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San Juan Spruce tree and the Red Creek Fir - some of the Canada's largest trees found right nearby!

CRD Parks Public Input Process Presents Golden Opportunity to Protect Canada’s Most Magnificent Old-Growth Forests

May 18 2010/in News Coverage

A first rate opportunity towards ending the war in the woods on southern Vancouver Island is currently being presented through the Capital Regional District Parks public input process. The public input process involves a series of Community Engagement Sessions held in a variety of CRD communities between May 6 through 19 and online written feedback until an unspecified date (see https://www.crd.bc.ca/parks/planning/strategicplan.htm). The public input will be used by the CRD Parks Committee to determine the strategic direction of the regional parks and trails in the area on southern Vancouver Island.

“This is a golden opportunity to save the grandest trees and some of the most magnificent ancient temperate rainforests in Canada, including the Avatar Grove, Red Creek Fir, San Juan Spruce, Refugee Tree, and Muir Creek,” stated TJ Watt, Ancient Forest Alliance co-founder who spoke at the Langford community engagement session last night. “Protection of these record-sized trees and incredible forests will provide first rate benefits to the citizens of BC, the tourism industry, wildlife, and the climate”.

Within the CRD’s boundaries lie some of the world’s most magnificent trees and old-growth forests that should be first-rate candidates for potential new Regional Parks, including:

– The Red Creek Fir, the world’s largest Douglas fir, located on public (Crown) land with surrounding spectacular old-growth redcedar forests on Crown lands and private lands owned by TimberWest about 15 kilometers east of Port Renfrew.
– The Avatar Grove, one of the most accessible and magnificent monumental stands of old-growth redcedars and Douglas firs, including “Canada’s gnarliest tree”, on public lands about 10 kilometers north of Port Renfrew, currently under threat from Teal-Jones.
– The San Juan Spruce, Canada’s largest Sitka spruce tree and second largest spruce in the world, on public lands about 15 kilometers east of Port Renfrew.
– The Refugee Tree, the largest redcedar in the CRD, growing on public lands just south of Sombrio Beach.
– Muir Creek, a watershed on TimberWest and Western Forest Product’s private land west of Sooke with an exceptional stand of ancient Douglas firs, Sitka spruce and redcedars.

In addition, extremely rare and endangered sensitive ecosystems like Garry oak meadows and old-growth and second-growth forests within the Coastal Douglas Fir zone (generally remaining in the Highlands and Metchosin areas within the CRD) should also be first rate priorities for protection.

The Capital Regional District has a parks acquisition fund consisting of a $10 levy per average household per year, increasing to $20 per average household by 2014, for purchasing private forest lands for new regional parks. Recently the CRD agreed to pay 65% of an $18.8 million deal to buy 2300 hectares of forest lands from Western Forest Products stretching from the Sooke Potholes to Jordan River.

To protect ancient forests on private lands such as Muir Creek and the forests adjacent to the Red Creek Fir, these lands would have to be purchased from willing sellers by the CRD and partnering land trusts and levels of government (eg. province, federal government).

To create regional parks on Crown lands managed by the province, the CRD and the BC government will have to negotiate the transfer of management authority from the province to the regional district in areas such as the Avatar Grove, Refugee Tree, and San Juan Spruce on Crown lands.

“We applaud the CRD for moving to protect the second-growth forests of Jordan River and the Sooke Potholes. At the same time, just about the greatest conservation priority from an ecological perspective is to save the last fragments of old-growth forests that remain in the CRD, as well as the most sensitive ecosystems like Garry oak meadows and lands within the Coastal Douglas Fir zone. We hope the CRD will actively pursue the protection of our most magnificent old-growth forests by purchasing private lands and working with the province to protect Crown lands as regional parks,” states Ken Wu, Ancient Forest Alliance co-founder.

“As Islanders we should be very proud to have these ecological gems within the boundaries of the CRD and jump on this amazing opportunity to celebrate them with the creation of new regional parks, guaranteeing their continued enjoyment well into the future,” states Watt.

AFA gift giving rally at BC Liberal MLA Ida Chong's office in Oak Bay

Noon Hour Protest Against Old-Growth Logging Targets MLA Ida Chong

May 14 2010/in News Coverage

[Original BC Local News article no longer available]

A giant 14ft diameter old-growth redcedar stump sits among dozens more in the clearcut near Port Renfrew

Old-growth forest ‘a sea of stumps’

May 14 2010/in News Coverage

Massive stumps found on Crown land near Port Renfrew are arousing fears that logging companies are taking the biggest and best old-growth trees — at the same time as the local chamber of commerce is trying to promote giant-tree tourism.

Old-growth red cedar stumps, measuring 3.7 to 4.6 metres in diameter and cut in the last few months, were found in the Gordon River Valley, near a huge stand of old-growth trees nicknamed Avatar Grove, by members of the Ancient Forest Alliance.

“People need to understand the urgency of the situation,” said Ken Wu, co-founder of the alliance.

“Globally rare ancient forests are being turned into a sea of giant stumps and tree plantations.”

John Cash, Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce president, said it’s disappointing that old-growth logging is accelerating just as the Pacific Marine Circle Route — a paved road connecting Port Renfrew to Lake Cowichan — is being promoted as a scenic tourist attraction.

“Even on that road they didn’t allow a buffer, so it’s clearcut right up to the edge of the road. I get comments about it all the time,” he said.

Tourists want to see big trees and Port Renfrew has some of the biggest, Cash said, but long-term benefits for the community are being sacrificed for short-term profit for logging companies.

“It’s like open warfare here,” he said. “If the forest companies had been responsible to begin with and had done their planting and management properly, there would be no need to cut down old-growth forests.”

The largest stumps found by the Alliance were on land being logged by Surrey-based Teal-Jones Group, which also has cutting rights for part of Avatar Grove, although the company has not yet applied for a permit.

A Teal-Jones spokesman did not return calls yesterday.

Forests Minister Pat Bell said there is no shortage of old-growth on Vancouver Island, which constitutes 900,000 hectares of the 1.9 million hectares of Crown land. “It represents a significant part of the Island,” Bell said.

Vancouver Island also has 438,000 hectares in protected areas and parks, many of which include old-growth forests. In the area around Port Renfrew, 19,000 hectares are protected in old-growth-management areas, he said.

“I think there’s a good balance there already, but it is always worth looking at specific sites,” he said.

The Alliance is asking the government to inventory and protect old-growth forests where they are scarce and to ensure sustainable logging of second-growth forests.

Bell said forest companies are already shifting to second growth.

But the Alliance is notching up the PR battle with the launch of a Facebook competition called Canada’s Biggest Stumps, where members can upload photos of the largest tree stumps they find.

“With relatively few eyes and ears out there monitoring what is going on in our forests, photo expeditions and competitions like this will help to show the public what serious environmental destruction is happening just down the backroads,” said Alliance co-founder TJ Watt.

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