If you're in Calgary, come out on Aug 22 to see a spectacular and informative slideshow by the Ancient Forest Alliance's executive director Ken Wu at the Patagonia store (downtown Calgary at Stephen Avenue) about "Exploring and Protecting the Old-Growth Forests of Coastal BC". https://www.facebook.com/events/1058597564218224/
CTV has run the AFA photographer TJ Watt's still photo of the large cougar and also his video of the smaller cougar in the endangered Upper Walbran Valley:
A conservation photographer has captured a rare photo and video of cougars in the Walbran Valley.
According to a B.C. organization that works to protect endangered forests, cougars on the island tend to avoid clear cut areas.
The Ancient Forest Alliance photographer documented the two cougars, likely a mother with her juvenile offspring, from his car.
“I’ve spent over a decade exploring the old-growth forests of Vancouver Island several times a week, and I grew up here, but I never saw a cougar until this past weekend,” TJ Watt said.
Watt said seeing the carnivores was a “dream come true.”
This past weekend in the Walbran Valley’s endangered old-growth forest, conservation photographer TJ Watt of the Ancient Forest Alliance captured a photograph and video of a rare cougar encounter – two cougars in fact, a large and smaller one, likely a mother with her juvenile offspring. In the brief encounter, the large adult cougar casually bounded across the road, pausing in one instant long enough for Watt to get a somewhat blurry photo through his front window, while the juvenile meandered for about 20 seconds along the road, allowing Watt to capture several seconds of shaky video.
Metro News article on the recent cougar sighting and the need to save the Walbran Valley's old-growth forests!!
Here's a new article by Alicia LaRue about the recent sustainable forestry rally, organized by the Pulp, Paper, and Woodworkers of Canada (PPWC) union, supported by the Ancient Forest Alliance, WCWC, and Unifor, calling for the protection of old-growth forests, an end to raw log exports, and regulations and incentives for a value-added, sustainable second-growth forest industry.
Hi friends, please take 1 MINUTE to send a new message to the BC government to protect the imminently endangered old-growth redcedars at Echo Lake – some of which are 12 feet wide! Echo Lake is an extremely rare, lowland old-growth forest about 2 hours east of Vancouver between Mission and Agassiz, in Sts’ailes First Nation territory. The area is home to numerous species at risk, is part of the drinking watershed for local people, and is also the world’s largest night-roosting site for bald eagles, with 700+ eagles seen roosting in the old-growth trees around the lake on some evenings during the fall salmon run. The construction of a new logging road is imminent, while initial surveying of the giant cedars for logging has already begun. See the recent media release at https://ancientforestalliance.org/news-item.php?ID=1023 and SEND A MESSAGE to protect this unique area at www.ProtectEchoLake.com
On Friday, July 22, forestry workers from various sawmills and pulpmills from two major unions, the PPWC (Pulp, Paper, and Woodworkers of Canada) and Unifor, were joined by community members, politicians,first nations, and environmentalists in Port Alberni in a rally for sustainable forest policy in BC.
Here's a Vancouver Sun article by Stephen Hume also based on the new Sierra Club mapping on how much old-growth remains:
Forest scientists like Jim Pojar say this forest should be considered the remnant of a dwindling non-renewable resource because the life cycle of these forests is so long that it will take 40 to 50 human generations before they recover to their original state.
Even then, he says, they won’t be anything like the forests that exist today, nor will the communities of plants, insects, birds and animals — about 400 species — that rely upon them.
Meanwhile, the Sierra Club study points out, even as the remaining rainforest vanishes under the chainsaw, the rate at which it’s being cut has increased by 12 per cent. And, it says, re-planted forests that won’t mature for another 250 years are already being logged after only 50 or 80 years as immature second and third growth.
Pojar, a forest ecologist who wrote the well-regarded guide, Plants of Coastal British Columbia, was an ecologist and researcher with the B.C. Forest Service for years. He recently authored a major study for the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society on climate change and its implications for biodiversity and conservation policy.
“Given the amount and pace of climate change, all B.C. forest stands older than 150 years are non-renewable resources, and some of them should be removed from the timber harvesting land base,” says Pojar. “If logged they will not be replaced either naturally or artificially by mature and old stands with similar structure and function, even if they are allowed to grow old.
“Even if allowed to grow old they will not recover to the primary condition,” he says, “which is why I maintain that recovery of old growth forest is now an inappropriate, anachronistic concept, given rapid climate change, system unpredictability and scientific uncertainty.”
Here's a Powell River Peak article on the state of the forest industry:
"While he said he has sympathy for the small operators and contractors, the blame for the current situation rests on the shortsightedness of an industry that has depleted old-growth forests and has not reinvested in mill infrastructure to handle second-growth wood, said Wu.
According to Wu, even the provincial business lobby and local governments around the region have supported the idea of protecting what is left of BC’s old growth.
“What we need to do is do more with less, and focus on the second growth,” said Wu.
He added that instead of trying to market BC old growth and raw logs in China, the industry needs to find markets for value-added, sustainable, second-growth products.
Representatives from major forest industry unions and environmental organizations along with local elected officials and First Nations marched today, July 22, in Port Alberni to rally for sustainable forestry.
The Public and Private Workers of Canada (PPWC), Unifor, Wilderness Committee and Ancient Forest Alliance are calling on the BC government to end raw-log exports and to prioritize the transition to sustainable second-growth forestry
Scott Fraser, MLA for Alberni-Pacific Rim, as well as local First Nations representatives spoke at the rally at Victoria Quay.
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