Former co-Leader of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand (1995 to 2009) Jeanette Fitzsimons
May 3 2018

New Zealand Shows the Way for BC to End Old-Growth Logging

Check out this news media release where the former co-leader of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand (1995 to 2009), Jeanette Fitzsimons, who successfully worked for an old-growth logging ban in that country by 2001, says the same can and should be done in British Columbia. This follows AFA's Executive Director Ken Wu's recent trip to New Zealand in April after speaking at a series of forestry and green building conferences about the importance of protecting BC's endangered old-growth forests while halting the importation of old-growth wood from BC into New Zealand.

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Port Alberni Watershed Forest-Alliance activist Jane Morden surveys old-growth logging by Island Timberlands on McLaughlin Ridge in the China Creek drinking watershed of Port Alberni.
Feb 20 2018

Conservationists Disappointed the BC NDP’s Budget Fails to Allocate Land Acquisition Funding for Endangered Ecosystems and Old-Growth Forests

Check out our media release in response to today's BC Budget announcement, regarding the lack of funding for a provincial land acquisition fund to purchase and protect endangered old-growth forests and ecosystems on private lands. Despite repeated requests from conservation groups and thousands of concerned citizens, the NDP government has yet to prioritize the urgent need for a dedicated fund to purchase private lands of high conservation and recreational value and add them to the province's protected area system.

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Jan 9 2018

Internationally-acclaimed artist Kelly Richardson moves to Victoria, turns attention to “Tall Trees Capital” of Canada – Port Renfrew

Vancouver Island’s famed old-growth forests near Port Renfrew - known as Canada’s “Tall Trees Capital” - have attracted the attention of internationally acclaimed artist Kelly Richardson, who will feature these ancient forests in an upcoming digital art installation to be projected on IMAX screens across the country as part of an upcoming large-format film series.

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Old-Growth Coastal Douglas Fir forest in Metchosin
Dec 23 2017

Ancient Forest Alliance supports BC government’s proposal to expand Coastal Douglas-Fir ecosystem protection

The Ancient Forest Alliance commends the BC government and Ministry of Forests on their proposal to increase the amount of Coastal Douglas-Fir ecosystem protected on public (Crown) lands on Vancouver Island’s southeast coast and the southern Gulf Islands.The proposed new protected areas total 1,125 hectares and expand upon a similar process in 2010 that resulted in the issuance of similar land use orders which protected 2,024 hectares of public lands on southeast Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast.

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From left: Ancient Forest Alliance volunteer Nathaniel Glickman
Dec 15 2017

Magnificent Old-Growth Forest found on Vancouver Island; 11 foot wide, near-record size Sitka spruce towers in “FernGully Grove”

The Ancient Forest Alliance has located one of the finest and last unprotected stands of old-growth Sitka spruce groves on Vancouver Island, located near Port Renfrew. Nicknamed the “FernGully Grove” for its dense and extensive understory of ferns, it is located on lands owned by TimberWest corporation, in the territory of the Pacheedaht First Nation people, and is just a 10 minute drive from the town of Port Renfrew – a town that has been billed as the “Tall Tree Capital of Canada.”

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Speakers and Ralliers at Ancient Forest Event
Nov 29 2017

“Tall Trees Tourism Corridor” Chambers of Commerce join Conservationists, Forestry Workers and First Nations at Rally for Old-Growth Forest Protection and Sustainable Forestry Jobs

Representatives from the Port Renfrew, Sooke, and Westshore Chambers of Commerce, First Nations, local governments, and environmental groups spoke up at the Alix Goolden Hall in Victoria yesterday, calling on the new provincial government to enact policies to protect BC’s old-growth forests, ensure a sustainable, value-added, second-growth forest industry, and support First Nations land use plans and sustainable economic development.

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AFA's Campaigner and Photographer
Nov 10 2017

Conservationists thank the Pacheedaht First Nation for extending protection over 18 hectares of “Jurassic Grove” near Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island

The Ancient Forest Alliance is thanking the Pacheedaht First Nation band for proposing expanded protection for an 18 hectare portion of the stunning “Jurassic Grove”, a monumental old-growth forest of giant redcedars, Douglas-fir, and Sitka spruce trees located a 90 minute drive west of Victoria between Jordan River and Port Renfrew. The proposed expansion in the new management plan of Tree Farm Licence 61, partly owned by the Pacheedaht band, would protect about 30% of the 61 hectares that are still unprotected in the Jurassic Grove (total grove size is 130 hectares). The spectacular grove stands on Crown lands adjacent to the Juan de Fuca Provincial Park on Vancouver Island, in the unceded traditional territory of the Pacheedaht First Nation. See the original media release about Jurassic Grove, identified earlier this year as an exceptional old-growth grove by the Ancient Forest Alliance at: https://ancientforestalliance.org/photos-media/jurassic-grove/ and a Times Colonist piece at: https://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/avatar-grove-the-sequel-introducing-jurassic-grove-1.18540489 

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From left to right: Jens Wieting (Sierra Club of BC); Andrea Inness (AFA); Dan Hager (Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce); Ken Wu (AFA); and Arnold Bercov (Public and Private Workers of Canada) by an old-growth redcedar tree in Stanley Park.
Oct 10 2017

New BC government must reform forest policies, say environmentalists, businesses, and union

Today, conservationists with the Ancient Forest Alliance and Sierra Club of BC joined representatives from the Public and Private Workers of Canada (PPWC) forestry union and the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce at a press conference to shine a spotlight on needed government policies to protect BC’s old-growth forests and ensure a sustainable, value-added, second-growth forest industry, during the 2017 Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) General Assembly in Vancouver.

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Sep 13 2017

Environmentalists stand in solidarity with BC mill workers as mills experience shutdowns and shift reductions due to log shortages

VANCOUVER ISLAND, BC – Today at noon the Ancient Forest Alliance will join members of the Public and Private Workers of Canada (formerly the Pulp, Paper, and Woodworkers of Canada) (PPWC at www.PPWC.ca) as they rally at their Long Hoh mill in Errington (at 1125 Clark Road between Qualicum Beach and Port Alberni off Highway 4, from 12:00 noon to 1:00 pm) on Vancouver Island in protest of raw log exports following the shut down and shift reductions in the mill since last month, with another shutdown and major shift reductions pending this week for their Ladysmith mill, due to a shortage of logs. In total about 130 workers could be affected by the closures and shift reductions.

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Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce President Dan Hager checking out the ancient trees in the Lower Avatar Grove.
Aug 10 2017

Avatar Grove Boardwalk Completed – High Quality Boardwalk Showcases One of Canada’s Most Magnificent Old-Growth Forests!

After 4 years of hard work, with the support of hundreds of volunteers and supporters, the Avatar Grove boardwalk near Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island has finally been completed by the Ancient Forest Alliance. The boardwalk protects the tree roots and vegetation from excessive trampling, enhances visitor safety, and supports the booming eco-tourism economy in the region by providing public access to one of the grandest old-growth forests in North America.

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