Ancient Forest Alliance
Jan 29 2014

How Many Old Growth Trees Make a Forest?

"They also wondered if TimberWest had tailored a definition of old growth that allowed them to search out and cut the last remaining stands of old forest by calling them second growth. 'How did TimberWest pull that off?' asked Valerie Langer of Forest Ethics Solutions. 'By using a bizarre, technically unheard of, definition they made up.' ...[the local residents] found a recent cut-block full of tall, straight, giant trees dominated by Douglas fir over 500 years old and equally impressive stands of western red cedar. Unfortunately, they claim, the trees were already felled and lying on the ground."

Read more
Avatar Grove
Jan 17 2014

Carbon emissions from BC forests alarming: environmental group

“We’re concerned this has become a long-term problem,” said Jens Wieting from environmental advocacy group the Sierra Club. Ideally, a healthy forest will absorb more carbon in the soil and trees than it releases, for example through burning, decomposition and logging. This is sometimes called a carbon sink. Due to a number of factors — including pine beetle infestation, slash fires, wood waste and clear cutting — B.C.’s forests have not done this since 2003, and are emitting carbon dioxide at alarming rates, the group said.

Read more
Ancient Forest Alliance
Jan 15 2014

Trees accelerate growth as they get older and bigger, study finds

Most living things reach a certain age and then stop growing, but trees accelerate their growth as they get older and bigger, a global study has found. "This finding contradicts the usual assumption that tree growth eventually declines as trees get older and bigger," said Nate Stephenson, the study's lead author and a forest ecologist with the US Geological Survey (USGS). "It also means that big, old trees are better at absorbing carbon from the atmosphere than has been commonly assumed."

Read more
Ancient Forest Alliance
Dec 5 2013

No sale for Dakota Bowl cutblocks

Good news near Roberts Creek on the Sunshine Coast! All of the proposed clearcuts in the old-growth cedars of Dakota Bowl have now been dropped by BC Timber Sales. Thanks to Elphinstone Logging Focus for their work in this area, including finding the widest hemlock in BC!

Read more
Ancient Forest Alliance
Nov 20 2013

VIDEO: Cathedral Grove under threat?

In this coverage of the Cathedral Grove controversy, take note that only 1% of old-growth Coastal Douglas-fir trees remain in all ecosystem types across the coast (i.e. they are not only scarce in the "Coastal Douglas Fir" biogeoclimatic zone which Island Timberlands seems to imply, but in the Dry Maritime subzone of the Coastal Western Hemlock zone where Cathedral Grove lies and in other forest types...) and that the planned protection as Ungulate Winter Range for black-tailed deer in the areas now being logged or roaded by Island Timberlands was supposed to be followed up by provincial legislation - but the lands were removed from the TFL and the company and BC government failed to follow-up with an agreement to ensure these areas' protection.

Read more
Ancient Forest Alliance
Nov 19 2013

Logging Around Cathedral Grove Highlights Need For Forestry Engagement

MLA Andrew Weaver speaks up for Cathedral Grove's protection: "The decision to log the stand owned by Island Timberlands, adjacent to Cathedral Grove, goes against the idea of using a scientific approach to managing our forests. Identified previously as important Black-tailed Deer wintering habitat, the fracturing of this habitat will have adverse effects. Furthermore, Cathedral Grove is an iconic tourist attraction on Vancouver Island – it is unsurprising that there has been such a public backlash against logging activity so close by. This is an example of the current conflict driven model of forestry management – and the negative impacts it has on everyone involved."

Read more
Ancient Forest Alliance
Nov 12 2013

No logging old-growth on the Duncan River for now

The company that holds the forest license that would allow logging to two stands of thousand-year-old cedar deep in the Duncan River valley says that the trees will stay standing – for now. “There seems to be no official old growth management plan for this area and that means what’s left can be on a hit list whenever. That needs to change.”

Read more
Ancient Forest Alliance
Nov 11 2013

BCTS drops headwaters block from future plans

BC Timber Sales (BCTS) has decided to drop the cutblock known as the Roberts Creek headwaters ancient forest from its future harvesting plans, BCTS planning forester Norm Kempe has confirmed. After Elphinstone Logging Focus (ELF) “managed to elevate the issue in the public’s eye,” Kempe said his office was contacted by “a number of individuals” requesting the cutblock be permanently set aside

Read more
Ancient Forest Alliance
Nov 6 2013

Old-growth forest near Cathedral Grove to be logged, groups fear

"Scott Fraser, NDP MLA for Alberni-Pacific Rim, said that when the land went to Island Timberlands, the agreement was cast aside. “These areas were supposed to be left,” said Fraser, who has been working since 2006 to protect the land, including the Port Alberni watershed. “I have so many outraged constituents, including retired loggers who have never seen this kind of forest activity.”

Read more
Ancient Forest Alliance
Nov 6 2013

Flagged as ‘critical’ to deer habitat, area near Cathedral Grove was turned over to logging

"Decade-old government documents show that an area being logged near Cathedral Grove on Vancouver Island was identified by Ministry of Environment biologists as critical winter habitat for deer that had to be protected. Environmental groups have been protesting the logging in recent weeks, arguing that a 40-hectare patch on Mt. Horne is an important wildlife corridor. But Island Timberlands is permitted to log there because the government took the land out of Tree Farm Licence (TFL) 44 in 2004, putting it under a private land management regime that allows the company to decide what’s best for wildlife."

Read more