DATE: Monday, December 2, 2013
LOCATION: Ambrosia Event Center, 638 Fisgard St.,Victoria
TIME: 7:00-9:00 pm
Drinks! Snacks! Silent Auction of Goodies! Presentations! New AFA calendars and shirts!
In this coverage of the Cathedral Grove controversy, take note that only 1% of old-growth Coastal Douglas-fir trees remain in all ecosystem types across the coast (i.e. they are not only scarce in the "Coastal Douglas Fir" biogeoclimatic zone which Island Timberlands seems to imply, but in the Dry Maritime subzone of the Coastal Western Hemlock zone where Cathedral Grove lies and in other forest types…) and that the planned protection as Ungulate Winter Range for black-tailed deer in the areas now being logged or roaded by Island Timberlands was supposed to be followed up by provincial legislation – but the lands were removed from the TFL and the company and BC government failed to follow-up with an agreement to ensure these areas' protection.
MLA Andrew Weaver speaks up for Cathedral Grove's protection: "The decision to log the stand owned by Island Timberlands, adjacent to Cathedral Grove, goes against the idea of using a scientific approach to managing our forests. Identified previously as important Black-tailed Deer wintering habitat, the fracturing of this habitat will have adverse effects. Furthermore, Cathedral Grove is an iconic tourist attraction on Vancouver Island – it is unsurprising that there has been such a public backlash against logging activity so close by. This is an example of the current conflict driven model of forestry management – and the negative impacts it has on everyone involved."
We've launched a new SEND a MESSAGE website to protect the forests around Cathedral Grove against Island Timberlands' old-growth logging plans, and to protect old-growth forests across BC.
Please take 20 seconds to add your voice, and please SHARE – already 1100 people have sent messages in less than 24 hours since we launched the site! https://www.savecathedralgrove.com/
The company that holds the forest license that would allow logging to two stands of thousand-year-old cedar deep in the Duncan River valley says that the trees will stay standing – for now.
“There seems to be no official old growth management plan for this area and that means what’s left can be on a hit list whenever. That needs to change.”
Tues., Nov. 12, 7:30pm
Alix Goolden Hall, 907 Pandora Ave, Victoria BC
Admission by donation.
Clayoquot Sound by Tofino on Vancouver Island contains the largest tracts of remaining lowland ancient forest in southern British Columbia. See several great speakers, including Valerie Langer, veteran campaign and protest organizer in Clayoquot (now ForestEthics forest campaigner), and Elizabeth May, former head of the Sierra Club of Canada (now Green MP).
BC Timber Sales (BCTS) has decided to drop the cutblock known as the Roberts Creek headwaters ancient forest from its future harvesting plans, BCTS planning forester Norm Kempe has confirmed.
After Elphinstone Logging Focus (ELF) “managed to elevate the issue in the public’s eye,” Kempe said his office was contacted by “a number of individuals” requesting the cutblock be permanently set aside
Elphinstone Logging Focus (ELF) is pleased to announce that they’ve been informed by BC Timber Sales (BCTS) that Cutblock DK045, which ELF has been lobbying to protect, has been canceled from future BCTS logging plans. DK045 was part of a larger TFL A79517 (Dakota Bowl, lower Sunshine Coast) consisting of Yellow-cedar and hemlock where the trees range in age from 800-1,800 years old. This key headwaters forest (17.6Ha/43.4acres) is located on the north slope of Mt. Elphinstone, and acts as corridor with 2 Wildlife Habitat Areas.
"Scott Fraser, NDP MLA for Alberni-Pacific Rim, said that when the land went to Island Timberlands, the agreement was cast aside. “These areas were supposed to be left,” said Fraser, who has been working since 2006 to protect the land, including the Port Alberni watershed. “I have so many outraged constituents, including retired loggers who have never seen this kind of forest activity.”
"Decade-old government documents show that an area being logged near Cathedral Grove on Vancouver Island was identified by Ministry of Environment biologists as critical winter habitat for deer that had to be protected.
Environmental groups have been protesting the logging in recent weeks, arguing that a 40-hectare patch on Mt. Horne is an important wildlife corridor. But Island Timberlands is permitted to log there because the government took the land out of Tree Farm Licence (TFL) 44 in 2004, putting it under a private land management regime that allows the company to decide what’s best for wildlife."
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