada’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change sent a letter to Eric Angel, project manager for the Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation’s Salmon Parks initiative. This confirmed over $15 million in funding for the project, payable up to March 31, 2026.

“I seek the highest level of environmental quality in order to enhance the well-being of Canadians,” wrote Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault. “In this regard, one of my priorities is to advance conservation of biodiversity and sustainable development.”

Other funding has been secured from the Ancient Forest Alliance, the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance, the Indigenous Watershed Initiative, Nature Based Solutions Foundation, Nature United and the Sitka Foundation, as well as other organizations providing expertise at no cost.

The project, which is titled ‘Mowachaht/Muchalaht Salmon Parks Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area – Old Growth Estuary Protection’, is designed to conserve critical parts of the territory by changing the tide of industrial activity in Nootka Sound.

“Salmon parks, fundamentally, is about setting things right again in this wonderful part of the world so that the chiefs are in a position to look after the ha-hahoulthee,” explained Angel during a tour of the Salmon Parks in October.

A major part of setting things right is halting logging in the designated areas. According to the Salmon Parks project application, at the current rate of harvest all old growth forests in Mowachaht/Muchalaht territory will be logged in the next 15 years.

As industrial forestry developed in the region, wild salmon populations in Nootka Sound have declined by 90 per cent, according to the project description, and could become extinct in the next 20 years without serious intervention.

“Old growth ecosystems are salmon ecosystems. They evolved together,” said Angel.

“We’re witnessing another extirpation series, small extinctions of salmon throughout the Pacific northwest,” he added. “There’s no one cause of that, but old growth forests, the destruction of them has been nothing short of catastrophic for salmon populations.”

The federal funding allows the Salmon Parks project to protect 38,868 hectares of old-growth forest, areas in Mowachaht/Muchalaht territory that contain “critical salmon ecosystems”, according to the application. The majority, or almost $12.5 million, of the federal funding is set aside for land acquisition costs, such as the buyouts of tenures held by forestry companies on the Crown land. Currently Western Forest Products and BC Timber Sales hold these tenures, which are legally recognized under provincial law.

A massive clearcut on a mountainside, with logging roads leading out of it and small patches of trees lining the sides.

A clearcut on Nootka Island. Photo by TJ Watt.

“We have to deal with the existing industrial and commercial interests on the landscape,” explained Angel. “That’s primarily forestry, and they’re going to want to be compensated.”

The Salmon Parks are already recognized under Mowachaht/Muchalaht law, but provincial designation is now necessary for the areas to be protected into the future.

“For Salmon Parks to be considered by the chief forester, or any other agency for that matter, requires some form of legislated protection,” said Roger Dunlop, the project’s technical lead and Mowachaht/Muchalaht’s Lands and Natural Resource manager.

“British Columbia made a huge mistake when they decided to liquidate all the timber harvesting land base, which means every tree in British Columbia that’s accessible,” continued Dunlop. “This is the nation’s alternative to that mistake.”

The federal funding will also go towards professional services necessary for Salmon Parks as well as external contractors and guardians from the Mowachaht/Muchalaht community to monitor and report on the designated areas.

It’s possible that Jamie James could play a leading role in this management. The First Nation’s field logistics coordinator spent his childhood on the shore of Muchalaht Inlet in Ahaminaquus, where his father taught him how to fish.

“It was really about living off the land, understanding what it meant to provide for the family but also for the community,” said James, who is concerned about carrying on the teachings of sustainability from his father, who grew up in Yuquot. “Once you start losing all of this stuff, you can no longer depend on the land to make a livelihood. That’s what scares me a lot.”

Although industrial-scale logging will no longer be permitted in the Salmon Parks, other small-scale activities can continue, particularly hunting, fishing and the cultural harvesting of trees.For James, these traditional practices are part of an interconnected way of living that he hopes the Salmon Parks will foster, a network that includes animals and people who rely on salmon-bearing streams.

“The broader part of the whole thing about the Salmon Parks, to me, is really being able to protect the landscape, the habitat, the resources, the environment – the sustainability for people that depend on all those things,” he said. “It’s the connection of all those things that depend on those resources.”

“As humans, we need to adapt to nature itself, rather than getting nature to adapt to us,” said James.

The old growth forest that Ottawa recently funded for protection is part of 66,595 hectares of critical habitat in Mowachaht/Muchalaht territory that the Salmon Parks project encompasses. The First Nation hopes to have this whole area protected by 2030 – the same year that the federal Liberals and have pledged to have 30 per cent of Canadian waters and land protected.

On Nov. 3 the feds put serious money behind this promise, with the announcement of the Tripartite Framework Agreement on Nature Conservation. The result of negotiations between the federal government, the province and the First Nations Leadership Council, this brings a fund that could reach over $1 billion over the course of the agreement, shouldered equally by Ottawa and the B.C. government.

Although the Government of Canada cannot declare IPCAs in a province, the agreement could lead to such designation in a First Nation’s territory.

“The Framework agreement supports a collaborative approach to landscape-based ecosystem health and biodiversity conservation in B.C.,” wrote Cecelia Parsons, a spokesperson for Environment and Climate Change Canada, in an email to Ha-Shilth-Sa. “The agreement will support indigenous partners establish Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas.”

A smiling man in a blue shirt wearing a baseball cap stands in a grove of trees.

Mowachaht/Muchalaht member Jamie James grew up on the short of the Muchalaht Inlet in Ahaminaquus, where his father taught him how to fish. (Eric Plummer)

This story was made possible in part by an award from the Institute for Journalism and Natural Resources and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

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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