Entries by TJ Watt

NDP blamed for failing to save Vancouver Island old-growth giants from logging

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Check out this CBC News article about the logging of ancient forests and near-record-sized trees in the Nahmint Valley, with quotes from Brenda Sayers of the Hupacasath First Nation.

Since the AFA uncovered the intense old-growth logging currently underway in the valley, which is targeting the grandest and highest-productivity monumental groves, the issue has generated widespread media coverage and viral social media attention among millions of people.

Blame for felled Nahmint giant placed on NDP

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.