Entries by TJ Watt

VANCOUVER: Hadwin’s Judgement Film Screening Fundraiser for the Ancient Forest Alliance! (April 26)

Tuesday April 26, 6:30pm (doors 6pm)
Rio Theatre, Vancouver (1660 E Broadway, at Commercial Drive – see MAP)
Tickets $15 – purchase online HERE or at the door (**note: 19+ event)

Join us for a fundraiser screening of the award-winning film Hadwin’s Judgement, inspired by John Vaillant’s renowned book The Golden Spruce. The evening will also feature a slideshow presentation by the AFA about the state of BC's old-growth forests, a Q&A session with Elizabeth Yake (producer), Doug Chapman (lead actor – TBC), Ken Wu & TJ Watt (AFA), a raffle prize draw, and a drink bar! Proceeds go to support the Ancient Forest Alliance. See details HERE and buy tickets HERE. For more info, contact organizer Ariane Tisseur at arianet604@gmail.com

VICTORIA: ‘Love the Earth with Sitka’ (April 22)

The Sitka Society for Conservation (SSC), the environmental fund of Sitka, Victoria's clothing and surf store, is raising funds for building materials and supplies for the Ancient Forest Alliance. The Ancient Forest Alliance is building a boardwalk in the Avatar Grove, Port Renfrew, to protect the old growth forest's understory, enhance visitor safety, and support eco-tourism. Please come out to these events on Earth Day at Sitka's downtown Victoria store location to help them raise the needed funds for the Ancient Forest Alliance!

When: Friday, April 22
Where: Sitka store (1219 Government St – see map), downtown Victoria

Morning Yoga at Sitka from 8-9am with Katie Thacker
A playful vinyasa practice to wake up and celebrate our beautiful planet. Tickets are $10 dollars with all the proceeds going to the Sitka Society for Conservation (SSC) initiative, Ancient Forest Alliance Pathway to Preservation.

20% for the Trees
On Earth Day (April 22nd) Sitka is going to contribute 20% of each sale to the SSC and the Ancient Forest Alliance Pathway to Preservation initiative. Your purchase can make a big difference!

The Ancient Forest Alliance’s Youngest Donor!

A few days ago, 14 year old Taliesin came into our office with a $300 donation that he raised while busking with his accordion in North Vancouver over the past few months.

See him playing his own song that he wrote while busking for us at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrrVKZTM2FU

Taliesin had to choose a charity to support for his school philanthropy project, and we're most grateful that he chose us! Tali likes Art, Biology, and Physics, and has always had an interest in plants, and in fact for his school's science fair just built his own polygraph to measure the feelings of plants in response to various stimuli!

His mom has also written a blog about Tali's project at: https://rickshawunschooling.blogspot.ca/2016/04/philanthropy-project.html

We at the AFA are most grateful for the generosity and dedication of this young big tree enthusiast!

Overwhelming beauty: Almost every inch of Port Renfrew, B.C., inspires awe

This travel feature in the Globe and Mail focuses on Port Renfrew and talks about the Ancient Forest Alliance and the Avatar Grove/ boardwalk (***take note we'll be recruiting more volunteers and raising funds to try to finish the boardwalk by this summer):
"There’s a fascinating back story to Avatar Grove, which only got its name a few years back after the Ancient Forest Alliance campaigned to have the area saved from logging and it was declared a protected area in 2012. Named after James Cameron’s epic 2009 movie, it’s home to some of the most ancient trees on Vancouver Island and just a few minutes drive from Port Renfrew. Unlike Cathedral Grove, a protected old-forest area on the way to Tofino, Avatar Grove is no simple stroll. Although the AFA has been laying down boardwalk to protect the root systems of the trees, there’s still plenty of clambering over logs and navigating slippery slopes before you reach the famous Gnarly Tree. You spend so much time looking where you’re going, in fact, that when you finally stop and look up, it’s more than a little overwhelming. Thoughts crash through your mind in rapid succession: Oh wow, that’s so beautiful. Oh man, that’s so big! And, most importantly: How the hell did anyone even think about logging this treasure?"

Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities (AVICC) passes resolution for Natural Land Acquisition Fund!

The Ancient Forest Alliance and UVic Environmental Law Centre’s resolution calling on the province to establish a “Natural Land Acquisition Fund” to purchase and protect endangered ecosystems on private lands (using the “Pop for Parks” mechanism) was also passed today at the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities (AVICC) AGM. If implemented by the province, this will make it easier to purchase and protect places like Mount Horne – the endangered mountainside above Cathedral Grove at risk from Island Timberlands – and endangered forests, grasslands, wetlands, and ecosystems throughout BC on private lands. THANKS to the thousands of you who wrote letters, and to the Highlands, Victoria, and Saanich councillors who pioneered the original support for this, and for all the councillors today who voted for the fund!

Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities (AVICC) passes resolution for protection of Vancouver Island’s old-growth forests!

Wow!! Some fantastic news: Today the resolution calling on the BC government to protect Vancouver Island's remaining old-growth forests was passed at the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities (AVICC) AGM, the umbrella organization of coastal municipalities! Thanks to Metchosin councillor and renowned forest ecologist Andy MacKinnon for drafting the resolution and for Moralea Milne and other councillors from Metchosin – and today councillors all over the coast – for supporting the resolution! This is a big leap forward in our campaign to end old-growth logging on Vancouver Island and beyond and to ensure a sustainable second-growth forest industry instead.

Vancouver Island’s old-growth forest an ‘ecological emergency’: Sierra Club

Here's a good article by Justine Hunter of the Globe and Mail, with a photo of the Walbran Valley by the AFA's TJ Watt. The article features Jens Wieting of the Sierra Club of BC and Dr. Richard Hebda:
Just one-tenth of Vancouver Island’s most productive old-growth rainforest with the tallest trees remains unlogged, he said, and some of that is currently approved for logging.
The B.C. government states that on Vancouver Island, 46 percent of the forest on Crown land is still covered by old-growth forest, but Mr. Wieting said that figure is inflated because the province includes less productive ecosystems such as bogs or sparsely treed high elevations. What remains, he said, is a patchwork of forests that are too small to ensure biodiversity.
“For Vancouver Island and British Columbia’s south coast, we believe it is urgent to develop a new conservation plan to safeguard the remaining intact areas and to restore older second growth so that we can have some connectivity,” he said in an interview.

ROOT Victoria (April 9-10)

Saturday & Sunday, April 9-10, 10am-5pm
Goward House, 2495 Arbutus Rd (see MAP)

Join in this weekend gathering of workshops and presentations, organized by Root Victoria, aimed at cultivating a deeper connection to self, nature, and community. Come for numerous presentations and workshops, including a presentation by the AFA’s TJ Watt on Saturday at 10am-10:30am and visit the AFA’s table throughout the weekend. For more details, see www.rootvictoria.com and on Facebook HERE

Admission $10, with 50% of proceeds to support the Ancient Forest Alliance.

VICTORIA: Creatively United for the Planet (April 16 – Sustainability Showcase)

Saturday, April 16th, 10am-5pm
Royal Bay Secondary School (see MAP)
Admission $10 (16 and under free)
*this is for the festival’s Sustainability Showcase – other festival events on April 15, 22 & 23 – see HERE for details

As we approach Earth Day, come for various booths, displays, and presentations, including a slideshow by the AFA’s Ken Wu and TJ Watt on the status and ecology of BC's old-growth forests, from 2-3 pm on Saturday April 16th, as part of the Creatively United for the Planet festival’s Sustainability Showcase. And visit our table at the showcase (same day & place) from 10am-5pm. Details at: creativelyunited.org