A patch of the Tahsish River Valley on western Vancouver Island is the new poster child for the ecological impact of old-growth logging — this time on limestone karst, perhaps the world’s most fragile landscape.
The Cowichan Valley Regional District will write to provincial Forests Minister Pat Bell and TimberWest, asking that any timber harvesting within the vicinity of the Koksilah Ancient Forest and the upper Koksilah River corridor be held in abeyance while consideration be given to other potential interests in these lands.
Ken Wu knows how to get attention for ancient forests. When we met at the Bread Garden Café on Broadway in Vancouver just after the news broke a few weeks ago that he and several other tree-hugging stalwarts from Vancouver Island had splintered from the Western Canada Wilderness Committee to form the Ancient Forest Alliance, the former Victoria campaign director for WCWC mentioned how much he enjoyed the movie Avatar.
The world's largest Douglas fir tree, the famous Red Creek Fir tree, located in Port Renfrew at the southern tip of Vancouver Island, remains vulnerable to the effects of logging in an adjacent old-growth forest, claim environmentalists.
When you stop and think about it, post-Avatar depression isn't as bizarre a phenomenon as it seems. If news reports and postings on fansites such as Naviblue and Avatar Forums are to be believed, many filmgoers are feeling as blue as those tall, peace-loving Na'vi aliens after watching James Cameron's stunning 3-D sci-fi epic.
Conservationists say the BC government is putting the future of the World's tallest Douglas fir tree in jeopardy.
Logging is already prohibited in part of a stand of massive old-growth trees near Port Renfrew that the community and environmentalists want protected, but it's not nearly enough, say members of the Ancient Forest Alliance. A section of the stand, nicknamed Avatar Grove, is in an old-growth management area, meaning no cutting is allowed, Forests Ministry spokeswoman Vivian Thomas said yesterday.
Some of the giants stretch straight to the sky for 80 metres, while others are bulbous and misshapen, the knots and gnarls betraying their age. The old-growth Douglas firs and red cedars have stood in the valley beside the Gordon River for centuries, but now, in the almost undisturbed grove, the end is spelled out in spray paint and logging tape.
TJ Watt is a professional photographer living in the city of Victoria on Vancouver Island, BC. Born and raised in the rural town of Metchosin, he carries with him a strong passion for the outdoors, the environment, and life itself.
A Canadian environmental organization has established a 3 Step Program designed to cure thousands of movie-goers who complain about sinking into a depression in their drab, Earthly lives after watching scenes of spectacular alien rainforests and wildlife in James Cameron’s hugely popular film, “Avatar”.
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