Entries by TJ Watt

BC Sustainable Forestry March & Rally!

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DATE: Friday, October 30, 2015
LOCATION: Duncan, BC
TIME & PLACE: Begins at 12:00 Noon at Trunk Road and Highway 1, then march down to Charles Hoey Park (by the train station)

Join forestry workers, environmentalists, unions, politicians, and diverse community members for a march and rally to end the export of raw logs and to support a sustainable, second-growth forest industry in BC.

Bring your friends and family!  Invite others and coordinate rides on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/events/1693082370937511/

Organized by the Pulp, Paper, and Woodworkers of Canada (PPWC – see: www.PPWC.ca) with the support of the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA – see www.AncientForestAlliance.org).

Details HERE.  For more info contact Cam Shiel at camshiell78@gmail.com

Forest Dance Film ‘Verge: Dancing a Scarred and Sacred Landscape’ Screening at Planet in Focus Film Fest (Toronto, Oct 21-25, 2015)

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Later this week, the short film 'Verge: Dancing a Scarred and Sacred Landscape' will be screening at the Planet in Focus Film Festival (https://planetinfocus.org) in Toronto. 'Verge' is a collaboration between filmmaker Leslie Kennah, choreographer Anna Kraulis, and the AFA's Hannah Carpendale, and features dancers moving through the magnificent Avatar Grove and the devastated clearcut landscape surrounding Big Lonely Doug, near Port Renfrew on southern Vancouver Island. The festival, which runs from Oct 21-25th, will feature a diversity of environmental films, workshops and other activities. 'Verge' will be screening alongside feature length film 'Puffin Patrol' on Sunday Oct 25 – for more details on the screening, visit https://planetinfocus.org/events/puffin-patrol/ 

**TICKET CONTEST: 2 free festival tickets are available for AFA supporters – for a chance to win one, please contact info@ancientforestalliance.org **

B.C. suspends sale of ancient forest on Sunshine Coast identified as hot spot for bear dens

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Environmentalists who blocked construction of a forestry road on the Sunshine Coast for more than five weeks have won a temporary victory in their bid to stop logging of an old-growth forest identified as a prime spot for black bear dens.

B.C. Timber Sales won’t put the forest up for sale as planned on Oct. 1 and instead is “going to consider its options over the winter”…

A July 2014 report by consulting biologist Wayne McCrory found “very high-quality old-growth den habitat” in the Dakota Valley near Sechelt. Based on field work within two of four cutblocks proposed for sale, he extrapolated that logging of the overall 64 hectares would impact about 32 active bear dens.

The dens he investigated were within the trunk or cavity of cedar trees at elevations of 700 to 920 metres. Three-quarters of the best old-growth den habitat has already been logged in the area, McCrory observed, adding it is important to protect what little remains.

Ross Muirhead and Hans Penner, environmental campaigners with Elphinstone Logging Focus, said in an interview that they hope suspension of the sale will give the province time to consider the ecological and cultural values of the Dakota Valley — and not just timber values.

“Any delay in issuing the cutblock is good news,” Muirhead said. “It gives both sides more time to study the other features.”

Logging protestors win temporary victory on B.C.’s Sunshine Coast

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Congratulations to the conservationists with the Elphinstone Logging Focus in Roberts Creek on the Sunshine Coast who got a temporary reprieve from BC Timber Sales for a tract of threatened old-growth yellow cedar forest in the Dakota Bowl through their protests, campaigns, reports, and constant efforts!

Drones used in BC’s Old-Growth Forest Campaigns – Walbran Valley conflict escalates

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Conservationists are employing a new tool in the battle to protect BC’s endangered old-growth forests – remotely-piloted drones. The Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) is using a small drone equipped with a GoPro camera to monitor and document the endangered old-growth forests of the Central Walbran Valley on Vancouver Island. This has allowed the organization to capture aerial video footage of old-growth forests threatened by logging on steep, rugged terrain that otherwise would take hours to hike to.