Blog Archive Layout

Upcoming AFA Events

Apr 15 2010/in Announcements

1.
Save the Nanoose Bay Forest!

The Coastal Douglas Fir ecosystem covers about 5% of Vancouver Island, located along the Island’s southeastern coast, and is one of Canada’s top 4 most endangered ecosystems. It is characterized by Garry oak, arbutus and Douglas fir trees, camas, manzanita shrubs, alligator lizards, sharp-tailed snakes, and numerous species at risk.

One of the most significant remnants is near Nanoose Bay north of Nanaimo and is currently threatened with logging. On its 60 hectares are numerous old-growth Douglas firs and redcedar veteran trees, second-growth forests, and sensitive wetlands. This area represents one of the rarest opportunities for the BC Liberal government to protect this endangered forest type for free, as it is on public (Crown) lands, whereas as most of the ecosystem is now largely privately owned and would have to be purchased for protection (in fact, most of the zone is covered by the cities of Victoria, Nanaimo, Duncan, and by farmland now).

Please quickly write a letter asking the BC Liberal government (Forest Minister Pat Bell pat.bell.mla@leg.bc.ca – be sure to include your home mailing address so they know you are a real person) to save the Nanoose Bay Forest through a new “land use order” that prohibits logging, and ask them to also do the same for all other parcels of Crown lands within the Coastal Douglas fir ecosystem.

Visit the website for more info at: https://www.nanoosebayforest.com/action.htm

Contact Annette Tanner at wcwcqb@shaw.ca or Kathy McMaster info@nanoosebayforest.com to get involved!
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2.
Slideshow of the Avatar Grove, San Juan Spruce, and Red Creek Fir
Wed., April 21
2:00 pm
Coastal Kitchen Cafe (17245 Parkinson Rd.), Port Renfrew

See a truly spectacular slideshow by Ancient Forest Alliance campaigners TJ Watt and Ken Wu about the endangered Avatar Grove, Red Creek Fir, and San Juan Spruce near Port Renfrew, and on how we can sustain forestry jobs at the same time!

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3.
$4000 raised so far – $10,000 goal for April 22 – Please help us!

Since March 22 when the Ancient Forest Alliance launched its fundraising drive, about 60 generous individuals have donated $4000 to us. However, we are still far short of our goal of $10,000 by Earth Day on April 22, and $20,000 by June 21. Whatever amount you can afford, we can assure you that YOUR support with the Ancient Forest Alliance will go farther with us than with virtually any other major environmental organization in the country. We are the BUSIEST environmental group for the LEAST funding right now! YOU can help us make this a sustainable organization by supporting us…

See our full funding appeal at: https://ancientforestalliance.org/support.php

Currently we need funds to:
– Buy a new digital projector to give slideshow presentations – they cost about $1000.
– Print 100,000 copies of a new educational newsletter that will go into “swing ridings” in BC that will exert disproportionate pressure on the BC Liberal government to change their backwards forest policies. This will cost $5000 for the printing alone.
– Undertake expeditions into endangered ancient forests on Vancouver Island and elsewhere to document their beauty and their destruction.
– Organize Days of Action in front of BC Liberal MLA offices – right now the BC Liberal government contends that Vancouver Island’s endangered old-growth forests don’t require any protection and that raw log exports to foreign mills should continue.
– Establish new Ancient Forest Committees (activism teams) in swing ridings in BC that exert a disproportionate amount of pressure on the BC Liberal government.
– Build vital support among businesses, faith groups, unions, and First Nations

You can donate ONLINE with your credit card at: https://donate.ancientforestalliance.org/

Or you can MAIL in your cheque (made out to “Ancient Forest Alliance”) to: Ancient Forest Alliance
706 Yates Street
PO Box 8459
Victoria, BC V8W 3S1

With YOUR support we will change the history of this province for the best!

For our ancient forests and a sustainable future,

Ken Wu, TJ Watt, Katrina Andres, Michelle Connolly, Tara Sawatsky, Brendan Harry
Ancient Forest Alliance

Old-growth forest clearcut new Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island

Expected layoffs in B.C. government’s Ministry of Forests bad timing says NDP

Apr 14 2010/in News Coverage

On the heels of issuing layoff notices to 294 public service workers Monday, the B.C. government is planning for another round of cuts in the Ministry of Forests by early summer.

At a time when lumber prices are booming but the industry is far from recovering, it’s either the worst time to slash jobs — according to the leader of the Opposition — or an opportune time to cut, according to an industry leader.

Of the 294 notices issued yesterday, 204 are in the Forests Ministry and 38 in the Integrated Land Management Bureau. The remaining 52 positions are in the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources.

The government intends to cut “no more than five per cent” of the 30,000-member civil service — a maximum of about 1,500 full-time equivalent positions — over the next three years.

In a letter to employees Monday, deputy minister Dana Hayden said the sooner the upcoming cuts are identified, the better. “Consequently, the workforce adjustment process for 2011/12 will likely occur before this summer.”

After more than three years in a down market cycle for the forest industry, lumber prices are up substantially — mainly because supply was taken off the market — but the industry is not expected to ramp up overnight, said John Allan, president of the Council of Forest Industries.

B.C. lumber production is down by 37.4 per cent in the last two years.

Allan said the ministry can absorb the cuts and continue to carry out its duties, including enforcement. “I’m frankly not concerned.”

But NDP Opposition leader Carole James slammed the government in question period yesterday, saying it doesn’t make sense to cut forestry workers when the government is trying to open new markets for lumber and diversify the industry. “I think it’s short-sighted and not looking long-term at growth,” said James in an interview.

Government should have run a deficit for at least another year, depending on the economic recovery, so it wouldn’t have had to make such deep cuts and lose so many experienced staff, she said.

The cuts, which include 22 compliance and enforcement staff, will have an impact on the forests ministry’s ability to monitor whether companies are following the law and protecting the environment, she said.

Ken Wu, of the Ancient Forest Alliance, agrees, saying enforcement in B.C.’s forests is already “way down” from the level in the early 1990s. “They never had enough people to begin with,” said Wu.

Rick Jeffery, chief executive officer of Coast Forest Productions Association, said the cutbacks won’t have any impact on the quality of B.C. forest management, however.

The annual allowable cut hasn’t been harvested in the last three years and that trend will likely continue, he noted. “One can ask whether we need as many bodies looking after ministry business if the amount of business they have has significantly dropped.”

Darryl Walker, president of the B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union, said the cuts have already gone too far, and the government appears to have no plan.

“In this day when forestry is in jeopardy — the great industry and engine that drove the building of this province and we seem to be giving up on it — I just don’t understand it,” Walker said.

The Forests Ministry budget drops to $595 million in 2011/12, from $641 million this year.

More people should be working in areas such as research in the ministry, not fewer, Walker said.

“It will turn around and we will want to rebuild the forest industry and yet we’re not doing anything to prepare young people for it.”

Benna Keoghoe stands next to a giant Douglas fir measuring 6ft in diameter growing in Mount Doug Park located within the Oak Bay/Gordon Head swing riding.

Environmental activist targets Oak Bay-Gordon Head riding to launch tree campaign

Apr 10 2010/in News Coverage

You don’t have to drive hours out of Victoria to find old-growth trees or, for that matter, politicians who are hanging onto their seats by a thread.

Environmental activist Ken Wu, of the Ancient Forest Alliance, led media representatives into Mount Douglas Park on Friday to see a 400-year-old Douglas fir measuring two metres in diameter.

The tree is located in the riding of Oak Bay-Gordon Head, where Liberal Ida Chong edged out the NDP candidate in last year’s election.

Environmental activist Wu chose this particular Douglas fir in this particular swing riding to launch a new campaign to save old-growth forests in B.C. The Ancient Forest Alliance is not a charity and therefore is permitted to condemn or endorse politicians and political parties.

“Whoever would think that we have an old-growth forest in the heart of urban Victoria and in the swing riding of Oak Bay-Gordon Head?” said Wu.

The group is calling on the Liberal government to protect remaining old-growth forest, ensure the sustainable logging of second-growth forest, ban raw log exports, and assist in retooling of old-growth sawmills for value-added wood manufacturing.

The dozen or so swing ridings in B.C. are the focus of the group’s campaign, he said. “All it would take would be a shift of seven or eight ridings in the province to cause this government to lose power,” Wu said. “What we’re doing today is taking the ancient forest movement to a whole new level.”

Without the neutral approach required by charities, he said, “we can go straight now to their sensitive areas … so they’ll either have to change their policies or lose the election.”

The organization will focus on public education and will not break the law in order to get its point across, Wu said.

NOW HIRING: Forest Campaigner

Mar 3 2026

The Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) is hiring a passionate Forest Campaigner to join our team and help protect old-growth forests in BC!

Employment

It’s AFA’s 16th Birthday!

Feb 26 2026

On Tuesday, February 24th, we’re celebrating 16 years of working together with you, our community, to ensure the permanent protection of old-growth forests in BC. To mark the date, will you chip in $16 or more to support our work?

Announcements

Budget 2026 Shortchanges Nature Protection and Sustainable Forestry Transition At a Critical Time for British Columbia

Feb 20 2026

BC’s Budget 2026 fails to provide the funding needed to secure lasting protection for endangered ecosystems and at-risk old-growth forests in the province.

Media Release