To mark the one year anniversary since identifying the spectacular but endangered Avatar Grove the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce is repeating its request to the provincial government to protect the Grove while the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) is planning to organize monthly public hikes to the Grove until it is saved.
The Ancient Forest Alliance is calling on the BC Liberal government to ban old-growth wood and raw log exports to China on the eve of the BC Liberal government’s trade mission to China. Starting tomorrow, from October 28 to November 8, Pat Bell, BC’s new Minister of Forests, Mines, and Lands (formerly the Minister of Forests and Range) will be embarking with industry reps on the BC government’s largest trade mission to China so far.
Port Renfrew, BC- Malahat-Juan de Fuca MLA John Horgan, CRD Director for the Juan de Fuca Electoral Area Mike Hicks, and Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce member Jon Cash joined the Ancient Forest Alliance’s TJ Watt and Ken Wu for a visit to the threatened Avatar Grove, San Juan Spruce (Canada’s largest spruce tree), and a nearby clearcut with giant stumps this past Tuesday, September 28. The provincial and regional representatives have expressed an interest in the protection of these world-class old-growth stands.
In a seemingly unlikely event, the Ancient Forest Alliance stood in solidarity with members of the Pulp, Paper and Woodworkers of Canada and the United Steelworkers Union in Nanaimo yesterday as part of the ongoing fight to ban raw log exports in BC. AFA forest campaigner TJ Watt spoke alongside union officials, Nanaimo MLA Leonard Krog, and Nanaimo-North Cowichan MLA Doug Routley to the hundreds of workers in attendance, denouncing the export of raw logs and calling for the protection of BC's threatened forestry jobs.
The Ancient Forest Alliance is thanking the Ministry of Forests and Range, the Integrated Land Management Bureau, and Forest Minister Pat Bell for protecting 1600 hectares of public (Crown) lands within the Coastal Douglas Fir biogeoclimatic zone on southeastern Vancouver Island.
Yesterday the BC government announced the protection of 38,000 hectares of old-growth forests on central and northern Vancouver Island in a series of Old-Growth Management Areas. On Vancouver Island there are 400,000 hectares of productive old-growth forests outside of protected areas, with another 200,000 hectares in parks and Old-Growth Management Areas.
Port Renfrew, BC – The Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) is supporting Member of Parliament (Esquimalt- Juan de Fuca) Keith Martin’s proposal to extend Pacific Rim National Park Reserve’s boundaries to protect adjacent endangered forests, including the grandest stands of old-growth trees in Canada. Last week Martin joined Ancient Forest Alliance activists TJ Watt and Brendan Harry on a guided tour through the spectacular Avatar Grove and a nearby clearcut filled with giant stumps near the national park reserve.
Discovery of numerous 12 to 15 feet (3.7 to 4.6 meters) wide old-growth stumps recently logged near the Avatar Grove on Vancouver Island prompts creation of a new Facebook group where members can upload their largest stump photos.
British Columbian environmentalists with the new environmental group, the Ancient Forest Alliance, are inviting James Cameron, director of the blockbuster film Avatar, to visit a spectacular but endangered old-growth forest on Vancouver Island nicknamed the “Avatar Grove” and to endorse its protection. Today, the film Avatar is being released on DVD and blue ray disc to coincide with Earth Day, a release date chosen by Cameron in order to raise environmental awareness. Avatar is the highest grossing film at the box office in world history, generating $2.7 billion (US) in sales internationally (the next highest was the Titanic, also directed by Cameron, which grossed $1.8 billion US).
Without the handcuffs of charitable status which forbids organizations from condemning or endorsing politicians and political parties, BC’s new Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA - visit www.ancientforestalliance.org ) is now positioned to organize hard-hitting campaigns in key provincial swing ridings. In particular, the AFA will be working to systematically train and guide activists to establish “Ancient Forest Committees” (AFC’s), or forest activist teams, in 8 to 10 provincial swing ridings over the next year. The AFC’s will be technically autonomous from the AFA, but will be trained and guided by the AFA particularly in their formative stages.
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