Entries by TJ Watt

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

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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

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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

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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.

Forestry Union President Calls on NDP to Protect BC Forests & Forestry Jobs

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Check out this opinion piece by Arnie Bercov, the president of the Public and Private Workers of Canada (PPWC), which represents thousands of forestry workers across BC. The PPWC has joined  in calling on the NDP government to start implementing major policy shifts to end raw log exports, incentivize the development of new second-growth mills and value-added facilities, protect old-growth forests, and support First Nations' land use planning and sustainable economic development

Opinion: Status quo a non-starter in B.C.’s forest industry

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Vancouver Sun Op-Ed by Arnie Bercov: Doug Donaldson understands better than most how neglected B.C.’s forests are, and how that neglect is mirrored in troubling job losses and missed employment opportunities in rural towns and First Nations communities. As B.C.’s forests minister, he is also the MLA for the vast Stikine riding where Highway 37 […]

Tall trees draw renowned artist to Saanich

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Check out this Saanich News article about artist and UVic visual arts associate professor, Kelly Richardson. Known for hyper-real digital films, Richardson is one of five artists commissioned to produce a large-format digital film short for the 50th anniversary of the invention of IMAX.  Her work will feature and bring attention to the plight of Vancouver Island's endangered old-growth forests. 

Capturing the art of nature and change

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Vancouver Island’s old-growth forests have inspired acclaimed digital artist Kelly Richardson to move to Victoria, to be closer to the inspiration the ancient stands of trees provide.

In particular, she has had her eye on Port Renfrew — dubbed the “tall-tree capital” of Canada — and is featuring it in a digital-art creation that will be shown at Imax theatres as part of a film series. The series will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Imax’s invention.

New Visual Arts Professor Creates Avatar Grove Film Project

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Internationally acclaimed artist Kelly Richardson, a new professor in UVic’s Department of Visual Arts, is bringing the old-growth forests near Port Renfrew sharply into focus with a new digital art project.

Created with the participation of the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA), Richardson's large-format film will be shot in July at Port Renfrew’s Avatar Grove (a popular nickname for its Nuu-cha-nulth Pacheedaht name of T'l'oqwxwat) by Christian Kroitor, the grandson of IMAX inventor Roman Kroitor, and released on IMAX screens across Canada next year.

Port Renfrew’s Avatar Grove featured in national IMAX series

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Sooke News Mirror: A Victoria artist, recognized internationally, will showcase Port Renfrew’s old growth forests in a new IMAX project. Kelly Richardson, who visited Avatar Grove two years ago has chosen it to be featured in her upcoming digital art installation series, which will be projected on IMAX screens across the country in 2019. “Having […]