Orange flagging tape marked "Falling Boundary" ropes off massive red cedars in a section of the Avatar Grove near Port Renfrew

Pandora fans feeling blue over the Earth

What’s 12 feet tall and blue all over? If you’ve seen the movie Avatar — and who hasn’t? — you’ll know the answer to that question is the Na’vi, the incredibly cool, nearly naked aliens with cornrows and braids who live on the incredibly cool, beautiful planet known as Pandora, all threatened by the techno-military-industrial (and little) bad guys from Earth, who lust for a metaphorical mineral called “unobtanium.” That’s us, folks.
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Undated image from the Tahsish Valley on Vancouver Island

Old-growth logging blamed for Island wasteland

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.
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Rare old-growth Douglas Fir trees in the threatend Koksilah River grove.

Koksilah River Old-Growth In Jeopardy

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.
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Wu atop a red cedar stump in Upper Walbran Valley.

Ken Wu Wants to Save ‘the Avatar Grove’

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.
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Logging markings in Port Renfrew.

World’s Largest Douglas-fir Under Threat

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.

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Some moviegoers leave Avatar depressed

The Avatar blues

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.
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TJ stands in the forefront wearing a black hoodie. Behind him stands a number of old-growth cedars and other ancient trees.

A Channel News – Giant Fir Threatened

Conservationists say the BC government is putting the future of the World's tallest Douglas fir tree in jeopardy.
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Rare stand of old-growth trees near Port Renfrew only partly protected says eco-group

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.
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Environmental group: Protect rare forest giants marked for logging near Port Renfrew

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.

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Ancient Forest Alliance

TJ Watt Exclusive Interview Canadian Landscape Environmental Photographer

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.
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