Entries by TJ Watt

NEW! 2016 Ancient Forest CALENDARS & Cards, Posters, Stickers, Certificates, and other Merchandise!

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Make the Ancient Forest Alliance your Holiday-Giving Priority by picking up some of our beautiful AFA merchandise and/or donating!

• To order products online visit: www.ancientforestalliance.org/store.php
• To donate visit: https://ancientforestalliance.org/donations.php

We’re proud to present the Ancient Forest Alliance’s 2016 CALENDAR! It features many of the special places on British Columbia’s coast that we’ve explored as we work to secure provincial legislation to protect our endangered old-growth forests and forestry jobs. It includes beautiful photos of Avatar Grove, Big Lonely Doug, Central Walbran Valley, Nootka Island, Cameron Valley, Mossy Maples, wildlife, and more!

See here for a full list of items and details on how to purchase/donate!

**AFA Office Holiday Closure**

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The AFA office space in Victoria (Central Building, 620 View St, 3rd floor #306, inside the Volunteer Victoria office) will be closed at 4pm on Dec 23rd and from Dec 24th-Jan 4th. The office will re-open on Jan 5th with the regular office hours of Tues & Thurs, 11am-5pm.

Wild Coast: Ground Zero for Walbran, East Creek, Nootka Island

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There are 3 articles on the endangered old-growth forests of Vancouver Island – the Central Walbran, Nootka Trail, and the East Creek Rainforest – as well as photos from the AFA's TJ Watt, in this latest issue of Wild Coast Magazine, an outdoor adventure and exploration magazine for the Pacific Coast.

Port Renfrew businesses call on B.C. to halt logging of ancient trees

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"Business leaders in Port Renfrew, B.C., a community that once thrived on forestry, are calling for a ban on logging in the nearby Walbran Valley.  The valley is full of ancient old-growth trees, and the Chamber of Commerce says tourists who come to see them have created a multibillion-dollar economy along Vancouver Island's west coast."

Jack Knox: Pop bottles could give green funding extra fizz

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Times Colonists' Jack Knox on the possible funding mechanisms for a BC Natural Lands Acquisition Fund (ie. "Park Acquisition Fund"):
Could unredeemed pop- bottle deposits save B.C.’s precious green bits? Yes, says the Ancient Forest Alliance. So could a property-speculation tax, or money from the extraction of non-renewable natural resources, or a dozen other potential revenue streams.
The Victoria-based conservation group wants the province to set up a $40-million-a-year fund to protect critical natural areas — crucial wildlife habitat, recreation corridors, sources of drinking water and so on — before they get covered in asphalt.
…The group had the University of Victoria’s Environmental Law Centre look at ways other jurisdictions fund similar endeavours.
The law centre found 16 ways that other governments, mostly in the U.S., pay for conservation projects.
…Greater Victoria residents recognized that 16 years ago when they voted for the CRD’s parks acquisition fund, which now generates about $3 million a year. It has been used to preserve much of the region’s taken-for-granted greenery: the Sooke Potholes, bulldozer-bait property next to the Juan de Fuca trail, land linking Mount Work and Thetis Lake parks, and the massive swath of the Sooke Hills that Victorians view as the city's backdrop.

Conservationists Call for Innovative Fund to Buy New Parks

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Victoria, BC – Conservationists are calling on the BC government to establish a Natural Lands Acquisition Fund. In a new report (https://www.elc.uvic.ca/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/FindingMoneyForParks-2015-02-08-web.pdf) prepared for the Ancient Forest Alliance, the UVic Environmental Law Centre (ELC) is calling on the Province to establish an annual $40 million Natural Lands Acquisition Fund to purchase and protect endangered ecosystems on private lands.

Ancient Forest Alliance’s Holiday OPEN HOUSE!

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Friday, December 11th, 4-7pm (**drop in anytime; special presentation by Ken & TJ at 6pm)
AFA Victoria office (620 View St, 3rd floor #306)

You're invited to the Ancient Forest Alliance's Holiday Season Open House! Come by the AFA office to enjoy some drinks and snacks (including Sea Cider and Tugwell Creek Mead), meet and socialize with other supporters, watch a brief fun presentation by the AFA's Ken Wu and TJ Watt as well as some short film clips from this year, and check out the AFA's holiday gifts!

We greatly appreciate your support and look forward to celebrating with you!

Vancouver Film Showing & Presentation – “Exploring & Protecting our Biggest Trees & Old-Growth Forests”

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Thursday, December 10, 2015
7:00 to 9:00 pm
Patagonia Vancouver store, 1994 W. 4th Avenue, Kitsilano

Join members of the Ancient Forest Alliance and their hosts from Patagonia Vancouver for a screening of Darryl Augustine's 17 minute film "The Ancient Forest Alliance", some smaller videos including "Climbing Big Lonely Doug" and "Save the Central Walbran Valley (with drone footage)", and a new slideshow presentation by Ancient Forest Alliance activists Ken Wu, TJ Watt, Hannah Carpendale, and Mike Grant on "Exploring and Protecting our Biggest Trees and Old-Growth Forests".

Admission: by donation
For more info contact: info@ancientforestalliance.org

Join and invite others on facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/events/1689628047987222/

Forests Can Only Fight Climate Change if We Become Better Stewards

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After a 10-year "climate action pause," Canada is back at the international table. Though expectations are high that the new government will work to end our dependence on fossil fuels and speed up the transition to renewable energy, there has been little discussion about the importance of and threats to our forests in the fight against global warming.