MP Keith Martin stands in front of "Canada's Gnarliest Tree" in the endangered Upper Avatar Grove.

Ancient Forest Alliance supports MP Keith Martin’s proposal to expand Pacific Rim National Park Reserve to include Canada’s grandest old-growth forests

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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.

Last fall, Martin proposed to expand Pacific Rim National Park Reserve to protect threatened forest lands along the southwest coast of Vancouver Island, in part to protect former Western Forest Products lands by Jordan River and the Juan de Fuca Trail that were threatened by development due to their removal from Tree Farm License 25. While the Capital Regional District has recently purchased the lands by Jordan River and the Sooke Potholes, other forested areas with high conservation and recreation values remain threatened in the region, particularly old-growth forests on Crown lands near Port Renfrew and Crown and private lands adjacent to the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail Provincial Park. Martin has expressed an interest in including such areas in his proposal, which he intends to introduce as a private members bill in the House of Commons at a future legislative session.

“These trees are some of the oldest living creatures on our planet. Cutting them down provides a short term benefit and a much larger long term loss. Ethno-tourism and eco-tours would provide for long term jobs and economic security in this area that has suffered from chronically high unemployment. We are in a race against time to save these forest giants. I am asking the provincial and federal governments to work with the forestry companies to stop this destruction of our old growth forests in the Gordon River Valley, Upper Walbran and surrounding areas,” said Dr. Martin.

Located on unprotected Crown Lands less than a 15 minute drive from Port Renfrew, Avatar Grove is home to dozens of some of the South Island’s largest redcedars and Douglas firs, including several trees with trunks reaching over 12 feet in diameter. Moreover, many of the cedars have incredible, alien shaped burls that helped garner the forest its blockbuster nickname. In stark contrast, an area logged in March just over 1 km away is a sprawling sea of stumps, many of which measure up to 15 feet in diameter. With most of its largest trees spray-painted and the borders marked with falling boundary and road location flagging tape, Avatar Grove is at risk of succumbing to the same fate as the neighbouring stand of giant trees.

“Southern Vancouver Island is home to Canada’s largest trees and some of the most amazing ancient forests in the world. They are also among the most endangered forests in the country,” states Brendan Harry, Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner. “With only 6% of the Island’s original, productive old growth forests protected in parks, the majority of the remaining old-growth forests are found on unprotected Crown lands, making them vulnerable to logging. Sadly, these rare ecosystems continue to be destroyed by clearcut logging. The expansion of Pacific Rim National Park Reserve would be an important step forward in protecting some of these incredibly valuable, embattled ancient forests.”

Specifically, the Ancient Forest Alliance would like to see the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve expanded to include:

– Unprotected Crown lands, including the Avatar Grove and other old-growth areas in the Gordon River Valley; the Upper Walbran Valley; the Klanawa Valley; Crown lands adjacent to the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail Provincial Park, including the Refugee Cedar (the largest cedar within the CRD); and Canada’s largest trees, the San Juan Spruce (largest spruce in Canada) and the Red Creek Fir (largest Douglas fir in the world), found in the San Juan River Valley. If this last area is protected, the expanded national park reserve will be home to the largest trees in Canada of three different species (Sitka spruce, Douglas fir, western redcedar) as the park reserve already includes the Cheewhat Cedar, Canada’s largest redcedar and largest tree (based on overall size or timber volume) in the country.

– Private lands adjacent to the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail Provincial Park, which would have to be purchased. Since the current Juan de Fuca Marine Trail Provincial Park is often little more than 100 meters wide and huge development pressure looms in the region in part due to the deletion of forest lands from Tree Farm License 25, expanding the protective buffer to the trail would help to maintain and insulate recreational integrity from clearcutting or subdivisions.

– Existing Provincial Parks, including the Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park and Juan de Fuca Marine Trail Provincial Park which would be upgraded to national park reserve status.

“Tourism is a multi-billion dollar industry in BC and the province’s largest employer. Millions of tourists come to see BC’s giant trees and ancient forests, and millions more will come if they are protected and promoted, while we shift the logging industry into sustainably logging second-growth stands instead,” states TJ Watt, co-founder of the Ancient Forest Alliance. “It’s 2010 and the logging of centuries-old giant trees with trunks as wide as a living room is continuing daily in this province. The expansion of the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve is a golden opportunity to protect some of the most charismatic and threatened ecosystems on Earth.”

Old-growth forests are extremely important for sustaining species at risk, tourism, clean water, and First Nations traditional cultures.

About 75% of the original productive old-growth forests have been logged on Vancouver Island, including 90% of the valley bottoms where the largest trees grow, according to satellite photos. Only about 6% of the Island’s original, productive old-growth forests are protected in parks.

With so little of our ancient forests remaining, the Ancient Forest Alliance is calling on the BC government to:

– Undertake a Provincial Old-Growth Strategy that will inventory and protect old-growth forests where they are scarce (egs. Vancouver Island, Lower Mainland, southern Interior, etc.).

– Ensure the sustainable logging of second-growth forests, which now constitute the vast majority of BC’s landscapes.

– End the export of raw logs in order to ensure guaranteed log supplies for local milling and value-added industries.

– Assist in the retooling and development of mills and value-added facilities to handle second-growth logs.

– Undertake new land-use planning initiatives based on First Nations land-use plans, ecosystem-based scientific assessments, and climate mitigation strategies involving forest protection.

AFA Campaign Director Ken Wu sits atop a massive

“Canada’s Biggest Stumps Competition” Launched

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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.

Victoria, BC – The recent discovery of a series of massive, 12 to 15 feet (3.7 to 4.6 meters) wide old-growth redcedar stumps in the Gordon River Valley near the magnificent but endangered Avatar Grove near Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island has prompted a new BC environmental group, the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA), to launch a new Facebook group today. Members of the Facebook group can upload photos of the largest tree stumps they have found in Canada.

See the new photos of the recently cut trees and the new Facebook group (note: you don’t need a Facebook account to view the images) at:
https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=111659885542266&v=photos

The resulting photogallery will help to raise public awareness about the demise of BC’s spectacular but endangered old-growth forests and their replacement by second-growth tree plantations that lack the unique species, tourism values, and vast carbon reserves of the original ancient forests. Participants who take the most spectacular photos will receive a complementary poster of Canada’s largest Douglas fir (Red Creek Fir) or Sitka spruce (San Juan Spruce) trees, both located near Port Renfrew.

“With relatively few ‘eyes and ears’ out there monitoring what is going on in our forests, photo expeditions and competitions like this will help to show the public what serious environmental destruction is happening just down the backroads of the land they call home. The logging of centuries-old giant trees with trunks as wide as a living room is happening every day in this province,” notes TJ Watt, co-founder of the AFA and self-styled big-tree hunter. “How many jurisdictions on the planet still think it’s fine to allow the logging of endangered old-growth forests where trees can live to be almost 2000 years old and grow as tall as skyscrapers?”

Last month, during an expedition to the Gordon River Valley north of Port Renfrew, Ancient Forest Alliance campaigners TJ Watt, Brendan Harry, and Ken Wu found hundreds of giant stumps that were cut within the past year. Among them, they found nearly a dozen stumps with diameters between 12 to 15 (3.7 to over 4.6 meters wide) across. These old-growth trees were cut down on public (Crown) lands in Tree Farm License (TFL) 46 in the tenure of Surrey-based Teal Jones. One of the most disturbing clearcuts was located just over one kilometer from the recently discovered Avatar Grove.

“For years we have been highlighting the beauty of the biggest and most magnificent old growth trees on Vancouver Island. However, at this point people need to understand the urgency of the situation – most of our remaining old-growth forests will not survive the BC Liberal government’s current policy of ancient forest liquidation. These globally rare ancient forests are being turned into a sea of giant stumps and tree plantations as we speak. We must highlight the urgency of the situation and hold the BC Liberal government accountable for its totally antiquated, backwards, anti-environmental policies,” states Ken Wu, Ancient Forest Alliance co-founder. “By ensuring the sustainable logging of second-growth forests, which constitute the vast majority of forest lands in southern BC, and ending the export of BC raw logs to foreign mills, we can save our last old-growth forests while sustaining BC forestry jobs at the same time.”

The Avatar Grove is about the most easily accessible, spectacular stand of endangered old-growth redcedars and Douglas firs in BC, growing on relatively flat terrain near a paved road in close proximity to the town of Port Renfrew. The Grove includes “Canada’s gnarliest tree”, a giant red cedar with a 12 feet (3.7 meter) wide, contorted burl. A small portion of the Grove is protected within an Old-Growth Management Area, but most of its largest trees have been surveyed and flagged for logging. (See photos at https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=480609145246&v=photos). So far the Ministry of Forests and Range has not issued any cutting permits for the Avatar Grove.

Old-growth forests are important for sustaining species at risk, tourism, clean water, and First Nations traditional cultures.

About 75% of the original productive old-growth forests have been logged on Vancouver Island, including 90% of the valley bottoms where the largest trees grow, according to satellite photos. Only about 6% of the Island’s original, productive old-growth forests are protected in parks.

With so little of our ancient forests remaining, the Ancient Forest Alliance is calling on the BC Liberal government to:

– Undertake a Provincial Old-Growth Strategy that will inventory and protect old-growth forests where they are scarce (egs. Vancouver Island, Lower Mainland, southern Interior, etc.).

– Ensure the sustainable logging of second-growth forests, which now constitute the vast majority of BC’s landscapes.

– End the export of raw logs in order to ensure guaranteed log supplies for local milling and value-added industries.

– Assist in the retooling and development of mills and value-added facilities to handle second-growth logs.

– Undertake new land-use planning initiatives based on First Nations land-use plans, ecosystem-based scientific assessments, and climate mitigation strategies involving forest protection.

“At this late hour, who’s still saying let’s go to the end of the resource and finish off the last of our unprotected ancient forests on Vancouver Island? Only a small number of resource extraction extremists – which unfortunately includes the BC Liberal government at this point – think the industry is entitled to take the last unprotected stands of our spectacular ancient trees here,” states Wu.

Photographer TJ Watt is dwarfed by one of the huge alien shaped Red Cedar's in the threatened Avatar Grove near Port Renfrew

Earth Day Media Release: Avatar’s James Cameron Invited by Environmental Group to Visit the Endangered “Avatar Grove” of Ancient Trees

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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).

“Being Earth Day, I thought we’d try to go big and ask the director of the world’s most popular film, which has a very strong environmental theme about protecting old-growth forests, to come and see one of the world’s most spectacular but endangered old-growth forests here on Vancouver Island, and to endorse its protection,” states Ken Wu, co-founder of the Ancient Forest Alliance. “Vancouver Island’s old-growth forests are the real Pandora here on Earth. We have giant fern-draped old-growth trees almost as large as Home Tree in Avatar, spectacular creatures like bears, wolves, mountain lions, wolverine, and elk in our forests, and enormous blue whales, killer whales, elephant seals, and Stellar sea lions along our Wild Coast.”

Since the film’s release Cameron has been on an environmental crusade, supporting the rights of Amazonian indigenous tribes and earlier this week criticizing the Alberta tar sands industry (https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/798192–james-cameron-slams-alberta-tar-sands) for its environmental destruction. The Ancient Forest Alliance has written a letter requesting that Cameron come to see the Avatar Grove at his convenience (but ideally before logging commences!) and to hopefully endorse its protection.

The Avatar Grove is an exceptionally spectacular and accessible stand of newly discovered old growth redcedars and Douglas firs on public (Crown) lands about 10 kilometers north of Port Renfrew. It was discovered in early December last year by Vancouver Island photographer and “big tree hunter” TJ Watt. Flagging tape marking the area for logging was discovered by Watt and Wu in February.

“The Avatar Grove is just about the most accessible and finest stand of ancient trees left in a wilderness setting on the South Island, including Canada’s gnarliest tree,” stated TJ Watt, Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner and photographer. “All other unprotected old growth stands near Victoria are either on steep, rugged terrain far away along bumpy logging roads, or are small, isolated stands surrounded by clearcuts and plantations near human settlements. This area is a wild region on vast Crown lands, in a complex of over 1000 hectares of old-growth forests in the Gordon River Valley – only 5 minutes off the paved road, right beside the main logging road, and on relatively flat terrain. This could become a first rate eco-tourism gem if the BC government had the foresight to spare it. We requested that they enact a Land Use Order to protect it but received a negative reply last week from the Ministry of Forest and Range.”

Avatar Grove is in Tree Farm License (TFL) 46. TFL 46 is being logged by Surrey-based Teal Jones. The Grove is home to dozens of some of the South Island’s largest redcedars and Douglas firs, including several trees with trunks that are over 13 feet in diameter. In addition, what is being dubbed as “Canada’s gnarliest tree” has been discovered in the Grove, an enormous redcedar with a giant woody growth caused by a non-lethal fungal infection, known as a “burl” (see https://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/movie-guide/protestors+save+world+gnarliest+tree/2729171/story.html). So far no cutting permits have been issued to the company by the Forest Service.

According to satellite photos, already about 75% of Vancouver Island’s original, productive old-growth forests have been logged, including 90% of the valley bottoms where the largest trees grow.

Old-growth forests are important for sustaining species at risk, tourism, the climate, clean water, and First Nations traditional cultures.

The Ancient Forest Alliance is calling on the BC Liberal government to protect BC’s endangered old-growth forests, ensure the sustainable logging of second-growth forests which now constitute the vast majority of the landbase in southern BC, and to end the export of raw logs to foreign mills in order to protect BC forestry jobs.

 

 

Benna Keoghoe stands next to a giant Douglas fir measuring 6ft in diameter growing in Mount Doug Park located within the Oak Bay/Gordon Head swing riding.

New Old-Growth Activist Teams to be Launched in BC Swing Ridings to take the Ancient Forest Campaign to a Whole New Level

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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.

“As long as the BC Liberal government continues along its current path of justifying the liquidation of our last old-growth forests in southern BC and the export of raw logs to foreign mills, we’ll move to organize major public awareness campaigns in 8 to 10 swing ridings where we can exert a disproportionate amount of influence on the government and its policies – and cause them to lose the next election if need be,” states Ken Wu, Ancient Forest Alliance co-founder. “Conversely, if they move to undertake a provincial old-growth plan that will protect our endangered old-growth forests and forestry jobs, we will most certainly give credit where credit is due. This is a whole new level of environmental campaigning where the ancient forest movement has not gone before – we will be a lot more effective now.”

The first of the Ancient Forest Committees to be launched on Vancouver Island will be the Oak Bay – Gordon Head Ancient Forest Committee, coordinated by local environmental activist Benna Keoghoe.

“Oak Bay-Gordon Head is one of the most environmentally conscious ridings in BC, and in fact in Canada. BC Liberal MLA Ida Chong won the last election by a 2% margin, by just over 500 votes. We know for a fact that there are thousands of environmentally-minded voters in the riding who will change their allegiances if they know that so far Chong has touted the standard BC Liberal stance that ancient forests are not endangered on Vancouver Island and are adequately protected, which is false,” states Benna Keoghoe, Oak Bay – Gordon Head AFC cofounder. “We’ll be organizing a lot of door canvassing, leaflet drops, petition drives, slideshows, nature walks, and protests in the riding.”

Currently the BC Liberals contend that old-growth forests are not endangered on Vancouver Island and that raw log exports should continue, while the NDP is calling for an Old-Growth Strategy that will inventory and increase protection for old-growth forests and they advocate restrictions on raw log exports. The BC Green Party is calling for the protection of the remaining old-growth forests on Vancouver Island and an end to raw log exports.

Old-growth forests are important for sustaining species at risk, tourism, the climate, clean water, and First Nations traditional cultures.

Based upon an analysis of satellite photographs, about 88% of the original, productive old-growth forests on southern Vancouver Island (south of Barkley Sound and Port Alberni) have already been logged, including 95% of the productive old-growth on low, flat terrain. Across the Island as a whole, about 75% of the original productive old-growth forests have been logged, including 90% of the valley bottoms where the largest trees grow.

With so little of our ancient forests remaining, the Ancient Forest Alliance is calling on the BC Liberal government to:

– Undertake a Provincial Old-Growth Strategy that will inventory the remaining old-growth forests and protect them where they are scarce (ie. Vancouver Island, Lower Mainland, southern Interior, etc.).

– Ensure the sustainable logging of second-growth forests, which now constitute the vast majority of BC’s landscapes.

– End the export of raw logs in order to ensure guaranteed log supplies for local milling and value-added industries.

– Assist in the retooling and development of mills and value-added facilities to handle second-growth logs.

– Undertake new land-use planning initiatives based on First Nations land-use plans, ecosystem-based scientific assessments, and climate mitigation strategies involving forest protection.

Ancient Forest Alliance

World’s Largest Douglas fir Threatened by Proposed Logging in Adjacent Old-Growth Forest

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A new proposed logging cutblock near the world’s largest Douglas fir tree, the Red Creek Fir, has been identified as that of TimberWest, a BC-based logging company. The Red Creek Fir, located 15 kilometers east of Port Renfrew, is recognized as the largest Douglas Fir Tree on Earth, with enough wood to make 349 telephone poles (ie. 349 cubic meters in total timber volume – see The BC Big Tree Registry. It is 73.8 meters in height and has a trunk 4.2 meters wide (Diameter-at-Breast-Height or DBH).

In a recent conversation with Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner TJ Watt, a TimberWest representative confirmed that the flagging tape labelled “falling boundary” was likely laid out by the company. The BC government`s BC Timber Sales division, the only other possible source of logging activity in the area, has stated that they have no cutblocks planned immediately adjacent to the Red Creek Fir. The TimberWest representative also stated that flagging had been done “as part of an early exploratory mission” for future logging, which she stated they would “defer for one to two years”.

“It would be insane to allow a cutblock beside the largest Douglas fir tree on Earth. Not only will this ruin the experience for visitors with a new clearcut, but it will endanger the tree itself by exposing it to being blown down by strong West Coast winds. We believe that it is the BC Liberal government’s obligation to protect the surrounding Crown lands and to purchase the adjacent private lands to protect the ecosystem where the Red Creek Fir survives, to ensure the area’s integrity for biodiversity, tourism, recreation, and other important values. This should also include protection of the San Juan Spruce, just a few kilometres away, Canada’s largest spruce tree,” stated Ken Wu, co-founder of the Ancient Forest Alliance (www.ancientforestalliance.org). “The Capital Regional District and federal government could also play important roles to facilitate the area’s protection. Most importantly, the BC Liberal government must commit to undertaking a Provincial Old-Growth Strategy to ensure the protection of the remaining old-growth forests in BC where they are scarce, such as on Vancouver Island, around the Lower Mainland, and in the southern Interior, while ensuring the sustainable logging of second-growth stands.” 

The Red Creek Fir stands along the edge of the public-private lands divide on Vancouver Island, slightly on the public (Crown) lands side of the divide by a few dozen meters. About 20% of Vancouver Island was privatized over 100 years ago through the Esquimalt and Nanaimo (“E&N”) Land Grant to a coal baron Robert Dunsmuir, and the lands are now primarily owned by TimberWest, Island Timberlands, and Western Forest Products. The lands are public (Crown) to the northwest side of the Red Creek Fir, while lands to the southeast – literally within a few dozen meters – are privately held by TimberWest. A BC Ministry of Forests and Range spokesperson stated last week that the Red Creek Fir lies within a Forest Service Recreation Site, a tenuous designation that confers no legislated protection for the area and that can be easily removed on the whims of a Forest Service manager.

Along with establishing a comprehensive Provincial Old-Growth Strategy, the Ancient Forest Alliance is calling on the BC Liberal government to establish a Provincial Heritage Trees designation that will identify and immediately protect the 100 largest and oldest specimens of each of BC’s tree species. Currently there is no provincial legislation that specifically protects the largest or oldest specimens of BC’s world-reknowned old-growth trees.

“If we have laws that recognize and protect Heritage Buildings that are 100 years old, why don’t we have laws that recognize and protect our 1000 year old Heritage Trees? How many jurisdictions have trees that can grow as wide as a living room and as tall as a downtown skyscraper,” states TJ Watt, photographer and explorer with the Ancient Forest Alliance. “Not only do we need to save heritage trees, we need to protect the last old-growth ecosystems in southern BC where the old-growth is scarce, while ensuring sustainable second-growth forestry in appropriate places and ending the export of raw logs to protect BC forestry jobs. They’ve already logged almost 90% of the old-growth forests on the south island, including 99% of the ancient Douglas firs. It should be a no-brainer to protect what’s left of the old-growth here.”

Through BC government neglect, the old information sign at the Red Creek Fir itself has been smashed by falling branches and left to rust on the ground for several years. Members of the Ancient Forest Alliance have erected a new sign to replace the old sign. Local tourism operators in Port Renfrew last summer also erected directional signs leading to the largest trees in the area.

“One gets the impression that the BC Liberal government doesn’t want to promote the existence of BC’s magnificent old-growth trees, despite their importance for tourism, endangered species, and the climate, and despite the fact they are some of the largest trees on Earth,” states TJ Watt. “For example, there are no government signs or indications on the whereabouts of two of the largest trees in the world, the San Juan Spruce, Canada’s largest spruce tree, and the Red Creek Fir, the world’s largest Douglas Fir tree, both found on public lands near Port Renfrew. Local tourism operators from Port Renfrew had to make their own signs and erect them along the roads a few months ago.”

British Columbia is home to the world’s largest Douglas fir (the Red Creek Fir near Port Renfrew – height 73.8 meters, diameter 4.2 meters), the world’s second largest western redcedar (the Cheewhat Cedar by the West Coast Trail/ Nitinat Lake – height 55.5 meters, diameter 5.8 meters), and the world’s second largest Sitka spruce tree (the San Juan Spruce by Port Renfrew – height 62.5 meters, diameter 3.7 meters). Hundreds of other near record-size ancient trees are found throughout the province, most of which don’t have any official recognition or protection. The oldest tree found in BC was an ancient yellow cedar tree logged on the Sunshine Coast in the 1980’s; the tree was almost 1900 years old by the time it was cut down.

A ship loaded with raw logs leaves the Alberni Inlet on Vancouver Island.

It’s time for the BC government to curb raw log exports and boost value-added forestry jobs, say unions and environmental groups

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Vancouver – Between 2013 and 2016, more raw logs were shipped from BC than during any other four-year period in the province’s history, prompting two forest industry unions and three leading environmental groups to call for a ban on raw log exports from old-growth forests and a bold government action to plan to stimulate BC’s flagging forest sector. See the Canadian Centre for Policy Alterniatives Press Release with communications info for intereviews.
The call follows new research released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ BC Office (CCPA-BC) that shows how exports of raw, unprocessed logs are surging. If these logs were processed in some of BC’s hardest hit forestry communities, at least 3,600 new jobs could be generated.
“This carnage has to stop,” says Arnold Bercov, president of the Public and Private Workers of Canada (PPWC), one of two unions representing BC pulp and paper mill workers.
“Last year, BC forest companies exported enough raw logs to frame nearly 134,000 homes, which equals roughly half of Vancouver’s standing single-family homes. Thousands of good-paying jobs in rural communities are at risk every day that the government fails to act,” he added.
The PPWC, along with Unifor, Canada’s largest private sector union, the Ancient Forests Alliance, Sierra Club of BC and the Wilderness Committee, say the Province should enact a bold three-point plan to curb exports and stimulate jobs.
1. Place an immediate ban on all exports of raw logs from old-growth forests.
2. Immediately impose progressively higher taxes on log exports from second-growth forests to encourage investment in domestic mills.
3. Introduce new policies to increase value-added forest manufacturing and jobs in rural and First Nations communities.
“We are extremely troubled by present trends. BC’s biggest log exporters are decimating old-growth forests and exporting huge numbers of raw logs, while the industry continues to bleed manufacturing jobs,” says Torrance Coste, Vancouver Island campaigner for the Wilderness Committee. “Worse, the industry is on the same dangerous path in younger, second-growth forests which are our only hope for the future. ”
Four years of log export data analyzed by CCPA-BC researcher and resource policy analyst Ben Parfitt uncovered a number of disturbing trends in log exports from BC.
• Between 2013 and 2016, nearly 26 million cubic meters of raw logs, with a combined sales value of more than $3 billion, were shipped from BC  – more than any other four-year period since record keeping began.
• More than one in three logs exported in the past five years came from centuries-old old-growth forests, including from the Great Bear Rainforest.
• Most log exports in the past five years came from public lands under direct provincial control, not from private lands where the BC government has no jurisdiction, which is a sharp reversal from previous norms.
• Nearly half of all export applications in 2016 were by member companies of the Coast Forest Products Association, one of BC’s most powerful lobbies for continued raw log exports.
“One huge concern for forest industry workers and environmental organizations alike is that the door appears to be wide open for companies to close sawmills and simply increase their log exports. That is a recipe for disaster for our environment, our economy and rural and First Nation communities,” Parfitt says.
Ancient Forest Alliance

World’s largest Douglas fir at risk, fearful environmentalists charge

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The world’s largest Douglas fir could be at risk, say Vancouver Island environmentalists.

The 74-metre-tall tree towers over the surrounding forest in the Red Creek area east of west coast town of Port Renfrew, about 100 km northwest of Victoria.

But new logging tape marks an area about 50 metres away from the giant tree and environmentalists fear the tourist attraction will shortly be surrounded by a clearcut, making it susceptible to being blown down.

“The San Juan Valley is like a giant wind tunnel and this increases its exposure,” said Ken Wu of the Ancient Forest Alliance, a Vancouver Island-based environmental organization.

“This is the biggest Douglas fir on earth and it should be a first-class tourist attraction, but people will be walking through a clearcut to get to it. It is totally myopic.”

In Port Renfrew, tourists often ask how to find the Red Creek fir, said Chamber of Commerce president John Cash.

Chamber members, who want to see big trees preserved as tourist attractions, recently put up directional signs to the fir so visitors would not get lost on logging roads.

Wu said it appears the area comes under B.C. timber sales designation, meaning the province considers it a cut-block for small businesses.

But Forests Ministry spokeswoman Vivian Thomas said there are no immediate plans to harvest in the Red Creek fir area.

“In fact they helped improve the road access so people could go view the tree,” she said.

“Also, the tree itself is part of a public recreation site, so the immediate area is protected from logging.”

The Ancient Forest Alliance is supporting a proposal by Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca Liberal MP Keith Martin to extend Pacific Rim National Park down the west coast of Vancouver Island, with an expanded park to include the Red Creek fir.

Ken Wu beside the Red Creek Fir. Growing in the San Juan Valley near Port Renfrew BC

Largest Douglas fir in the world at risk say environmentalists

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Note: In the following article the Forests Ministry representative states that there are no immediate plans to log near the Red Creek Fir – despite the fact that there is an entire logging cutblock laid out adjacent to the Red Creek Fir demarcated by flagging tape labelled “Falling Boundary” (see photos) and a “BC Timber Sales” sign at the top of the hill. We will be inquiring with them for more specifics regarding their statement and the nature of the situation. Note also that my quote should read that visitors would walk “by” a clearcut (ie. in very close proximity to), rather than “through” a clearcut. Also note that Forest Service Recreation Sites offer no legislated protection – they regularly disappear on the whims of the Forest Ministry – and clearly this one isn’t even big enough to prevent a falling boundary just one trees length away from the Red Creek Fir. – Ken Wu and TJ Watt, Ancient Forest Alliance

At almost 74 metres tall, the largest Douglas fir in the world towers over the surrounding forest in the Red Creek area east of Port Renfrew.

But new logging tape marks an area about 50 metres away from the giant tree, and environmentalists fear the tourist attraction will shortly be surrounded by a clearcut, making it susceptible to blowdown.

“The San Juan Valley is like a giant wind tunnel and this increases its exposure,” said Ken Wu of the Ancient Forest Alliance, an Island-based environmental group.

“This is the biggest Douglas fir on earth and it should be a first-class tourist attraction, but people will be walking through a clearcut to get to it. It is totally myopic.”

In Port Renfrew, tourists often ask how to find the Red Creek fir, said Chamber of Commerce president John Cash.

Chamber members, who want to see big trees preserved as tourist draws, recently put up directional signs to the fir so tourists would not get lost on logging roads.

The Ancient Forest Alliance has erected its own sign beside the 1,000-year-old tree, giving its dimensions. The sign replaces one erected by the province decades ago, which was rusted, lying on the ground and surrounded by broken glass.

Wu said it appears the area comes under B.C. Timber Sales designation, meaning the province plans out cutblocks for small businesses.

But Forests Ministry spokeswoman Vivian Thomas said BCTS has no immediate plans to harvest in the Red Creek fir area.

“In fact they helped improve the road access so people could go view the tree,” she said.

“Also, the tree itself is part of a public recreation site, so the immediate area is protected from logging.”

The Ancient Forest Alliance is supporting a proposal by Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca MP Keith Martin to extend Pacific Rim National Park down the west coast of Vancouver Island, with an expanded park to include the Red Creek fir.

Photos by TJ Watt showing Falling Boundary tape – Click for Larger versions

 

Ancient Forest Alliance

British Columbia: Clearcutting the "Avatar Forest"

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An exceptionally spectacular and accessible stand of newly discovered old growth redcedars and Douglas firs near Port Renfrew has recently been marked for logging. The unprotected forest on Crown lands about 10 kilometers north of Port Renfrew, nicknamed the “Avatar Grove” after the hit movie for its awe-inspiring beauty and alien-shaped, enormous trees covered in burls, was discovered in early December last year by Vancouver Island photographer and “big tree hunter” TJ Watt and a friend.

In a return visit made last week by Watt and environmentalist Ken Wu, both co-founders of the new Ancient Forest Alliance (www.ancientforestalliance.org), Avatar Grove was found to be marked for logging, with many of its trees spray painted and bearing falling-boundary flagging tape.

“This area is just about the most accessible and finest stand of ancient trees left in a wilderness setting on the South Island,” stated Ken Wu. “All other unprotected old growth stands near Victoria are either on steep, rugged terrain far along bumpy logging roads, or are small isolated stands surrounded by clearcuts and second-growth and near human settlements. This area is a wild region on vast Crown lands, in a complex of perhaps 1500 hectares of old-growth in the Gordon River Valley – only 5 minutes off the paved road, right beside the main logging road, and on relatively flat terrain. This could become a first rate eco-tourism gem if the BC government had the foresight to spare it. We’ll be putting in a formal request that they enact a Land Use Order to protect it quickly before it falls.”

Avatar Grove is in Tree Farm License (TFL) 46. TFL 46 is being logged by Surrey-based Teal Jones and through the BC government’s BC Timber Sales program involving smaller companies. The Grove is home to dozens of some of the South Island’s largest redcedars and Douglas firs, including several trees with trunks that are over 12 feet in diameter. Moreover, several of the cedars have incredible, alien shapes. With giant bulbous burls ballooning out from their trunks, winding, snake-like roots of hemlock trees growing up their sides, and giant limbs draped in mosses and hanging ferns, many of the trees seem to be from the rainforests of the fictional planet of “Pandora” in James Cameron’s hit movie, “Avatar”. Yet despite its magnificence and easy access, the Grove is slated for logging any day now.

Old-growth forests are important for sustaining species at risk, tourism, clean water, and First Nations traditional cultures. Avatar Grove is in close proximity to the Gordon River, home to steelhead and salmon runs, and evidence of cougars and elk were apparent in the Grove.

Based upon an analysis of satellite photographs, about 88% of the original, productive old-growth forests on southern Vancouver Island (south of Barkley Sound and Port Alberni) have already been logged, including 95% of the productive old-growth on low, flat terrain. Across the Island as a whole, about 75% of the original productive old-growth forests have been logged, including 90% of the valley bottoms where the largest trees grow. Avatar Grove is one of the very few flat, valley-bottom old-growth forests left on the entire South Island.

Ancient Forest Alliance

An exceptionally spectacular and accessible stand of newly located old growth redcedars and Douglas firs near Port Renfrew has recently been marked for logging.

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An exceptionally spectacular and accessible stand of newly located old growth redcedars and Douglas-firs near Port Renfrew has recently been marked for logging. The unprotected forest on Crown lands about 10 kilometers north of Port Renfrew, nicknamed the “Avatar Grove” after the hit movie for its awe-inspiring beauty and alien-shaped, enormous trees covered in burls, was located in early December last year by Vancouver Island photographer and “big tree hunter” TJ Watt and a friend. In a return visit made last week by Watt and environmentalist Ken Wu, both co-founders of the new Ancient Forest Alliance (www.ancientforestalliance.org), Avatar Grove was found to be slated for logging, with many of its trees spray painted and bearing falling-boundary flagging tape.

“This area is just about the most accessible and finest stand of ancient trees left in a wilderness setting on the South Island,” stated Ken Wu. “All other unprotected old growth stands near Victoria are either on steep, rugged terrain far along bumpy logging roads, or are small isolated stands surrounded by clearcuts and second-growth and near human settlements. This area is a wild region on vast Crown lands, in a complex of perhaps 1500 hectares of old-growth in the Gordon River Valley – only 5 minutes off the paved road, right beside the main logging road, and on relatively flat terrain. This could become a first rate eco-tourism gem if the BC government had the foresight to spare it. We’ll be putting in a formal request that they enact a Land Use Order to protect it quickly before it falls.”

Avatar Grove is in Tree Farm License (TFL) 46. TLF 46 is being logged by Surrey-based Teal Jones and through the BC government’s BC Timber Sales program involving smaller companies. The Grove is home to dozens of some of the South Island’s largest redcedars and Douglas firs, including several trees with trunks that are over 12 feet in diameter. Moreover, several of the cedars have incredible, alien shapes. With giant bulbous burls ballooning out from their trunks, winding, snake-like roots of hemlock trees growing up their sides, and giant limbs draped in mosses and hanging ferns, many of the trees seem to be from the rainforests of the fictional planet of “Pandora” in James Cameron’s hit movie, “Avatar”. Yet despite its magnificence and easy access, the Grove is slated for logging any day now.

Old-growth forests are important for sustaining species at risk, tourism, clean water, and First Nations traditional cultures. Avatar Grove is in close proximity to the Gordon River, home to steelhead and salmon runs, and evidence of cougars and elk were apparent in the Grove.

Based upon an analysis of satellite photographs, about 88% of the original, productive old-growth forests on southern Vancouver Island (south of Barkley Sound and Port Alberni) have already been logged, including 95% of the productive old-growth on low, flat terrain. Across the Island as a whole, about 75% of the original productive old-growth forests have been logged, including 90% of the valley bottoms where the largest trees grow. Avatar Grove is one of the very few flat, valley-bottom old-growth forests left on the entire South Island.

With so little of our ancient forests remaining, the Ancient Forest Alliance is calling on the BC Liberal government to:

  • Immediately protect the most at-risk old-growth forests – such as those on the South Island where only 12% remains and on eastern Vancouver Island where only 1% remains.
  • Undertake a Provincial Old-Growth Strategy that will inventory the old-growth forests across the province and protect them where they are scarce through legislated timelines to quickly phase-out old-growth logging in those regions (ie. Vancouver Island, Lower Mainland, southern Interior, etc.).
  • Ensure that second-growth forests are logged at a sustainable rate of cut
  • End the export of raw logs in order to create guaranteed log supplies for local milling and value-added industries.
  • Assist in the retooling and development of mills and value-added facilities to handle second-growth logs.
  • Undertake new land-use planning initiatives based on First Nations land-use plans, ecosystem-based scientific assessments, and climate mitigation strategies involving forest protection.

“Tourists come from all over the world to visit the ancient forests of BC and Avatar Grove stands out as a first rate potential destination if the BC Liberals don’t let it fall. But if the government chooses to allow this rare and impressive area to be logged, they will need to re-write the tourism business plan for the area to say ‘ideal location for world class Provincial Park … in 500 years time’,” stated TJ Watt.