Entries by TJ Watt

Blame for felled Nahmint giant placed on NDP

Check out this article in the Alberni Valley News about logging in the Nahmint Valley near Port Alberni. 300 hectares of prime old-growth forest, including near record-breaking-sized trees, are currently being logged throughout the valley, despite BC Timber Sales (the BC government's logging agency which auctioned off the cutblocks) having a policy in place meant to protect exceptionally large trees. 

Canada’s Ninth-Widest Douglas-fir Cut Down in Old-Growth Forest Auctioned Off by BC Government’s Logging Agency

Check out our media release about the cutting of Canada's ninth-widest Douglas-fir tree in the Nahmint Valley near Port Alberni, despite BC Timber Sales – the BC government's logging agency which auctioned off the cutblock – having a policy which is meant to protect exceptionally large trees.

The AFA is now redoubling its efforts to pressure the BC government to direct their logging agency to stop issuing old-growth cutblocks in BC, to implement a Big Tree Protection Order to protect BC’s biggest trees and grandest groves, and most importantly, to develop comprehensive, science-based legislation to protect endangered old-growth forest ecosystems across the province while ensuring a sustainable, value-added, second-growth forest industry.

NDP under fire for allowing old growth logging near Port Alberni

WATCH more CHEK News coverage about the growing outrage in BC after one of Canada’s widest old-growth Douglas-fir trees was cut down in the Nahmint Valley near Port Alberni. 

The piece features interviews from BC Green Party MLA and forest critic Adam Olsen, the AFA's TJ Watt, and Forest Minister Doug Donaldson.

Old growth logging intensifies in Nahmint Valley

Check out this article from the Nuu-chah-nulth newspaper, Ha-Shilth-Sa, about the massive BC Timber Sales-approved logging happening right now in the Nahmint Valley and the cutting of Canada's ninth-widest Douglas-fir tree (compared to the trees listed on the BC Big Tree Registry). The article includes quotes from old-growth protection advocate Brenda Sayers of the Hupacasath First Nation (one of the Nations in whose territory the logging is taking place).
 

Massive Cutting of Canada’s Grandest Old-Growth Forests Coordinated by BC Government’s Logging Agency – Near Record-Sized Douglas-firs Found in Nahmint Valley on Vancouver Island

Check out our media release about BC Timber Sales issuing cutblocks in some of Earth's grandest old-growth forest. Hundreds of hectares are being logged at breakneck speeds right now in the Nahmint Valley near Port Alberni, including thousands of old-growth western redcedars – some 4.3 meters (14 feet) in diameter – and exceptionally large Douglas-firs. BC's 5th and 9th widest Douglas-fir trees, according to the BC Big Tree Registry, were found on the expedition to the area.
 

New Zealand Shows the Way for BC to End Old-Growth Logging

Check out this news media release where the former co-leader of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand (1995 to 2009), Jeanette Fitzsimons, who successfully worked for an old-growth logging ban in that country by 2001, says the same can and should be done in British Columbia. This follows AFA's Executive Director Ken Wu's recent trip to New Zealand in April after speaking at a series of forestry and green building conferences about the importance of protecting BC's endangered old-growth forests while halting the importation of old-growth wood from BC into New Zealand.

Conservationists Disappointed the BC NDP’s Budget Fails to Allocate Land Acquisition Funding for Endangered Ecosystems and Old-Growth Forests

Check out our media release in response to today's BC Budget announcement, regarding the lack of funding for a provincial land acquisition fund to purchase and protect endangered old-growth forests and ecosystems on private lands.

Despite repeated requests from conservation groups and thousands of concerned citizens, the NDP government has yet to prioritize the urgent need for a dedicated fund to purchase private lands of high conservation and recreational value and add them to the province's protected area system.