Entries by TJ Watt

AFA denounces MLA office

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An environmental group working to protect old-growth forests in B.C. is condemning local MLA Ron Cantelon’s office for insinuating they support the logging of a parcel of Coastal Douglas Fir forest in Nanoose Bay.

“It’s a sleazy tactic to try and link us in their responses to concerend citizens when they write letters back as somehow insinuating that we are supporting the Nanoose Bay ancient forest logging,” said Ken Wu, one of the founders of the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) in Victoria.

AFA Condemns Cantelon’s Endorsement of Old-Growth Logging

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I read with dismay that BC Liberal MLA Ron Cantelon’s office has been invoking the Ancient Forest Alliance’s name to insinuate that we somehow support logging of the Nanoose Bay old-growth forest (block DL-33) because we support their decision to keep 1600 hectares of Coastal Douglas Fir ecosystem off-limits to logging through a new Land Use Order. That’s like saying "because you like the new rain jacket I got you, you’ll like me dumping this bucket of cold water on your head, too.

Shaw Daily: Avatar Grove and Canada’s Gnarliest Tree

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The Shaw Daily local news program ran a great feature on the popular Avatar Grove in August 2010. Watch the video to see the giant gnarly redcedars the grove is now famous for and to hear some excellent commentary from Liberal MP Keith Martin on the need for more old-growth forest protection in BC!

Thanks to UsedVictoria.com founder Don Barthel for a data projector!

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The Ancient Forest Alliance would like to acknowledge the generosity of Don Barthel, founder of Used Victoria https://www.usedvictoria.com/ for his donation of a data projector to us, which we have used numerous times to give slideshow presentations to hundreds of people and which we will use to reach thousands more over the next few years.

PLEASE WRITE a THANK YOU LETTER!

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BC Government Expands Protections to 39,000 hectares of old-growth forests on northern and central Vancouver Island, and 1600 hectares of rare Coastal Douglas Fir ecosystems

Member of Parliament (MP) Keith Martin’s Excellent Article to Protect the Avatar Grove and Expand Pacific Rim National Park Reserve

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Following a trip to visit Avatar Grove and nearby clearcuts in the Gordon River Valley with Ancient Forest Alliance campaigners TJ Watt and Brendan Harry, Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca federal Liberal MP Dr. Keith Martin wrote to the Times Colonist to express his ardent support for the protection of the old-growth forests on southern Vancouver Island. Martin has proposed the expansion of the boundaries of Pacific Rim National Park Reserve to include much of the remaining unprotected old growth stands on the South Island.

The Week, August 12-18

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Despite the presence of ancient Red cedars and evidence of karst formations under the forest floor, the provincial forest ministry appears to see no need to protect the stand of trees north of Port Renfrew dubbed Avatar Grove.

The ministry recently rejected a proposal by the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce and the Sooke Regional Tourism Association to protect the grove in its entirety, arguing that 24 percent of the grove is in an old-growth management area, and that is sufficient protection.

B.C. environmentalists fight to preserve Avatar Grove

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When two forest activists were rooting around for ancient trees along southwest Vancouver Island’s logging roads in December, the pair made an unexpected discovery.

Just a five-minute walk from the road, centuries-old hemlocks, red cedars, firs and an identified evergreen that’s been dubbed Canada’s “gnarliest tree,” stood untouched in a 10-hectare setting, about a 15-minute drive from the village of Port Renfrew.