Sonora Island is the ‘tail-end’ of the Great Bear Rainforest (or depending on your orientation, it’s the head of the Great Bear). It’s around 160 square kilometers of primarily mountainous terrain, and mostly under forest cover. Homes are sporadically located along its coastline with access by boat and floatplane only. It’s part of unceded aboriginal traditional territories of three First Nations.
See GREAT PHOTOS of the initial phase of the boardwalk’s construction.
It has begun! Over the May Long Weekend, construction began on the initial phase of the Avatar Grove Boardwalk! As thousands of visitors continue to flock to see the Avatar Grove, the boardwalk is needed to protect its ecological integrity, ensure visitor safety, and help promote eco-tourism for the Pacheedaht First Nations and the town of Port Renfrew to see the economic benefits of keeping one of the last old-growth forests in their region standing.
ANDY MACKINNON'S flair for blending scientific detail with humour has helped his six co-written books collectively sell more than 500,000 copies. Plants of Coastal British Columbia alone has sold more than 250,000 copies – an astounding number for a book about green shoots in a country where selling 5,000 copies qualifies a book as a bestseller…Ken Wu, executive director of the Ancient Forest Alliance, calls MacKinnon the rock star of B.C. botanists and the most knowledgeable person in the province on old-growth forest ecology.
Five volunteers with the Ancient Forest Alliance at the first viewing platform they built by Canada’s Gnarliest Tree in the Upper Grove of Avatar Grover in Port Renfrew. There is still more work to be done there but they’re off to a good start.
New maps of the remaining old-growth forests on Vancouver Island and the southwest mainland highlight the large-scale ecological crisis underway in B.C.’s woods.
The ecological footprint from logging millions of hectares of B.C.’s grandest ancient forests — an area bigger than many European nations — is at least on par with any pipeline or fossil-fuel megaproject.
New maps of B.C.’s forests put together by conservation groups using provincial government data show 74 per cent of productive old-growth forests has been logged and much of the remaining old growth is made up of small, stunted trees. On the valley bottoms, where the largest old-growth trees grow, 91 per cent has been logged, leaving only nine per cent of the classic old forest with iconic trees, the maps show.
With a provincial election tomorrow, the Ancient Forest Alliance is summarizing the position of BC’s main political parties for its supporters.
No. 4: Bring in legislation to make it illegal to cut any more giant, old-growth trees. The Ancient Forest Alliance alerted the public to plans to log the Avatar Grove, near Port Renfrew, saving it just in time. But the group is now warning the last of B.C.’s ancient trees will soon be lost unless something is done.
“In many ecosystems of B.C., old-growth forest is incredibly scarce — 91 per cent of valley bottom ancient forest growth on the southern coast has been logged of the classic monumental trees. Are you willing to commit to fully ending old-growth logging in any regions or ecosystems of B.C.?”
New maps of BC’s southern coast highlight the ecological crisis in BC’s forests due to old-growth logging. The most conservative figures from the preliminary analysis of Vancouver Island and the southwest mainland reveal that at least 74% of the original, productive old-growth forests have been logged, including at least 91% of the biggest, best old-growth stands.
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