Recent News

The new Port Renfrew Tourist Information Centre will help to funnel thousands of new visitors into the surrounding old-growth forests

Coastal town replaces logging with tourism

"We used to depend on logging to sustain Port Renfrew. Now the tables have turned and we're looking at the tall trees as our future," said Betsworth as the two groups cemented their partnership Thursday with the opening of a new tourist information centre, where visitors can pick up a map of the area's massive old-growth trees.

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Flagging tape marked "Falling Boundary" in the lower Avatar Grove when the forest was initially surveyed for logging.

Ancient Forest Alliance and Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce cooperate to Protect Old-Growth Forests and Avatar Grove through new Chamber Info Centre

The info centre will play host to a media press conference today, Thursday, July 14 at 12:00 noon, followed by a tour of the nearby unprotected Avatar Grove. Port Renfrew Chamber President Rosie Betsworth and Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner and photographer TJ Watt will discuss their cooperative efforts to promote and protect the Avatar Grove and other nearby old-growth forests.

Media Release
Naming rights for this new species of Bryoria or “Horsehair Lichen”

CHEK TV News clip featuring Port Renfrew’s new Tourist Information Centre and the Avatar Grove

The Ancient Forest Alliance along with the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce launched the new Tourist Information Centre today which will serve to funnel thousands of visitors into the town's surrounding old-growth forests, raise awareness of the need to protect them, and help create a vibrant eco-tourism based economy.
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A large group of hikers crowd around the massive redcedar dubbed "Canada's Gnarliest Tree" during an Ancient Forest Alliance led public hike to the Avatar Grove in summer 2010.

Thank you to Mountain Equipment Co-op for supporting the Ancient Forest Alliance!

A big thanks goes out to Victoria's MEC for helping fund the Ancient Forest Alliance's BC slideshow tour as well as our public hikes to the Avatar Grove which will continue into the fall!
Thank You
Naming rights for this new species of Bryoria or “Horsehair Lichen”

Name that lichen

Naming rights for two recently discovered species of lichen are up for grabs to the highest bidder. It's all part of a fundraiser for The Land Conservancy of B.C., a non-profit habitat protection group, and the Ancient Forest Alliance, which focuses on saving B.C.'s old-growth forests.
News Coverage

Victoria’s 12th Annual Ska Festival July 5th-9th

A big thanks goes out to the Victoria Ska Fest organizers for inviting the Ancient Forest Alliance to be a part of the event as well as donating a portion of the proceeds towards us! Read more to find out show times and locations!
Announcements
A waterfall cascades through the old-growth redcedars in the endagered Avatar Grove.

Canadian Student Takes Top Prize in International Environmental Journalism Competition with an Article on Avatar Grove

International winner Liz Welliver, whose article “Making a Stand for Avatar” captures the attempts to preserve a newfound swath of ancient old growth forests in BC, was among three youth to take home a prize in the Canadian leg of the competition.
Announcements
Naming rights for this new species of Bryoria or “Horsehair Lichen”

Lichen: the new immortalization

The undiscovered species was found in B.C. by botanical researcher and taxonomist Trevor Goward, and has been supported by two teams of molecular researchers working in Finland and Spain. According to scientific protocol, the right to give a new species its scientific name goes to the person who describes it, but Goward has donated those rights to whoever scores highest bidder. For the TLC, that money will wind up serving a land conservation project in the Clear Water Valley, and the AFA will put it toward old-growth environmental education.
Announcements
Naming rights for this new species of Bryoria or “Horsehair Lichen”

Your name could go on a lichen

A botanist from the University of B.C. has donated the naming rights to two species of lichen he's discovered to two environmental groups. The Ancient Forest Alliance and The Land Conservancy are auctioning off the right to name the species to the highest bidders.
News Coverage
Naming rights for this new species of Bryoria or “Horsehair Lichen”

Naming rights for new species up for auction online

Trevor Goward, curator of lichens at the University of British Columbia and author of several books, said in an interview Friday he discovered a new species of horsehair lichen in the mid-1990s in the Hazelton-Kispiox area and a new species of crottle lichen in the Clearwater Valley two years ago, both of them in old-growth B.C. forests.
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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.

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