B.C. Green Party Leader Andrew Weaver and B.C. NDP Leader John Horgan shaking hands on May 29-2017

B.C. Greens agree to support NDP in minority legislature

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B.C.'s Green Party has reached an agreement with the New Democrats to topple the government of Premier Christy Clark.

The agreement, announced by Green Leader Andrew Weaver and NDP Leader John Horgan at a news conference in Victoria, would see the Greens and New Democrats use their combined one-seat majority in the legislature to bring down the BC Liberals. The Greens would then agree to support an NDP government in confidence votes, such as throne speeches or budgets, for four years.

“In the end, we had to make a difficult decision – that decision was for the B.C. Greens to work together to provide a stable minority government for the four-year term,” said Mr. Weaver.

Details of the agreement, which both Mr. Weaver and Mr. Horgan said ran “many pages,” were not released on Monday.

Mr. Weaver said he and the other two Green members in the legislature have signed on, while Mr. Horgan said his caucus would vote on ratifying the agreement on Tuesday.

“We're here to make government work and that means working with all MLAs,” he said. “We have a case to make that this legislature can work. It's an exciting opportunity.”

What happens next could ultimately be up to the province's Lieutenant-Governor, Judith Guichon, who would be called upon if the Liberals lose a confidence motion in the legislature. Mr. Horgan and Mr. Weaver suggested a confidence vote might not be neccessary.

“The current government didn't have the support of the majority of members – we now have the majority support,” said Mr. Horgan.

“We'll be making that known to the Lieutenant-Governor in the next number of days and we'll proceed from there. … The premier will have some choices to make.”

Ms. Clark did not make herself available to comment on the agreement, instead issuing a brief statement that said the agreement could have “far-reaching consequences for our province's future.” The statement said the premier would consult with her caucus and have more to say on Tuesday.

“As the incumbent government, and the party with the most seats in the legislature, we have a responsibility to carefully consider our next steps,” said the statement.

The announcement ends weeks of negotiations between the Greens and both parties to either prop up the Liberals or give the New Democrats the power to form government after 16 years in Opposition.

The May 9 election gave the Liberals just 43 seats in the House. The NDP have 41 seats and the Greens have three.

Ms. Clark is obliged to recall the legislature to test the confidence of the House. If the Greens and NDP defeat the government in a confidence motion, such as a throne speech or budget, Ms. Clark would be expected to resign or ask for a new election.

However, the lieutenant-governor also has the option to ask Mr. Horgan and Mr. Weaver to govern without holding an election.

Mr. Weaver had set out three “deal breakers” that include official party status, campaign finance reform and proportional representation, although other issues, including the party's opposition to several Liberal resource priorities, also would have factored into such talks.

The New Democrats have won only three elections in B.C.: first in 1972, and then again in 1991 and 1996. In the 1996, the party won a majority government despite losing the popular vote.

The province last elected a minority government in 1952. W.A.C. Bennett's Social Credit government fell the next year and regained its majority in the subsequent election.

See original article here: https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/greens-announce-support-in-legislature/article35147472/

One of several monumental western redcedars located in Jurassic Grove

Ancient Forest Alliance Featured in Vancouver Island’s Chinese-Language Newspaper

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Vancouver Island's Chinese-language newspaper has run a story about the Ancient Forest Alliance, the Jurassic Grove, and our campaigns to protect old-growth forests, including using our big tree and stump photos. Take note that our Mandarin old-growth ecology walks are just getting underway in the Lower Mainland for the half a million Chinese-language speakers there, but sometime in the future, we hope to get it going on Vancouver Island too.

See the article: https://issuu.com/viweekly/docs/vi_weekly_170524_-_015_-_online_ver

Old-growth clearcutting in the Klanawa Valley on Vancouver Island

We have to protect all of the world’s rainforests, not just tropical rainforests

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Most of us have heard about how rainforests are in trouble and the rapid rate at which we are losing these spectacular ecosystems, along with the incredible diversity of species that depend on them. Globally, most of these reports focus on tropical rainforests and there has been too little awareness about the fate of temperate rainforests. Close to home, very few know that the remaining old-growth forest on Vancouver Island is disappearing faster than natural tropical rainforests.

Few of us have the opportunity to visit tropical forests in person, which can make us feel disconnected from the problems of deforestation and degradation of tropical countries. I am extremely lucky to have had the opportunity to work in tropical rainforests over the past seven years as part of my graduate work in wildlife ecology. Most of this has been in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, where I investigated how selective logging disrupts interactions between trees and mammals.

The loss of intact tropical forests continues to be a serious threat. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) recently estimated that, globally, 10 percent of the remaining primary forests in tropical rainforest countries were lost between 1990 and 2015. These forests are home to many species that exist nowhere else on the planet and protecting their habitats is critical to their survival. Further, the livelihood of millions of people depends on intact forests and they play an important role in mitigating the effects of climate change by storing massive amounts of carbon.

While all of this may be well known to many, few of us in Canada realize just how fast old-growth rainforest is being logged on Vancouver Island. I was very shocked to learn from recent Sierra Club B.C. data that over that same period (1990 to 2015), 30 percent of the remaining old-growth forest on Vancouver Island was logged. In other words, the rate of loss of so-called primary forests (forests that were largely undisturbed by human activity) on Vancouver Island is actually three times greater than in the tropics. In the past few years, the rate of old-growth logging on the Island has actually increased by 12 percent to 9,000 hectares per year (25 hectares a day).

So what’s behind this forest loss? Similar to the tropics, logging plays a central role. One difference is that in many tropical countries logging often results in deforestation, while in other countries, such as Canada, logging generally leads to the replacement of rich ancient forests with even-aged young forest. Much of the old-growth forest on Vancouver Island has already been lost to clearcut logging and the remaining patches of old-growth (called variable retention by foresters) are too small to maintain enough habitat for species that depend on old-growth forest.

In response to the Sierra Club data, the B.C. government stated that it is misleading to compare the problem in tropical countries to Vancouver Island because in British Columbia, logging companies are required by law to reforest logged areas. Although this is true, old-growth ecosystems with trees that are many hundreds of years of age are not growing back at a meaningful timescale and climate change means we will never see the same type of forest grow back in the first place.

Species that rely on old-growth forest such, as the marbled murrelet, are negatively affected by the loss of old forest stands. In addition, the resulting large areas of young trees are not offering the type of habitat that most of the typical plants and animals on Vancouver Island depend on.

Similar to tropical forests, coastal temperate forests play an important role storing carbon dioxide. In fact a single hectare of temperate rainforest can store up to 1,000 tonnes of carbon, a much greater amount than most tropical rainforests. Even if replanting is carried out, along the coast it can take centuries for reforested areas to reach a similar capacity in carbon-storage potential as that of intact old-growth forest stands.

Tropical-forest loss rightfully deserves the attention it gets, and we are lucky here in B.C. to have equally amazing rainforest habitat. Given that we are living in a relatively rich part of the world compared to many tropical countries, it is remarkable that we are failing to do a better job of protecting the remaining rare and endangered ancient forests on Vancouver Island and inspire other parts of the world.

(There is growing international pressure on the B.C. government to protect Vancouver Island’s endangered old-growth rainforest; see this release.)

Coastal temperate rainforests exist only in very small areas on the planet and very little intact areas are left. Solutions exist, for example, in the Great Bear Rainforest north of Vancouver Island. Increasing the area of forest protected and halting destructive logging practices are both vital to ensuring the continued survival of these ecosystems and for a diverse economy. They should be a primary concern to us all.

Alys Granados is a PhD student in zoology at UBC. She is working as an Intern for Sierra Club B.C. under UBC’s Biodiversity Research: Integrative Training and Education (BRITE) program.

See original article: https://www.straight.com/news/912886/alys-granados-we-have-protect-all-worlds-rainforests-not-just-tropical-rainforests

One of several monumental western redcedars located in Jurassic Grove

Stunning grove of unprotected old-growth trees located near Port Renfrew

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The Ancient Forest Alliance has discovered an unknown old-growth forsts near Jordan River.

The forest contains a stunning and impressive grove of unprotected, monumental old-growth trees along a three-kilometre stretch between Jordan River and Port Renfrew. It lies mainly on Crown lands adjacent to Juan de Fuca Marine Trail Provincial Park and its popular coastal hiking trail not far from Highway 14 in the traditional territory of the Pacheedaht band.

“Lowland old-growth groves on southern Vancouver Island with the classic giants like this are about as rare as finding a Sasquatch these days – over 95 per cent of the forests like this have been logged on the South Island,” said Ken Wu, Ancient Forest Alliance executive director.

“For now we’ve nicknamed this tract of old-growth forest as the ‘Jurassic Grove,’ which could become ‘Jurassic Park’ one day if it is protected. Of course, there may be more traditional names for the area, which we’ll be happy to use”.

The Ancient Forest Alliance’s TJ Watt had explored and identified the area as an old-growth forest of high conservation significance in recent years but came across a particularly accessible grove of giant trees while bushwhacking a few weeks ago.

“This area is like another Avatar Grove – it’s easy to get to, it includes some parts with gentle terrain, and is filled with amazing trees. When we can disclose the exact location when it’s appropriate for wider public access, the Jurassic Grove will undoubtedly become a major source of inspiration and environmental awareness for thousands of people,” Watt said.

While most of Jurassic Grove’s 130 hectares of old-growth is protected within a marbled murrelet wildlife habitat area is off-limits to logging, about 40 hectares is on unprotected Crown lands without any regulatory or legislated protection.

There are no approved or proposed logging plans on these lands, according to the B.C. Forest Ministry. The Ancient Forest Alliance plans to meet with Ministry of Forests officials, B.C. Parks, and Pacheedaht council to discuss conservation and access issues regarding the area.

Jurassic Grove’s easy to access location makes it a potential first rate ancient forest attraction that can help to raise the awareness of all endangered old-growth forests and bolster the regional eco-tourism industry, said Wu.

Wu pointed out while thew Ancient Forest Alliance found Jurrasic Grove others groups have used the area for years, and for the Pacheedaht, thousands of years.

“We were the ones who located and identified this area for its conservation significance regarding old growth,” Wu said.

See the original article at: https://www.sookenewsmirror.com/news/stunning-grove-of-unprotected-old-growth-trees-located-near-port-renfrew/

See our media release about the Jurassic Grove: https://ancientforestalliance.org/conservationists-thank-the-pacheedaht-first-nation-for-extending-protection-over-18-hectares-of-aeoejurassic-groveae%C2%9D-near-port-renfrew-on-vancouver-island-ae-stunning-old-growth-forest/

Ancient Forest Alliance Reaches Global Audiences in Al Jazeera News

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Check it out! We're starting to reach global audiences, as Al Jazeera news (sort of like the BBC of the Middle East) has put out a new photo essay and article about the Ancient Forest Alliance's campaign to protect BC's old-growth forests from industrial logging. It includes photos of the Ancient Forest Alliance staff (Ken Wu, Andrea Inness, TJ Watt, Molly O'Ray) by the protected Avatar Grove, the endangered Eden Grove and Echo Lake, clearcutting on Edinburgh Mountain near Port Renfrew, forest ecologist Dr. Andy MacKinnon, Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce president Dan Hager, Cathedral Grove, and the Catalyst mill in Port Alberni. Article and photos by John Zada. 
 

See: https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/2017/04/fighting-save-canada-giant-trees-170429152837200.html

One of several monumental western redcedars located in Jurassic Grove.

Avatar Grove, the sequel: Introducing Jurassic Grove

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Towering more than 30 metres high, an ancient red cedar’s heavy branches fork skyward above massive burls dusted in moss.

The 500- to 1,000-year-old tree is at the centre of what the Ancient Forest Alliance says is an exciting find — an old-growth stand between Jordan River and Port Renfrew that could become the region’s next attraction.

“The whole area is a lowlands, spectacular ancient forest,” said Ken Wu, executive director of the Ancient Forest Alliance.

Jurassic Grove, as the group is calling it, covers an area of about 130 hectares near the mid-section of the Juan de Fuca Trail, between Lines Creek and Loss Creek. It’s about a 90-minute drive from Victoria and 20 minutes from Port Renfrew.

While most of the trees are protected as part of a marbled murrelet wildlife habitat area, about 40 hectares are vulnerable to logging on unprotected Crown lands.

There are no approved logging plans for the area, but that could change at any moment, Wu said.

“Virtually everywhere we find a grove like this, fairly soon it is flagged for logging,” he said.

Wu said the Ancient Forest Alliance isn’t the first to discover the area, which lies in the traditional Pacheedaht territory and has likely been a destination for mushroom hunters and other forest fans.

But it identified the area as a potential conservation zone by studying aerial maps and exploring off trails.

As a self-described “big-tree hunter,” co-founder T.J. Watt’s first clue was a large cedar along a path used by surfers between Jordan River and Port Renfrew.

“I figured if there was one big cedar, there would likely be more,” Watt said.

He made his way through thickening brush, passing ancient trees, one by one, “until this giant revealed itself.”

The Ancient Forest Alliance says its first priority is getting the vulnerable 40 hectares protected. If successful, Wu says, it could be the next Avatar Grove. The group won protection for the area in 2012, and it has become a destination for visitors to the Port Renfrew area.

Jon Cash, former president of the Port Renfrew chamber of commerce, said it wasn’t easy to win support for Avatar Grove’s protection.

“It was difficult to be in a very small town with one general store, where half the people are loggers,” he said.

But Cash said the economic benefits have proven real. As co-owner and operator of Soule Creek Lodge, Cash said his clients are happy to have an accessible destination to visit.

“The more things people can do while they’re there, the longer they stay. So getting people to stay from one night to two is like doubling your income,” he said.

Avatar Grove draws local and international visitors, he said, having been covered in more than 100 media stories, from the Times Colonist to Al Jazeera. It joins attractions such as Big Lonely Doug, a lone Douglas fir that stands in a clear-cut area.

Port Renfrew now bills itself as the Big Tree Capital of Canada and distributes a tall-tree map to visitors through the town brochure.

As of 2012, about nine per cent of high-productivity, old-growth trees remained on Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland.

Wu said about one-third of that is protected.

Vicky Husband, a spokeswoman for Commons B.C. who helped create an animated map showing the disappearance of Vancouver Island old-growth since 1900, said protecting ancient forests should be a priority.

“In my lifetime, we’ve pretty well lost this forest, and I think most people understand now that it’s not a renewable resource,” Husband said.

“Yes, we can make fibre farms and forests for logging, but we can’t recreate these hundreds — if not thousand-year-old — forests. What we’re saying, is protect what we have left.”

She said forestry policy should focus on sustainable second-growth forestry and creating jobs by keeping mills local.

Wu said high-productivity, old-growth stands such as Jurassic Grove store more carbon, support more species and take hundreds of years to restore, compared with young forests.

“This area should be a high priority for protection,” he said. “It has the classic hallmarks of what attracts tourists, of what houses a lot of biodiversity — marbled murrelets and endangered species live in these endangered forests — and we have a second-growth alternative.”

See the original article at: https://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/avatar-grove-the-sequel-introducing-jurassic-grove-1.18540489

Avatar Grove's Old-Growth Trees

Land of the giants: A wet and wild trip to Port Renfrew

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Check out this major travel feature in the Times Colonist newspaper about visiting Avatar Grove! The article highlights how the Ancient Forest Alliance's campaign to protect old-growth forests has become a major economic driver for Port Renfrew, which has now billed itself as the Tall Trees Capital of Canada!

See the article from the Times Colonist: https://www.timescolonist.com/life/travel/land-of-the-giants-a-wet-and-wild-trip-to-port-renfrew-1.16451897

Aerial photo of East Creek logging in 2015

East Creek Investigation Finds Clearcutting Rare Intact Old-Growth on Vancouver Island in Compliance with Laws, Highlighting BC Government Failure to Protect Endangered Rainforest

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VICTORIA—The BC government’s Forest Practices Board (FPB) released its findings today regarding Sierra Club BC’s May 2016 complaint about Lemare Lake Logging Ltd.’s logging practices in the East Creek area. East Creek is located adjacent to the Mquqᵂin – Brooks Peninsula Provincial Park, in Kwakwaka’wakw territory and forms part of the largest remaining contiguous ancient rainforest on northern Vancouver Island.

Sierra Club BC visited East Creek in the fall of 2015 and documented the devastation of ancient rainforest, including the use of blasting charges, in an area known as important habitat for salmon, marbled murrelet and northern goshawk and important First Nations cultural values, leading to the complaint and investigation.

“The scope and scale of the ancient rainforest destruction in this incredible watershed is unimaginable. They were logging more than one Cathedral Grove in the last two years alone,” said Mark Worthing, Sierra Club BC’s Forests & Biodiversity Campaigner. “The liquidation of East Creek’s ancient rainforest is being permitted for government revenue in form of stumpage fees between $0.33 and $1.33 per cubic metre. This is a terribly short-sighted decision.”

The FPB investigation considered two questions: whether the licensee complied with the Forest Range Practices Act (FRPA) and the Vancouver Island Land Use Plan (VILUP) and whether the licensee provided the complainant with reasonable access to site plans (SPs). The Board concluded that the licensee complied with FRPA and VILUP while conducting its operations. On the second question, the licensee was found to be in non-compliance in not providing the the complainant with reasonable access to SPs “on request at any reasonable time” as required by FRPA.

“British Columbians have the right to know what’s happening in the forests around us, yet it took us six months to access the information the public is legally entitled to. This makes it impossible for the public to document ecological and cultural values that could be at risk as a result of proposed logging. We’ll be waiting to see what action the government takes to respond to this violation of FRPA,” said Worthing.

Sierra Club BC is very concerned but not surprised about the conclusion of the FPB that East Creek logging is in compliance with FRPA and VILUP. “The East Creek investigation confirms what we feared: while blasting roads and clearcutting approximately 1,000 hectares of the last intact old-growth rainforest on Northern Vancouver Island in the last 10 years is inconsistent with good forest management practices, it is consistent with BC’s Forest Range Practices Act and the Vancouver Island Land Use Plan,” said Jens Wieting, Sierra Club BC’s Forest and Climate Campaigner. “Provincial laws and the Vancouver Island land use plan are failing to protect forest integrity and we urgently need additional protection and improved forest management to safeguard the web of life as we know it.”

There is growing support for protecting the remaining endangered old-growth rainforest and shifting to sustainable second-growth forestry on Vancouver Island, including from municipalities, chambers of commerce and a number of First Nations and unions. Sierra Club BC warned in 2016 that a 12 per cent increase in the annual old-growth logging rate on the island (recently at 9,000 hectares per year) will lead to an ecological and economic collapse.

The most productive types of rainforest ecosystems, with the biggest trees, unique habitat and tourism values are now in their single digits of remaining old-growth. At the same time second-growth forests are being clearcut at a young age, often at less than sixty or eighty years, allowing no recovery of old-growth characteristics across vast areas on Vancouver Island.

“The East Creek investigation shows everything that is wrong with rainforest conservation and management on Vancouver Island – BC’s forestry regulation has no consideration of how little intact rainforest is left on the island and there is no legal impediment to logging the last old-growth trees outside of protected areas,” said Wieting.

“The East Creek investigation makes clear that we have no regulatory framework to protect the last of the last remaining intact coastal temperate rainforest,” said Wieting. “Whoever forms the next government has their work cut out to prevent the unfolding ecological and economic catastrophe on the island. We need a moratorium to safeguard biodiversity hotspots as new protected areas and new conservation tools to set aside critical endangered rainforest stands and habitat aside across the landscape.”

Solutions for healthy forests and healthy communities similar to those developed in the Great Bear Rainforest are needed along the entire BC coast, not just one part of it. East Creek and the Central Walbran are among the most important examples of intact, unprotected, productive coastal old-growth on Vancouver Island that need immediate action or will be lost forever.

Sierra Club BC supports sustainable second growth harvesting and local, value-added processing that creates a higher number of jobs per cubic metre, such that we can sustain healthy forest-based communities and local forestry jobs into the future.

To read more, visit https://sierraclub.bc.ca/east-creek-investigation-highlighting-bc-government-failure-to-protect-endangered-rainforest/

A ship loaded with raw logs headed for Japan sits docked in Port Alberni on Feb 24

New report says raw logs exports at record levels

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This shipment of raw logs left Port Alberni last week bound for Japan.

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives is calling for a ban on the export of raw logs from old growth forests.

The think tank is calling for the creation of more log-processing jobs in British Columbia.

Ben Parfitt says B.C. has exported nearly 26 million cubic metres of wood worth an estimated $3 billion since 2013.

“The concern that our organization has, and several environmental organizations, and labour organizations is that that’s a tremendous lost opportunity in terms of creating jobs here in British Columbia.”

This shipment of raw logs being loaded up in Nanaimo is also Asia-bound.

The report says if just last year’s exports had been milled in BC instead of being exported, it would have meant an estimated 3600 more jobs for the province.

“I don’t think we’re going to get there unless we start to take a hard look at the exporting of those raw logs. And figure out what policies we need to put in place to encourage more domestic manufacturing.” The Catalyst mill, in Port Alberni, started a three day shutdown today.

The company blames a shortage of wood chips due to winter weather curtailing logging. But the Union representing pulp mill workers says the export of raw logs also plays a role. Gerald de Jong speaks for the Public & Private Workers of Canada, Local 8. “Things will get worse and worse and worse as things go on if pulp mills can’t find their fibre.They’re going to have to close down because they can’t afford to pay the price for it.”

Last month, NDP leader John Horgan promised to curb the trend, and have more raw logs milled in BC if elected in May. “In my community of spoke increased traffic is coming through town with logs going past where the mill used to be going to Tidewater and going to mills offshore. We need to stop that.”

But BC’s Forests Minister, Steve Thomson, says all raw logs must be offered for sale on the open market within BC before being exporting and a blanket ban would reduce jobs. “Obviously, we’d like to see as many logs manufactured here as possible. But we recognize with the economics of the industry that you need an integrated approach and raw log exports are part of that picture.”

The report recommends a complete ban on exporting raw logs from old growth forests and progressive taxes on second growth logs. The authors claim that would spur investment in BC mills But it also says the province needs to do more to encourage manufacturing in BC to ensure money and jobs aren’t simply being shipped away.

[Link to article no longer available]