Ancient Forest Alliance
FIND A PAGEFIND A PAGE
  • Home
  • About Us
        • The six AFA team members stand beside each other in front of an old-growth Douglas-fir tree.
        • Our Mission & Team
        • History & Successes
        • Work With Us
        • Contact Us
  • Our Work
    • Campaigns
    • Building Alliances
    • Activity Reports
  • Ancient Forests
    • Hiking Guides
    • Old-Growth 101
    • Old-Growth Forests in BC: FAQs
    • Before & After Old-Growth Maps
    • Myths & Facts
    • Directions to Avatar Grove
    • Port Renfrew Big Trees Map
  • Recent News
    • Recent News
    • Media Releases
    • Research & Reports
    • Publications
    • Educational
  • Photos & Media
        • Map of Gallery Locations
        • Themes
          • Biggest Trees
          • Biggest Stumps
          • Low Productivity Old-Growth
        • Videos
        • Vancouver Island North
          • East Creek Rainforest
          • Klaskish Inlet
          • Quatsino
            • Grove of Giant Cedars Clearcut in Quatsino Sound
            • Quatsino Old-Growth Under Threat 2023
            • Mahatta River Logging
          • Spruce Bay
          • Tsitika Valley
          • White River Provincial Park
        • Vancouver Island Central
          • Barkley Sound
            • Vernon Bay
          • Clayoquot Sound
            • Canada’s Most Impressive Tree – Flores Island
            • Flores Island
            • Meares Island
          • Cortes Island
            • Children’s Forest
            • Squirrel Cove Ancient Forest
          • Nootka Island
          • Port Alberni
            • Cameron Valley Firebreak
            • Cathedral Grove Canyon
            • Juniper Ridge
            • Katlum Creek
            • Nahmint Valley
            • Nahmint Logging 2024
            • McLaughlin Ridge
            • Mount Horne
            • Taylor River Valley
          • Tahsis
            • McKelvie Valley
            • Tahsis: Endangered Old-Growth Above Town
        • Vancouver Island South
          • Carmanah
            • Climbing the Largest Spruce in Carmanah
            • Carmanah Research Climb
          • Caycuse Watershed
            • Before & After Logging – Caycuse Watershed
            • Before and After Logging Caycuse 2022
            • Caycuse Logging From Above
            • Lower Caycuse River
            • Massive Trees Cut Down
          • Klanawa Valley
          • Koksilah
          • Mossy Maples
            • Mossy Maple Gallery
            • Mossy Maple Grove
          • Port Renfrew
            • Avatar Boardwalk
            • Avatar Grove
            • Big Lonely Doug and Clearcut
            • Bugaboo Ridge Ancient Forest
            • Eden Grove
            • Exploring & Climbing Ancient Giants
            • Fairy Creek Headwaters
            • Granite Creek Logging
            • Jurassic Grove
            • Loup Creek
            • Mossome Grove
            • Mossome Grove Tree Climb
          • Walbran Valley
            • Castle Grove
            • Central Walbran Ancient Forest
            • Hadikin Lake
            • Walbran Headwaters At Risk
            • Walbran Overview
            • Walbran Logging
        • Haida Gwaii
        • Sunshine Coast
          • Day Road Forest
          • Mt. Elphinstone Proposed Park Expansion
          • Powell River
            • Eldred River Valley
            • Mt. Freda Ancient Forests
          • Roberts Creek Headwaters
          • Stillwater Bluffs
        • Inland Rainforest
          • Ancient Forest/ Chun T’oh Whudujut Provincial Park
          • Parthenon Grove
        • Mainland
          • Echo Lake
          • Kanaka Bar IPCA Proposal
  • Take Action
    • Send A Message to the BC Government
    • Sign Petition
    • Sign a Resolution
  • Store
  • Donate
  • Click to open the search input field Click to open the search input field Search
  • Menu Menu
  • Store
  • Donate
Media Release
Nov 26 2014

BC’s Oldest Forest Conservationist, 104 Year Old Al Carder, Receives Forest Sustainability Award For Decades of Service Documenting, Researching, and Promoting BC’s Old-Growth Trees

Nov 26 2014/Media Release

For Immediate Release
November 26, 2014

BC’s oldest forest conservationist, Dr. Al Carder, received public recognition last night for his decades of service to document, research, and promote the conservation of BC’s old-growth trees. The 104 year old Carder is the recipient of the 2014 “Forest Sustainability Award” from the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) www.AncientForestAlliance.org, a British Columbia-based conservation group working to protect BC’s endangered old-growth forests and to ensure a sustainable, second-growth forest industry. Dr. Carder’s children, Judith, Mary-Clare, and Andrew, received the award last night on behalf of their father, who is currently ill with pneumonia, at the AFA’s “end of year” forest conservation event in Victoria last night.

“Dr. Al Carder was researching and raising awareness about BC’s biggest trees years before old-growth forests became an issue of popular concern in this province. Carder, a humble and dedicated researcher, was never ‘out there’ in the public spotlight himself very much. However, his work decades ago on the most iconic parts of our old-growth forests, their unbelievably huge trees, helped to lay the foundation of public awareness that fostered the rise of the subsequent ancient forest movement,” stated Ken Wu, Ancient Forest Alliance executive director. “The Ancient Forest Alliance is very grateful for his decades of work and consider him to be a very deserving recipient of this award.”

Along with his books, Carder is perhaps best known for his work in the 1970’s to highlight the Red Creek Fir, the world’s largest known Douglas-fir tree located in the San Juan Valley near the town of Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island. The champion tree was found in 1976 by local loggers, who notified Carder about the tree. Carder measured the tree and recognized it for being the largest of its species on Earth, and worked to promote its protection.

The Red Creek Fir is now within a Forest Service Recreation Area, and is also listed in BC’s Big Tree Registry, run by the University of British Columbia – see https://bigtrees.forestry.ubc.ca/ Since then, Port Renfrew has become known as the “Tall Trees Capital of Canada”, with tourists from around the world coming to visit the Red Creek Fir and the nearby Avatar Grove, Big Lonely Doug (the second largest Douglas-fir tree in Canada, measured earlier this year by AFA campaigners), San Juan Spruce, Harris Creek Spruce, and Walbran and Carmanah Valleys.

Carder’s early work helped to inspire the late Randy Stoltmann, another renowned BC conservationist who often worked with Carder (52 years his senior) in the 1980’s and ‘90’s to research and promote the protection of BC’s biggest trees and endangered old-growth forest ecosystems.

Al Carder's love of giant trees began when he was 7 years old, helping his father measure a tall tree near their home in the lower Fraser Valley of British Columbia in 1917, and stayed with him all his life. Wherever he was, if there were tall trees nearby he would be glancing up, estimating their height.

It was so working in northern Alberta, studying in eastern Canada and Wisconsin where he obtained his doctorate in plant ecology becoming Canada's first agrometeorologist. Before this, while in England, he admired the huge hedgerow elms and he did not relinquish this habit of viewing giant trees even when he was on the firing line during World War II.

After retiring from Canada's federal agriculture service, Al and his wife, Mary, set off on a World Big Tree Hunt – Mary often being used as “scale” next to giants in Al's photos. This was productive, years later resulting in the publication of two books: Forest Giants of the World, Past and Present (1995) and Giant Trees of North America and the World (2005) with Al's “to scale” drawings.

Al continued researching, writing and self-publishing information into his 101st year with The Blooming of the Earth: A Brief History of the Advent of Plants and Man and finally Reflections of a Big Tree Enthusiast about his beloved giant Douglas-firs of the Northwest Coast. Having proved the Red Creek Tree to be Canada's largest tree, it is Al's belief that if British Columbia's Douglas-fir stands had been harvested responsibly, they would now be the world's tallest trees.

Last year’s recipient of the Ancient Forest Alliance’s Forest Sustainability Award was Scott Fraser, the Member of the Legislative Assembly in BC for the Alberni-Pacific Rim riding, for his work to protect old-growth forests and sustainable forestry jobs around Port Alberni, and to highlight the deregulation of forest lands on Vancouver Island.  

Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on X
  • Share on WhatsApp
  • Share on Pinterest
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share on Reddit
  • Share by Mail
https://ancientforestalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Al_Carder_large.jpg 533 800 TJ Watt https://ancientforestalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/cropped-AFA-Logo-1000px.png TJ Watt2014-11-26 00:00:002023-04-06 19:08:15BC’s Oldest Forest Conservationist, 104 Year Old Al Carder, Receives Forest Sustainability Award For Decades of Service Documenting, Researching, and Promoting BC’s Old-Growth Trees
Search Search

Recent News

  • My Comox Valley Now: Commercial logging isn’t happening in BC parks; says BC MinisterJul 4 2025
  • Flores Island Tyson
    One-Year Anniversary of Clayoquot Sound Old-Growth ProtectionsJun 26 2025
  • Shooting StarsJun 13 2025
View All Posts

Categories

Archive

Find us on

  • Link to Facebook
  • Link to Instagram
  • Link to Youtube
  • Link to TikTok
  • Link to Bluesky
  • Link to Reddit

Take Action Template

Take action by sending an instant message to protect old-growth forests!

Related Posts

BC Government Confirms No Commercial Logging in Provincial Parks Amid Rising Concerns in General for Protected Areas

Jun 27 2025
The BC Ministry of Environment and Parks has officially confirmed that provincial parks are off-limits to commercial logging, responding to a formal inquiry from the AFA & EEA.
Read more
Media Release
https://ancientforestalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/1-South-Okanagan-Grasslands-Protected-Area-Ken-Wu.jpg 1333 2000 TJ Watt https://ancientforestalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/cropped-AFA-Logo-1000px.png TJ Watt2025-06-27 09:00:392025-06-27 09:03:34BC Government Confirms No Commercial Logging in Provincial Parks Amid Rising Concerns in General for Protected Areas
Ancient Forest Alliance Campaign Director TJ Watt stands beside a giant old-growth redcedar tree in the unprotected Jurassic Grove near Port Renfrew in Pacheedaht territory.

Earth Day — Environmental Groups to BC Government: Go Forward, Not Backward on Old-Growth Protection and Modernization of BC Forestry

Apr 22 2025
This Earth Day, AFA and EEA are issuing a strong warning to the BC government about potential commercial logging in protected areas and calling on it to refocus on incomplete measures to protect old-growth forests, implement its draft Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework, and ensure a transition to a sustainable, value-added second-growth forest industry.
Read more
Media Release
https://ancientforestalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1-Jurassic-Grove-TJ-Watt.jpg 1365 2048 TJ Watt https://ancientforestalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/cropped-AFA-Logo-1000px.png TJ Watt2025-04-22 10:11:352025-04-22 15:43:06Earth Day — Environmental Groups to BC Government: Go Forward, Not Backward on Old-Growth Protection and Modernization of BC Forestry

On International Day of Forests, Conservationists Call for Modernization of BC Forestry Amid Tariff Threats

Mar 20 2025
On International Day of Forests, conservationists call on the BC government to protect old-growth forests and to modernize the province’s forest industry in response to growing challenges, including the threat of escalating U.S. tariffs.
Read more
Media Release
https://ancientforestalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Nahmint-Before-After-Cedar-2024-scaled.jpg 1916 2560 TJ Watt https://ancientforestalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/cropped-AFA-Logo-1000px.png TJ Watt2025-03-20 13:05:172025-04-11 10:40:38On International Day of Forests, Conservationists Call for Modernization of BC Forestry Amid Tariff Threats
A man in a green shirt and chinos stands amidst a stunning old-growth grove, looking up at an ancient western redcedar. Moss, ferns, nurse logs, and other trees surround him in a sea of green.

Conservationists Welcome BC NDP and Green Governance Agreement

Dec 17 2024
The cooperation agreement's priorities include the protection of Fairy Creek and a comprehensive review of BC forests in partnership with First Nations and diverse sectors, offering a key opportunity to strengthen old-growth forest protection policies.
Read more
Media Release
https://ancientforestalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Eden-Grove-Port-Renfrew.jpg 800 1120 TJ Watt https://ancientforestalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/cropped-AFA-Logo-1000px.png TJ Watt2024-12-17 09:57:412024-12-17 13:22:55Conservationists Welcome BC NDP and Green Governance Agreement
See All Posts

Take Action

 Donate

Support the Ancient Forest Alliance with a one-time or monthly donation.
How to Give

 Send a Message

Send an instant message to key provincial decision-makers.
Take Action

Get in Touch

Phone

(250) 896-4007 (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm)

Address

205-620 View Street
Victoria, B.C. V8W 1J6

Privacy Policy

  • Link to Facebook
  • Link to Instagram
  • Link to Youtube
  • Link to TikTok
  • Link to Bluesky
  • Link to Reddit

Resources

  • Recent News
  • Old Growth FAQs
  • Research & Reports
  • Photos & Media
  • Videos
  • Hiking Guides
  • Old-Growth 101

Who We Are

  • Our Mission & Team
  • History & Successes
  • Activity Reports
  • Contact
Ancient Forest Alliance

The Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) is a registered charitable organization working to protect BC’s endangered old-growth forests and to ensure a sustainable, value-added, second-growth forest industry.

AFA’s office is located on the territories of the Lekwungen Peoples, also known as the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations.
Copyright © 2025 Ancient Forest Alliance • All Rights Reserved
Earth-Friendly Web Design by Fairwind Creative
Scroll to top
Ancient Forest AllianceLogo Header Menu
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Our Mission & Team
    • History & Successes
    • Work With Us
    • Contact Us
  • Our Work
    • Our Work
    • Activity Reports
    • Building Alliances
    • Campaigns
  • Ancient Forests
    • Hiking Guides
    • Old-Growth 101
    • Old-Growth Forests in BC: FAQs
    • Before & After Old-Growth Maps
    • Myths & Facts
    • Directions to Avatar Grove
    • Port Renfrew Big Trees Map
  • Recent News
    • Recent News
    • Research & Reports
    • Media Releases
    • Publications
    • Educational
  • Photos & Media
    • Map of Gallery Regions
    • Themes
      • Biggest Trees
      • Biggest Stumps
      • Low Productivity Old-Growth
    • Videos
    • Inland Rainforest
      • Ancient Forest/ Chun T’oh Whudujut Provincial Park
      • Parthenon Grove
    • Mainland
      • Echo Lake
      • Kanaka Bar IPCA Proposal
    • Haida Gwaii
    • Sunshine Coast
      • Day Road Forest
      • Mt. Elphinstone Proposed Park Expansion
      • Roberts Creek Headwaters
      • Stillwater Bluffs
    • Sunshine Coast: Powell River
      • Eldred River Valley
      • Mt. Freda Ancient Forests
    • Vancouver Island South
      • Climbing the Largest Spruce in Carmanah
      • Carmanah Research Climb
      • Klanawa Valley
      • Koksilah
    • VI South: Caycuse Watershed
      • Before & After Logging – Caycuse Watershed
      • Before and After Logging Caycuse 2022
      • Caycuse Logging From Above
      • Lower Caycuse River
      • Massive Trees Cut Down
    • VI South: Mossy Maples
      • Mossy Maple Gallery
      • Mossy Maple Grove
    • VI South: Port Renfrew
      • Avatar Boardwalk
      • Avatar Grove
      • Big Lonely Doug and Clearcut
      • Bugaboo Ridge Ancient Forest
      • Eden Grove
      • Exploring & Climbing Ancient Giants
      • Fairy Creek Headwaters
      • Granite Creek Logging
      • Jurassic Grove
      • Loup Creek
      • Mossome Grove
      • Mossome Grove Tree Climb
    • VI South: Port Alberni
      • Cameron Valley Firebreak
      • Cathedral Grove Canyon
      • Juniper Ridge
      • Katlum Creek
      • Nahmint Valley
      • Nahmint Logging 2024
      • McLaughlin Ridge
      • Mount Horne
      • Taylor River Valley
    • VI South: Walbran Valley
      • Castle Grove
      • Central Walbran Ancient Forest
      • Hadikin Lake
      • Walbran Headwaters At Risk
      • Walbran Overview
      • Walbran Logging
    • Vancouver Island Central
      • Barkley Sound: Vernon Bay
      • Nootka Island
    • VI Central: Clayoquot Sound
      • Canada’s Most Impressive Tree – Flores Island
      • Flores Island
      • Meares Island
    • VI Central: Cortes Island
      • Children’s Forest
      • Squirrel Cove Ancient Forest
    • VI Central: Tahsis
      • McKelvie Valley
      • Tahsis: Endangered Old-Growth Above Town
    • Vancouver Island North
      • East Creek Rainforest
      • Klaskish Inlet
      • Mahatta River Logging
      • Quatsino
      • Spruce Bay
      • Tsitika Valley
      • White River Provincial Park
  • Take Action
    • Send a Message
    • Sign Petition
    • Sign a Resolution
  • Store
  • Donate