Recent News

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.
News Coverage
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.
News Coverage
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.
News Coverage
A ship loaded with raw logs leaves the Alberni Inlet on Vancouver Island.

No logging plans near giant fir: TimberWest

Flagging tape in the immediate vicinity of the world's largest Douglas fir does not mean the area will be logged in the near future, according to forest company TimberWest. The marked cutblock, less than 100 metres from the Red Creek Fir, was found by members of the Ancient Forest Alliance who say that if surrounding trees are cut, the 74-metre tall tree will be in danger of blow-down.
Announcements
A ship loaded with raw logs leaves the Alberni Inlet on Vancouver Island.

Protect old grove before it’s too late

The provincial government should not let the mostly undisturbed grove in the Gordon River Valley, nicknamed Avatar Grove, be logged. It is a gem of an ecosystem and with so little of our old-growth forests left, it is not something we can afford to lose. With its proximity to Port Renfrew, it will be very beneficial for bringing in tourists, which will support local economies.
Announcements
A ship loaded with raw logs leaves the Alberni Inlet on Vancouver Island.

World’s Largest Douglas fir Threatened by Proposed Logging in Adjacent Old-Growth Forest

A new proposed logging cutblock near the world's largest Douglas fir tree, the Red Creek Fir, has been identified as that of TimberWest, a BC-based logging company. The Red Creek Fir, located 15 kilometers east of Port Renfrew, is recognized as the largest Douglas Fir Tree on Earth, with enough wood to make 349 telephone poles (ie. 349 cubic meters in total timber volume - see https://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hre/bigtrees/docs/BigTreeRegistry.pdf). It is 73.8 meters in height and has a trunk 4.2 meters wide (Diameter-at-Breast-Height or DBH).

Media Release
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.

News Coverage
A ship loaded with raw logs leaves the Alberni Inlet on Vancouver Island.

Old-growth forests could bring tourists

Becoming a field of giant stumps continues to be the fate of many of our last stands of giant trees in southern B.C. and shows a lack of understanding of what draws many people to the best place on Earth.
Announcements
A ship loaded with raw logs leaves the Alberni Inlet on Vancouver Island.

It’s time for the BC government to curb raw log exports and boost value-added forestry jobs, say unions and environmental groups

Vancouver – Between 2013 and 2016, more raw logs were shipped from BC than during any other four-year period in the province’s history, prompting two forest industry unions and three leading environmental groups to call for a ban on raw log exports from old-growth forests and a bold government action to plan to stimulate BC’s flagging forest sector.

Media Release
A ship loaded with raw logs leaves the Alberni Inlet on Vancouver Island.

World’s largest Douglas fir at risk, fearful environmentalists charge

The world's largest Douglas fir could be at risk, say Vancouver Island environmentalists.
Media Release

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Ancient Forest Alliance

The Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) is a registered charitable organization working to protect BC’s endangered old-growth forests and to ensure a sustainable, value-added, second-growth forest industry.

AFA’s office is located on the territories of the Lekwungen Peoples, also known as the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations.
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