Near the end of a December day last year, TJ Watt, a long-time environmentalist, discovered a seemingly overlooked area of old growth forest only 15 minutes from Port Renfrew on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
Watt has actively campaigned for the protection of BC’s old growth forests for many years. On this occasion, he had embarked on a two-day hike to explore the Gordon River valley in search of any remaining old growth forest — or at least remnants, in the form of giant tree stumps. As darkness fell on the second day, what he found was truly special.
Spotting the tell-tale forked tops of old growth cedars on a hillside, Watt and a friend hiked deeper into the woods. “As soon as we stepped into the forest we knew we had found something exceptional,” he recalls. “We’ve lost 96 percent of the valley bottom old-growth on southern Vancouver Island so to find an area like this within the remaining four percent — and have it be so close to town and a paved road — was just unbelievable.”
The gigantic Douglas firs, cedars, and hemlocks found in old growth forests are valuable commodities for the logging companies. The valley bottoms are the most easily accessible for logging, so most of those trees have been harvested already. Companies then turn to harvesting the hills or mountainsides. Outside Port Renfrew, the surrounding area had been logged, but somehow this 10 hectare plot had been left standing.
Within weeks, Watt and other prominent local activists created the Ancient Forest Alliance, a group that has since grown to 8000 members. Ken Wu, the group’s campaign director, is no stranger to the old growth forest issue. It was his idea to name this area of the Gordon River valley, “Avatar Grove”.
The name was a clever move to capitalize on the popularity of the James Cameron film, Avatar. But the connection was much deeper. “If you’ve seen the film, you can see it’s about protecting old growth forest,” Wu insists. Even the forest scenes with its giant ferns and big trees resembled BC’s old growth forests.
Despite the uniqueness of Avatar Grove, this rare patch of old growth forest appeared to be in jeopardy. When Watt returned to the site two months later, he found the area had been flagged for logging and road development.
A Surrey, BC, logging company, Teal Jones, has permission to harvest trees on 60,000 hectares on land in the Gordon River valley. The province granted permission through tree farm licence (TFL) 46. Despite appeals to the BC Ministry of Forests to save Avatar Grove, the government has taken no action to halt logging. A Teal Jones representative says the company has not yet made a decision to cut down those trees.
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 world class old-growth forest, in a wilderness setting on flat gentle terrain,” says Watt. “It contains dozens of giant alien-shaped red cedars, some measuring up to 13 feet across, as well as rare old-growth Douglas fir — and it’s already becoming the Cathedral Grove of Port Renfrew.”
Cathedral Grove, located on the highway near Port Alberni on Vancouver Island, attracts one million visitors a year, says Watt. The road is regularly the site of traffic jams as buses, cars, and campers pull over to park. Trails allow visitors to wander through this preserved old growth forest and marvel at the circumference and height of these forest giants.
Avatar Grove, he says, has the potential to attract just as many tourists to Port Renfrew, and thereby stimulate the local economy.
West Coast old growth forest consists of giant Sitka spruce, Douglas fir, western hemlock, and both red and yellow cedar trees. Protecting these forest giants is more than a matter of keeping a few big trees for tourists to view. Old growth forests support a level of biodiversity not found in second growth forest. The giant trees are also valuable as carbon “sinks”, absorbing harmful greenhouse gases that are a factor in global warming.
Eighty percent of productive forest land in BC southern coast is already second growth. To complaints that protecting old growth forest will cost forest industry jobs, Wu counters, “The total transition to second growth trees is inevitable. Why not do it now, instead of waiting until all the unprotected old-growth forest is gone?”
The “jobs versus tourism” conundrum often plagues logging communities, where saving trees may be regarded as sacrificing vital jobs. Past confrontations between loggers and environmentalists show what happens when people see their livelihoods threatened.
Logging Avatar Grove, Wu explains, would provide a few months’ work for half a dozen people. On the other hand, preserving the space as a tourist attraction would create a sustainable source of income for Port Renfrew indefinitely.
Watt says, “The Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce is in full support of having the area protected and local businesses are already seeing the increased traffic from those who come to town because of the trees.”
The Ancient Forest Alliance is circulating a petition to pressure the BC government into protecting not just Avatar Grove, but all areas in the province where old growth forest is rapidly disappearing due to logging. The group hopes to collect 100,000 names to show the extent of its public support.
Until then, curiosities like Canada’s “gnarliest” tree are at risk of being cut down. A redcedar in Avatar Grove was given this unofficial distinction because of a burl on its trunk of over 12 feet across, giving the tree an alien-like appearance, as Watt’s many photographs reveal.
Watt says, “If the Avatar Grove is lost, Port Renfrew won’t get another chance like this for another thousand years.”
Activists make “Avatar” pitch
/in News CoverageKen 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. Wu may be better known to some as a longtime member of the Wilderness Committee, formerly the the Western Canada Wilderness Committee.
The Alliance staged a media event on September 28 at an area near Port Renfrew which has been dubbed “Avatar Grove.”
Global BC News was on the scene along with the Sooke News Mirror.
The Ancient Forest Alliance guided a group to an unprotected stand of old growth trees – starting with a 10-minute drive from the townsite and finishing with a hike of about the same length of time.
Juan de Fuca MLA John Horgan (NDP) and Mike Hicks, the CRD’s Juan de Fuca Regional Director, toured an area named for its spectacular trees, some estimated at over a thousand years of age. The name is borrowed from the blockbuster 3D movie Avatar which was released last winter.
Along with the group was John Cash of Port Renfrew – former head of the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce and representative with the Sooke Region Tourism Association.
Standing out in a group of huge trees, a massive cedar described as the “gnarliest tree in Canada” was focused upon. Wu made on-camera statements in regard to the Alliance’s desire for some sort of provincial protection of areas such as the grove. The politicians in the party had clearly bought in… using their camera time to exhort the provincial government to waste no time in placing the grove off limits to timber harvesting.
“BC’s endangered ancient forests are incredibly valuable for many reasons,” stated alliance co-founder Watt in a press release which had preceded the expedition. “Not only are they among the most at-risk ecosystems in the world but they’re probably some of the most beautiful places on the planet.”
As it happened, the visit to Avatar Grove took place on a spectacular sunny day in Port Renfrew.
The 36-year-old Wu is a graduate from UBC’s Ecological Science department. He has worked as a treeplanter and flying squirrel biologist in the old-growth forests on the mainland coast, and was the executive director and campaign director of the Western Canada Wilderness Committee in Victoria for over 10 years. He left them in January and founded the Ancient Forest Alliance with Watt and a couple other former WCWC activists.
Watt, 26, has been photographing for about 10 years and has a diploma in professional photography.
“Growing up in rural Metchosin near Sooke gave me a strong appreciation for the intricacies our native ecosystems and the fine balance required to keep them flourishing,” he told the Sooke News Mirror. “I spent a lot of time exploring the backwoods around home looking for big trees or unique natural features which led me to expand my search area to include the rest of B.C., where I now scout for the remaining groves of old-growth forests, record sized trees, and, unfortunately, giant stumps.”
Regarding the unofficial name given to the area, Wu explained the connection with the James Cameron movie (reportedly the top grossing movie of all time), comparing the local rain forest environment with the fictitious setting of the story in which resources from a heavily-forested planet are targeted for extraction. Wu made no bones about the advantages his cause could realize by adopting such a well-known name. He also dismissed the suggestion that the environmental group would ever be taken to task over copyright infringement in using it.
Ancient Forest Alliance campaign director Wu, in the aforementioned press release referred to Federal Member of Parliament Dr. Keith Martin as having expressed support for old growth preservation in the past.
“Whether by supporting their (forests’) protection in new CRD regional parks, provincial protected areas, or in an expanded Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, local politicians like Hicks, Horgan and Martin are vital to ensure that a solution is implemented that protects the last remnants of ancient forests here while a sustainable second-growth forest industry is developed.”
John Horgan, in his post-tour comments, said,
“It’s a good opportunity for me, as the local MLA, to be out here in Renfrew, just minutes from town, in a spectacular grove of old growth trees. I certainly support encouraging more activity (logging) in the second-growth forest… for jobs on the land base. But when we find giants like this, the province has an obligation to protect them and I’ll do everything I can to make sure that happens.”
Regional director Mike Hicks described the behemoths as “world class,” especially in terms of their accessibility.
“It’ll be the biggest draw,” said Hicks, “much like Clayoquot Sound was for Tofino, this is a draw for Port Renfrew. So it just has to stay… simple as that.”
Input for this article had been sought from the Ministry of Forests, but no response had been received as of press time.
CHEK News: Avatar Grove Sees Visit From Provincial NDP Politician and Regional Representitives
/in News CoverageThe 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 San Juan Spruce and that the gnarly cedar is not Canada’s largest cedar (which is the Cheewhat Cedar, a couple hours to the north), but rather the gnarliest or burliest tree in Canada. Also note that the area is not Grants Grove, which is located perhaps 10 kilometers to the north of the Avatar Grove.
The battle to save Avatar Grove
/in News CoverageNear the end of a December day last year, TJ Watt, a long-time environmentalist, discovered a seemingly overlooked area of old growth forest only 15 minutes from Port Renfrew on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
Watt has actively campaigned for the protection of BC’s old growth forests for many years. On this occasion, he had embarked on a two-day hike to explore the Gordon River valley in search of any remaining old growth forest — or at least remnants, in the form of giant tree stumps. As darkness fell on the second day, what he found was truly special.
Spotting the tell-tale forked tops of old growth cedars on a hillside, Watt and a friend hiked deeper into the woods. “As soon as we stepped into the forest we knew we had found something exceptional,” he recalls. “We’ve lost 96 percent of the valley bottom old-growth on southern Vancouver Island so to find an area like this within the remaining four percent — and have it be so close to town and a paved road — was just unbelievable.”
The gigantic Douglas firs, cedars, and hemlocks found in old growth forests are valuable commodities for the logging companies. The valley bottoms are the most easily accessible for logging, so most of those trees have been harvested already. Companies then turn to harvesting the hills or mountainsides. Outside Port Renfrew, the surrounding area had been logged, but somehow this 10 hectare plot had been left standing.
Within weeks, Watt and other prominent local activists created the Ancient Forest Alliance, a group that has since grown to 8000 members. Ken Wu, the group’s campaign director, is no stranger to the old growth forest issue. It was his idea to name this area of the Gordon River valley, “Avatar Grove”.
The name was a clever move to capitalize on the popularity of the James Cameron film, Avatar. But the connection was much deeper. “If you’ve seen the film, you can see it’s about protecting old growth forest,” Wu insists. Even the forest scenes with its giant ferns and big trees resembled BC’s old growth forests.
Despite the uniqueness of Avatar Grove, this rare patch of old growth forest appeared to be in jeopardy. When Watt returned to the site two months later, he found the area had been flagged for logging and road development.
A Surrey, BC, logging company, Teal Jones, has permission to harvest trees on 60,000 hectares on land in the Gordon River valley. The province granted permission through tree farm licence (TFL) 46. Despite appeals to the BC Ministry of Forests to save Avatar Grove, the government has taken no action to halt logging. A Teal Jones representative says the company has not yet made a decision to cut down those trees.
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 world class old-growth forest, in a wilderness setting on flat gentle terrain,” says Watt. “It contains dozens of giant alien-shaped red cedars, some measuring up to 13 feet across, as well as rare old-growth Douglas fir — and it’s already becoming the Cathedral Grove of Port Renfrew.”
Cathedral Grove, located on the highway near Port Alberni on Vancouver Island, attracts one million visitors a year, says Watt. The road is regularly the site of traffic jams as buses, cars, and campers pull over to park. Trails allow visitors to wander through this preserved old growth forest and marvel at the circumference and height of these forest giants.
Avatar Grove, he says, has the potential to attract just as many tourists to Port Renfrew, and thereby stimulate the local economy.
West Coast old growth forest consists of giant Sitka spruce, Douglas fir, western hemlock, and both red and yellow cedar trees. Protecting these forest giants is more than a matter of keeping a few big trees for tourists to view. Old growth forests support a level of biodiversity not found in second growth forest. The giant trees are also valuable as carbon “sinks”, absorbing harmful greenhouse gases that are a factor in global warming.
Eighty percent of productive forest land in BC southern coast is already second growth. To complaints that protecting old growth forest will cost forest industry jobs, Wu counters, “The total transition to second growth trees is inevitable. Why not do it now, instead of waiting until all the unprotected old-growth forest is gone?”
The “jobs versus tourism” conundrum often plagues logging communities, where saving trees may be regarded as sacrificing vital jobs. Past confrontations between loggers and environmentalists show what happens when people see their livelihoods threatened.
Logging Avatar Grove, Wu explains, would provide a few months’ work for half a dozen people. On the other hand, preserving the space as a tourist attraction would create a sustainable source of income for Port Renfrew indefinitely.
Watt says, “The Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce is in full support of having the area protected and local businesses are already seeing the increased traffic from those who come to town because of the trees.”
The Ancient Forest Alliance is circulating a petition to pressure the BC government into protecting not just Avatar Grove, but all areas in the province where old growth forest is rapidly disappearing due to logging. The group hopes to collect 100,000 names to show the extent of its public support.
Until then, curiosities like Canada’s “gnarliest” tree are at risk of being cut down. A redcedar in Avatar Grove was given this unofficial distinction because of a burl on its trunk of over 12 feet across, giving the tree an alien-like appearance, as Watt’s many photographs reveal.
Watt says, “If the Avatar Grove is lost, Port Renfrew won’t get another chance like this for another thousand years.”
Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) Launches the “100,000 Strong for Ancient Forests and BC Forestry Jobs” Campaign
/in AnnouncementsWeek of Action for Ancient Forests – MLA Office Pickets This Week!
/in Take ActionAs part of a Week of Action for Ancient Forests and the launch of the 100,000 Strong for Ancient Forests and BC Jobs campaign, Ancient Forest Committees (AFCs) around Greater Vancouver, paired with the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA), are picketing at three Liberal MLA offices, starting at Gordon Campbell’s office tomorrow (Monday, October 4th), calling for an end to old-growth logging in southern BC and a move toward sustainable forestry and forestry jobs.
Monday, October 4
Premier Gordon Campbell’s MLA office, 3615 West 4th avenue in Kitsilano, 12 NOON
Avatar Grove Featured in Westworld Magazine
/in Announcements, News CoverageWestworld, 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. Find it on page 50 of the online version of Westworld at:
https://www.myvirtualpaper.com/doc/Westworld-magazine/wwbc_vpfall2010_cwm56771/2010091001/
Old-Growth Forest Slideshow Comes to Saltspring Island on Wednesday, October 6th
/in AnnouncementsSaltspring Island, Canada- Co-founders of the newly formed Ancient Forest Alliance Ken Wu and TJ Watt will host an informative and inspiring slideshow featuring spectacular photographs of Canada’s largest trees, including the Red Creek Fir, San Juan Spruce, Cheewhat Cedar, and the newly-discovered, threatened Avatar Grove. The presentation will include discussion of the stunning ecology and complex politics surrounding BC’s old-growth forests and forestry jobs. It will be held at Central Hall on Fulford-Ganges Road from 7:00-8:30 pm on Wednesday, October 6th, 2010.
“Time is running out for our endangered old-growth forests and BC’s coastal forestry jobs. Saltspring Island is famous as a hub of environmental consciousness – it may very well have the highest density of tree-huggers in North America! It’s a key place for us to build support and expand the campaign to protect our ancient forests, ensure sustainable second-growth forestry, and to ban raw log exports to foreign mills,” states Ken Wu, AFA campaign director.
To date, about 75% of Vancouver Island’s productive old growth forest has been logged according to satellite photos, including 90% of the flat valley bottoms, while only 6% of its original, productive old-growth forests are protected in parks. Meanwhile thousands of forestry jobs are being lost as millions of cubic meters of raw logs are exported each year to foreign mills.
Old-growth forests are important for sustaining species at risk, tourism, clean water, and First Nations traditional cultures.
With so little of our ancient forests remaining, the Ancient Forest Alliance is calling on the BC Liberal government to:
– Undertake a Provincial Old-Growth Strategy that will inventory and protect old-growth forests where they are scarce (egs. Vancouver Island, Gulf Islands, Lower Mainland, southern Interior, etc.).
– Ensure the sustainable logging of second-growth forests, which now constitute the vast majority of southern BC’s forests.
– End the export of raw logs in order to ensure guaranteed log supplies for local milling and value-added industries.
– Assist in the retooling and development of mills and value-added facilities to handle second-growth logs.
– Undertake new land-use planning initiatives based on First Nations land-use plans, ecosystem-based scientific assessments, and climate mitigation strategies involving forest protection.
“How many jurisdictions on Earth have trees with trunks as wide as living rooms and that grow as tall as big-city skyscrapers? We’re so lucky to have such exceptionally magnificent forests here in southern Coastal BC. Unfortunately 90% of the valley bottoms where the largest trees grow have already been cut here, yet the BC Liberal government still contends that it’s fine for the industry finish off the last of the unprotected stands,” states TJ Watt, campaigner and photographer with the Ancient Forest Alliance.
Horgan, Hicks, and Cash Join Ancient Forest Alliance on Tour of Avatar Grove and to Canada’s Biggest Trees and Stumps
/in Media ReleasePort Renfrew, BC- Malahat-Juan de Fuca MLA John Horgan, CRD Director for the Juan de Fuca Electoral Area Mike Hicks, and Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce member Jon Cash joined the Ancient Forest Alliance’s TJ Watt and Ken Wu for a visit to the threatened Avatar Grove, San Juan Spruce (Canada’s largest spruce tree), and a nearby clearcut with giant stumps this past Tuesday, September 28. Both politicians have expressed an interest in the protection of these world-class old-growth stands.
“BC’s endangered ancient forests are incredibly valuable for many reasons,” states TJ Watt, Ancient Forest Alliance co-founder. “Not only are they among the most at-risk ecosystems in the world but they’re probably some of the most beautiful places on the planet. People come from around the globe to visit these forests and they spend money here in the process. Old growth tourism has enormous potential here to combine long-term, stable jobs with sustainability. Lots of people have realized this: that’s why local businesses and politicians have shown such strong support for the protection of these forests.”
To date, local representatives from every level of government have spoken up favorably for protecting old growth stands on southern Vancouver Island. Horgan’s, Hick’s, and Cash’s tour comes hot on the heels of Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca MP Keith Martin’s proposal to extend Pacific Rim National Park Reserve’s boundaries to protect adjacent endangered forests, including the grandest stands of old-growth trees in Canada in the Upper Walbran Valley, Avatar Grove, and forests in and around the Red Creek Fir and San Juan Spruce.
In addition, local businesses took a similar stance when the Sooke Regional Tourism Association and the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce submitted a written request earlier this year asking the BC government to spare the Avatar Grove from logging. Yet the province refuses to heed the rally cry from the public and businesses alike.
The Capital Regional District’s parks department also undertook a public input process in the spring to determine candidate areas for new regional parks in which there was a large amount of public support for the protection of the Avatar Grove and forests around the Red Creek Fir and San Juan Spruce. The CRD board of directors earlier this year voted to increase the annual parkland acquisition fund from $10 to $20 per average household by 2014, raising tens of millions of dollars for the purchase of private lands. Crown lands, such as in the Avatar Grove, would require a transfer of management authority from the province to the regional district should the area be made a regional park.
“Whether by supporting their protection in new CRD regional parks, provincial protected areas, or in an expanded Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, local politicians like Hicks, Horgan, and Martin are vital to ensure that a solution is implemented that protects the last remnants of ancient forests here while a sustainable second-growth forest industry is developed,” states Ancient Forest Alliance campaign director Ken Wu.
“Tourism is a multi-billion dollar industry in BC and the province’s largest employer. Millions of tourists come to see BC’s giant trees and ancient forests, and millions more will come if they are protected and promoted while we shift the logging industry into sustainably logging second-growth stands instead,” adds Watt. “It’s 2010 and the logging of centuries-old giant trees with trunks as wide as a living room is continuing daily in this province. For now, we still have the golden opportunity to protect some of the most charismatic and threatened ecosystems on Earth.”
Old-growth forests are extremely important for sustaining species at risk, tourism, clean water, and First Nations traditional cultures.
About 75% of the original productive old-growth forests have been logged on Vancouver Island, including 90% of the valley bottoms where the largest trees grow, according to satellite photos. Only about 6% of the Island’s original, productive old-growth forests are protected in parks.
With so little of our ancient forests remaining, the Ancient Forest Alliance is calling on the BC government to protect our endangered ancient forests, ensure sustainable second-growth forestry, ban raw log exports, and assist in the development of value-added, second-growth mills and facilities.
Ancient Forest Alliance Stands in Solidarity with Forestry Workers
/in Media ReleaseFriday, September 17th, 2010
Environmental Group’s Forest Campaigner, TJ Watt, speaks to hundreds-strong forestry union rally
Nanaimo, BC, Canada – In a seemingly unlikely event, the Ancient Forest Alliance stood in solidarity with members of the Pulp, Paper and Woodworkers of Canada and the United Steelworkers union in Nanaimo yesterday as part of the ongoing fight to ban raw log exports in BC. AFA forest campaigner TJ Watt spoke alongside union officials, Nanaimo MLA Leonard Krog, and Nanaimo-North Cowichan MLA Doug Routley to the hundreds of workers in attendance, denouncing the export of raw logs and calling for the protection of BC’s threatened forestry jobs.
“Under Gordon Campbell’s BC Liberals we have seen over 60 mills shut down across the province since 2003 while raw log exports have nearly doubled” said Watt. “It’s time to ban raw log exports in BC, to rejuvenate local mills, and to once again provide secure jobs for the thousands upon thousands of forestry workers who have been kicked aside by this backwards policy”. Simply put – “Exported logs = exported jobs”.
The AFA believes there can be a solution that works for both our ancient forests and our forestry workers. “The BC Liberal government needs to stimulate investment in the retooling of old-growth sawmills so they can handle second-growth trees. With 90% of the most productive lands on Vancouver Island having already been logged, the future of this industry is in sustainable second-growth forestry,” says Brendan Harry, communications director of the Ancient Forest Alliance. “They also need to establish incentives for the creation of value-added facilities where we will see more refined products made here in BC and even more jobs created. This should be a no brainer.”
It is inevitable that there will be a transition to logging of only second-growth forests in the not so distant future as the remaining old-growth forests are logged out on Vancouver Island and the Southern Mainland . The Ancient Forest Alliance calls on the BC Liberal government to make this transition happen now, in a planned, rational way, allowing for the protection what little endangered old-growth ecosystems are left and ensuring a smooth shift to sustainable second-growth logging instead.
With so little of our ancient forests remaining, the Ancient Forest Alliance is calling on the BC Liberal government to:
· Immediately protect the most at-risk old-growth forests – such as those on the South Island where only 12% remains and on eastern Vancouver Island where only 1% remains.
· Undertake a Provincial Old-Growth Strategy that will inventory the old-growth forests across the province and protect them where they are scarce through legislated time lines to quickly phase-out old-growth logging in those regions (ie. Vancouver Island, Lower Mainland, southern Interior, etc.).
· Ensure that second-growth forests are logged at a sustainable rate of cut
· End the export of raw logs in order to create guaranteed log supplies for local milling and value-added industries.
· Assist in the retooling and development of mills and value-added facilities to handle second-growth logs.
· Undertake new land-use planning initiatives based on First Nations land-use plans, ecosystem-based scientific assessments, and climate mitigation strategies involving forest protection.
“If the industry does not adjust in order process second-growth trees, what happens down the road when that’s basically all that’s available? Where are the forestry jobs going to be?” Watt wonders. “The rest of most the world is logging second, third, fourth growth and making it work. We need to be moving up the value chain, not down it. In the end, it’s about the long term sustainability of a resource and an industry, and right now we’re moving in completely the wrong direction.”
Cantelon Worker Deflects Heat
/in News CoverageParksville-Qualicum MLA Ron Cantelon took heat after a staff member used an environmental group’s name to defend government logging policies, but his constituency assistant says her actions were taken out of context.
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.
Helga Schmitt is urging Cantelon to convince the province to abandon plans to allow Snaw-naw-as First Nation to log District Lot 33, since the land is rare, mature coastal Douglas fir forest. The AFA too opposes logging DL 33, but did applaud government for setting aside other CDF forests on the Island.
Cantelon is on vacation and can’t be reached.
Cantelon’s assistant, Caroline Waters responded to Schmitt’s email with a message containing an AFA website link, as evidence the province is protecting CDF forests.
AFA forest campaigner Ken Wu, said Cantelon is using the group’s name “to insinuate that we somehow support logging” in DL 33. Waters said the link was only in response “to her letter saying please protect coastal Douglas fir.”
Schmitt said she’s glad CDF forests are being protected, “but it’s miniscule, that’s not enough.’
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