The province is making a mistake by trying to increase lumber exports to China, says the founder of the Ancient Forest Alliance. As Forests Minister Pat Bell heads to China on a trade mission, Ken Wu is calling on the government to ban the export of raw logs and old-growth wood to China before it starts doing so.
“They aren’t logging old-growth anymore, are they?” This is one of the most common questions I hear when I talk to people about protecting B.C.’s endangered ancient forests. The sad reality is that here in B.C., we are still cutting down trees that started growing at the time of the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and were already 500 years old when Columbus “discovered” North America. B.C.’s ancient forests — on crown, or public land, and in the most critical ecosystem types and wildlife habitat — are still being devastated by logging.
Clearcut logging and a receding glacier were pinpointed Tuesday as probable contributors to a devastating flood which swept through the remote First Nations community of Kingcome Inlet last month.
Ken Wu and TJ Watt are committed to preserving as much of the natural environment as they can. The two colleagues are key members of an outfit called the Ancient Forest Alliance.
The Ancient Forest Alliance wants the Ministry to make Avatar Grove and the surrounding 90 hectares off-limits to logging. The Avatar Grove presents the finest opportunity for the public to easily gain access to world class old-growth forest, in a wilderness setting on flat gentle terrain, says Watt.
The following CHEK TV clip covers a trip with the Ancient Forest Alliance and MLA John Horgan and CRD Director Mike Hicks to the Avatar Grove and the San Juan Spruce (the largest spruce tree in Canada, second largest on Earth). Note that in the clip a giant cedar is mistakenly shown in the place of the […]
Westworld, the most highly circulated magazine in Western Canada, just published an article and photo (taken by the AFA’s TJ Watt) on the Avatar Grove and Ancient Forest Alliance in their most recent issue. With a press run of 540,000 copies, it will help to raise major public awareness about this spectacular but endangered forest near Port Renfrew.
Ancient Forest Alliance campaigners took issue after a Cantelon's constituency assistant included an AFA website hyperlink in an e-mail to a Nanoose Bay woman asking government to save coastal Douglas fir forests.
An environmental group working to protect old-growth forests in B.C. is condemning local MLA Ron Cantelon’s office for insinuating they support the logging of a parcel of Coastal Douglas Fir forest in Nanoose Bay. “It’s a sleazy tactic to try and link us in their responses to concerend citizens when they write letters back as somehow insinuating that we are supporting the Nanoose Bay ancient forest logging,” said Ken Wu, one of the founders of the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) in Victoria.
The Shaw Daily local news program ran a great feature on the popular Avatar Grove in August 2010. Watch the video to see the giant gnarly redcedars the grove is now famous for and to hear some excellent commentary from Liberal MP Keith Martin on the need for more old-growth forest protection in BC!
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