October 10, 2022
The Globe And Mail
By Justine Hunter
Battered by climate disasters, community at Kanaka Bar looks to protect old growth forest and restore ecosystems in a way that supports the First Nation’s self-sufficiency initiatives and sustainable economic development.

Celina Starnes of the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance stands under an old-growth Western redcedar near Kanaka Bar Indian Band, home to the T’eqt’’aqtn’mux, in British Columbia this past Sept. 21. PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAFAL GERSZAK/THE GLOBE AND MAIL
Overhanging a riverbank in the Fraser Canyon, an ancient Western redcedar shows signs of harvesting by past generations of the T’eqt’’aqtn’mux people. The gnarled tree is growing in one of the rarest and most endangered old-growth forests in British Columbia, and a newly sealed land deal has secured its protection. But for the surrounding forest, there is no certainty.
The Kanaka Bar Indian Band – also known as the T’eqt’’aqtn’mux – is proposing an Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area to preserve its ancient connection to these lands, and to protect a rich pocket of biodiversity for the planet. In the southern canyon, along the Fraser River, the province’s wet coastal and dry interior zones meet, allowing an unusual variety of species to mingle.
While logging companies have cleared large swaths of old growth in the traditional territories of the T’eqt’’aqtn’mux, evidence of this First Nation’s sustainable harvesting practices is still found in living trees that did not fall to commercial logging: Researchers have confirmed that branches and bark strips have been harvested here from select cedar trees since the early 18th century, or even before then.

MURAT YÜKSELIR / THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: NATURAL RESOURCES CANADA; BC DATA CATALOGUE; KANAKA BAR INDIAN BAND
But the protected area plan awaits the support of Ottawa and Victoria – approval that is caught in a protracted negotiation between the two levels of government over old-growth protection.
The objective of the proposed Indigenous protected area fits into a larger aim shared by the federal government.
Canada has made international commitments to protect 30 per cent of its lands and waters by 2030, and a recent report from World Wildlife Fund Canada says Indigenous-managed conservation will be key to achieving those targets.
Montreal will host a UN conference on biodiversity later this year and heading into that event, the Justin Trudeau government will be pressed to show how it intends to almost double the country’s existing protected areas by 2025 to meet its interim targets.
British Columbia, which boasts the greatest amount of biodiversity in the country, also has interests that align with the Kanaka Bar proposal: The provincial government has pledged to suspend logging in one-third of BC’s remaining’s old-growth forests to protect irreplaceable ecosystems that are disappearing under intensive forestry – but to do that with Indigenous consent, which has been slow to garner.
The Kanaka Bar proposals would hit the sweet spot for both governments: Kanaka Bar intends to protect and restore rare ecosystems in a way that supports the First Nation’s self-sufficiency initiatives and sustainable economic development.
The community’s impetus for conservation has been shaped by commercial logging – 15 per cent of the forests in its proposed conservation area has been logged since the 1960s – mostly in the rich valley bottoms where the greatest old growth is found.
The federal and BC governments are in protracted negotiations to reach a nature agreement that would include permanent old-growth protection.
However, the two sides remain at odds over funding, and which forests would be set aside. The federal government has offered $50-million specifically for BC old growth, a figure that the province dismissed as far too little. Ottawa, meanwhile, is awaiting the matching commitment from the province.
Steven Guilbeault, the federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change, toured an old-growth forest in BC on Sept. 1, using the visit as a backdrop to press the provincial government to reach an accord. “We will continue collaborating with the province to get a good deal to protect BC’s beloved nature,” he said in a statement at that time.
Patrick Michell, former chief of the Kanaka Bar Indian Band, was instrumental in launching the proposed T’eqt’aqtn Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area, and he said neither level of government has responded to the invitation to participate. But the plan will move forward anyway: “When we need to do something, we just do it,” he said in an interview.
His community has been buying up private lands when they become available, rather than waiting for the Crown to give them their land back. Their vision for climate resiliency does not include commercial logging of old growth.
“We want to keep the old growth, keep the carbon in the ground,” he said. “For us to have an economy for the next 100 years, we need to invest in something more sustainable and resilient.” Economic development is possible, but within a framework that supports Kanaka Bar’s goals. “We want to work with Canadian corporations. We want to work with the existing transportation industries. But there’s going to be a few new rules. You cannot exacerbate climate change.”
The only firm commitment to the Kanaka Bar conservation plan to date has come from a fledgling environmental non-profit, which bought a piece of private land to gift to the community.
The property known locally as Old Man Jack’s is a tiny parcel, a little more than three hectares, which was scooped up for just under $100,000. It is dwarfed by the more ambitious Kanaka Bar proposal to set aside a large chunk of the southern Fraser Canyon in the First Nation’s traditional territories, including roughly 125 square kilometres of old-growth forests. But it is a concrete start.
Old Man Jack’s property, purchased by the Nature-Based Solutions Foundation, is a showcase for the region, with its unusual mix of coastal and interior species: Ponderosa pine, Interior Douglas fir, Western redcedar, Bigleaf maple, all growing together. “This is peak biodiversity – as multicultural as you can get in a BC forest,” said Ken Wu, co-founder of the foundation, as he pointed out one of the largest Interior Douglas firs in the country.
Mr. Wu started campaigning for BC’s old-growth forests more than two decades ago. The foundation was created last year to raise money to purchase endangered ecosystems, sidestepping the conflict that has marked many campaigns against old-growth logging.
“Protests are important at times,” Mr. Wu said, “but to actually save old-growth forests, it is vital to ensure First Nations have the financial resources in order to realize their conservation visions,” he said. Many First Nations rely on forestry for revenue and jobs – and he said the provincial and federal governments need to bring substantial funding to the table to create viable alternatives.
“There’s no path to actually protect old-growth forests on the ground in British Columbia by going around First Nations communities and leadership,” Mr. Wu said.
The Fraser Canyon was at the epicentre of the twin climate disasters of 2021 in BC The main Kanaka Bar reserve is roughly 14 kilometres south of Lytton, the town destroyed by wildfire in June of 2021, and many members lost their homes in that fire. A series of atmospheric rivers in November then wiped out more homes, highways and other infrastructure, causing millions of dollars of damage to the Kanaka Bar’s run-of-the-river hydro electric facility.
For the past decade, the Kanaka Bar nation has worked on a climate adaptation plan, which has aims to create a self-sufficient community that can withstand whatever climate change brings in the next century. About 70 of the band’s 240 members live on reserve, getting their electricity from solar power. The nation has purchased provincial water rights to ensure their clean water supply. And community gardens supplement the food they obtain from their lands.
The T’eqt’aqtn Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area would help the entire Fraser Canyon’s climate resiliency, said Sean O’Rourke, the Kanaka Bar lands manager, because healthy ecosystems are the region’s best defence against natural disasters.
But it also aims to protect the T’eqt’’aqtn’mux’s archeological sites. Mr. O’Rourke pointed across the Fraser River to the remains of a stone-constructed fishing weir, disrupted by placer miners looking for gold. The rainstorms last November uncovered a petroglyph that is believed to be at least 8,000 years old. It was damaged when treasure hunters removed a piece of it with a jackhammer.
“These connections to the past and connections to the old way of life, that’s a finite thing,” Mr. O’Rourke said. “Once you damage something like that, you’re never going to get it back.”
Read the original article
Ancient Forests of BC: TJ Watt Photo Exhibition, Presentations, & Fundraiser. Oct 26th-30th, Salt Spring Island.
/in EventsConservation group buys stand of majestic old-growth as gift for First Nation
/in News CoverageOctober 11th
National Observer
By Dani Penaloza
A rare section of diverse old-growth forest in BC, where the coastal rainforest meets the dry interior, has been purchased by a conservation organization and handed back to the Kanaka Bar Indian Band to protect.
In August, the Nature-Based Solutions Foundation (NBSF) bought the eight acres known as “Old Man Jack’s” about 15 kilometres south of Lytton for $99,000 as part of an agreement it made with T’eqt’aqtn’mux First Nation, known as the crossing place people. The group intends to return the land with a conservation covenant.
“Not only does the purchase of Old Man Jack’s allow the community to gather the abundant food and medicine plants here, it gives us the opportunity to employ membership to heal ecosystems damaged by placer mining and other settler activities over the past couple centuries,” said Kanaka Bar Chief Jordan Spinks in the NBSF’s Oct. 11 press release. “The well-being of our lands, culture and people go hand-in-hand.”
Situated along the Fraser River by Siwash Creek, south of the Kanaka Bar A1 Reserve, the property could be one of the rarest and most diverse old-growth forests in BC, containing some of the largest old-growth Interior Douglas firs in the country, western red cedars, Ponderosa pines, bigleaf maples and old-growth Rocky Mountain junipers.
Once title to the land is turned over to the First Nation, the conservation covenant will protect the historic trapper’s cabin and the many archeological and cultural sites on the property, as well as Canada’s largest Rocky Mountain juniper beside the property that’s on a parcel of land also owned by Kanaka Bar.
“The mouth of Siwash Creek has been a key fishing spot for the T’eq’aqtn’mux for millennia. By purchasing this property, people can fish here once again. We may even organize a camp for youth,” said Sean O’Rourke, Kanaka Bar’s lands manager in the press release.
The gift aligns well with Kanaka Bar’s Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area proposal earlier this summer, which plans to protect 350-square-kilometres of traditional territory land.
The Kanaka Bar Indian Band intends to use this land for cultural, conservational, educational and potentially eco-tourism purposes. Community engagement on how exactly the land will be used and managed is underway.
There are also hopes to recover the endangered species of coastal tailed frogs and spotted owls in the area.
“To be able to both protect those lands from industrial resource extraction and support First Nations subsistence and cultural uses of those lands, while keeping the biodiversity intact, is one of the greatest expressions of environmental sustainability and social justice,” said NBSF co-founder Ken Wu in an interview with Canada’s National Observer.
The Nature-Based Solutions Foundation intends to give the land back to the First Nation whose territory it is with an upcoming conservation covenant. #OldGrowth #BC
The NBSF is a new national conservation charity that launched in November. It works to protect the most endangered ecosystems by filling funding gaps needed to expand the protected areas system.
This purchase is the first of other similar initiatives underway and is part of the Old-Growth Solutions Initiative, a collaboration between the NBSF, Endangered Ecosystems Alliance and Ancient Forest Alliance.
Read the original article
BC Indigenous conservation plan gets private backing
/in News CoverageOctober 10, 2022
The Globe And Mail
By Justine Hunter
Battered by climate disasters, community at Kanaka Bar looks to protect old growth forest and restore ecosystems in a way that supports the First Nation’s self-sufficiency initiatives and sustainable economic development.
Celina Starnes of the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance stands under an old-growth Western redcedar near Kanaka Bar Indian Band, home to the T’eqt’’aqtn’mux, in British Columbia this past Sept. 21. PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAFAL GERSZAK/THE GLOBE AND MAIL
Overhanging a riverbank in the Fraser Canyon, an ancient Western redcedar shows signs of harvesting by past generations of the T’eqt’’aqtn’mux people. The gnarled tree is growing in one of the rarest and most endangered old-growth forests in British Columbia, and a newly sealed land deal has secured its protection. But for the surrounding forest, there is no certainty.
The Kanaka Bar Indian Band – also known as the T’eqt’’aqtn’mux – is proposing an Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area to preserve its ancient connection to these lands, and to protect a rich pocket of biodiversity for the planet. In the southern canyon, along the Fraser River, the province’s wet coastal and dry interior zones meet, allowing an unusual variety of species to mingle.
While logging companies have cleared large swaths of old growth in the traditional territories of the T’eqt’’aqtn’mux, evidence of this First Nation’s sustainable harvesting practices is still found in living trees that did not fall to commercial logging: Researchers have confirmed that branches and bark strips have been harvested here from select cedar trees since the early 18th century, or even before then.
MURAT YÜKSELIR / THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: NATURAL RESOURCES CANADA; BC DATA CATALOGUE; KANAKA BAR INDIAN BAND
But the protected area plan awaits the support of Ottawa and Victoria – approval that is caught in a protracted negotiation between the two levels of government over old-growth protection.
The objective of the proposed Indigenous protected area fits into a larger aim shared by the federal government.
Canada has made international commitments to protect 30 per cent of its lands and waters by 2030, and a recent report from World Wildlife Fund Canada says Indigenous-managed conservation will be key to achieving those targets.
Montreal will host a UN conference on biodiversity later this year and heading into that event, the Justin Trudeau government will be pressed to show how it intends to almost double the country’s existing protected areas by 2025 to meet its interim targets.
British Columbia, which boasts the greatest amount of biodiversity in the country, also has interests that align with the Kanaka Bar proposal: The provincial government has pledged to suspend logging in one-third of BC’s remaining’s old-growth forests to protect irreplaceable ecosystems that are disappearing under intensive forestry – but to do that with Indigenous consent, which has been slow to garner.
The Kanaka Bar proposals would hit the sweet spot for both governments: Kanaka Bar intends to protect and restore rare ecosystems in a way that supports the First Nation’s self-sufficiency initiatives and sustainable economic development.
The community’s impetus for conservation has been shaped by commercial logging – 15 per cent of the forests in its proposed conservation area has been logged since the 1960s – mostly in the rich valley bottoms where the greatest old growth is found.
The federal and BC governments are in protracted negotiations to reach a nature agreement that would include permanent old-growth protection.
However, the two sides remain at odds over funding, and which forests would be set aside. The federal government has offered $50-million specifically for BC old growth, a figure that the province dismissed as far too little. Ottawa, meanwhile, is awaiting the matching commitment from the province.
Steven Guilbeault, the federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change, toured an old-growth forest in BC on Sept. 1, using the visit as a backdrop to press the provincial government to reach an accord. “We will continue collaborating with the province to get a good deal to protect BC’s beloved nature,” he said in a statement at that time.
Patrick Michell, former chief of the Kanaka Bar Indian Band, was instrumental in launching the proposed T’eqt’aqtn Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area, and he said neither level of government has responded to the invitation to participate. But the plan will move forward anyway: “When we need to do something, we just do it,” he said in an interview.
His community has been buying up private lands when they become available, rather than waiting for the Crown to give them their land back. Their vision for climate resiliency does not include commercial logging of old growth.
“We want to keep the old growth, keep the carbon in the ground,” he said. “For us to have an economy for the next 100 years, we need to invest in something more sustainable and resilient.” Economic development is possible, but within a framework that supports Kanaka Bar’s goals. “We want to work with Canadian corporations. We want to work with the existing transportation industries. But there’s going to be a few new rules. You cannot exacerbate climate change.”
The only firm commitment to the Kanaka Bar conservation plan to date has come from a fledgling environmental non-profit, which bought a piece of private land to gift to the community.
The property known locally as Old Man Jack’s is a tiny parcel, a little more than three hectares, which was scooped up for just under $100,000. It is dwarfed by the more ambitious Kanaka Bar proposal to set aside a large chunk of the southern Fraser Canyon in the First Nation’s traditional territories, including roughly 125 square kilometres of old-growth forests. But it is a concrete start.
Old Man Jack’s property, purchased by the Nature-Based Solutions Foundation, is a showcase for the region, with its unusual mix of coastal and interior species: Ponderosa pine, Interior Douglas fir, Western redcedar, Bigleaf maple, all growing together. “This is peak biodiversity – as multicultural as you can get in a BC forest,” said Ken Wu, co-founder of the foundation, as he pointed out one of the largest Interior Douglas firs in the country.
Mr. Wu started campaigning for BC’s old-growth forests more than two decades ago. The foundation was created last year to raise money to purchase endangered ecosystems, sidestepping the conflict that has marked many campaigns against old-growth logging.
“Protests are important at times,” Mr. Wu said, “but to actually save old-growth forests, it is vital to ensure First Nations have the financial resources in order to realize their conservation visions,” he said. Many First Nations rely on forestry for revenue and jobs – and he said the provincial and federal governments need to bring substantial funding to the table to create viable alternatives.
“There’s no path to actually protect old-growth forests on the ground in British Columbia by going around First Nations communities and leadership,” Mr. Wu said.
The Fraser Canyon was at the epicentre of the twin climate disasters of 2021 in BC The main Kanaka Bar reserve is roughly 14 kilometres south of Lytton, the town destroyed by wildfire in June of 2021, and many members lost their homes in that fire. A series of atmospheric rivers in November then wiped out more homes, highways and other infrastructure, causing millions of dollars of damage to the Kanaka Bar’s run-of-the-river hydro electric facility.
For the past decade, the Kanaka Bar nation has worked on a climate adaptation plan, which has aims to create a self-sufficient community that can withstand whatever climate change brings in the next century. About 70 of the band’s 240 members live on reserve, getting their electricity from solar power. The nation has purchased provincial water rights to ensure their clean water supply. And community gardens supplement the food they obtain from their lands.
The T’eqt’aqtn Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area would help the entire Fraser Canyon’s climate resiliency, said Sean O’Rourke, the Kanaka Bar lands manager, because healthy ecosystems are the region’s best defence against natural disasters.
But it also aims to protect the T’eqt’’aqtn’mux’s archeological sites. Mr. O’Rourke pointed across the Fraser River to the remains of a stone-constructed fishing weir, disrupted by placer miners looking for gold. The rainstorms last November uncovered a petroglyph that is believed to be at least 8,000 years old. It was damaged when treasure hunters removed a piece of it with a jackhammer.
“These connections to the past and connections to the old way of life, that’s a finite thing,” Mr. O’Rourke said. “Once you damage something like that, you’re never going to get it back.”
Read the original article
Thank you to our recent business supporters!
/in Thank YouA big shout-out to the following businesses and individuals generously supporting the AFA’s ancient forest campaign:
Edward Burtynsky Photography for including the AFA as one of the organizations highlighted in their Change Station during the run of #InTheWakeOfProgress at the Canadian Opera Company Theatre, as well as for donating 5% of the earnings from merchandise sales at this event
Wild Coast Perfumery for their generous and long-standing support
ANIÁN for donating 25% of each sale of their Limited Run Old Growth Blanket
Helen Utsal for donating 10% of her part of the sales of all the paintings in the Vitality of the Land show currently on exhibit in Ottawa at the Gordon Harrison Gallery
Bound State Software for giving as part of their 1% for the Planet commitment
Thank you all for your outstanding support to help protect endangered old-growth forests in BC!
Thank you to Robinson’s Outdoor Store & Patagonia!
/in Thank YouWe would like to extend a massive thank you to Robinson’s Outdoor Store and Patagonia for helping raise almost $10,000 for Ancient Forest Alliance last week! More than 100 people attended the Film Night and Fundraiser for AFA at Robinson’s, where over $2000 was raised, while Patagonia donated another $7500. It was great to connect with people in person again and we are beyond grateful for the support this community shows towards our old-growth campaigns. A special thanks goes out to Erin and Matt of Robinson’s, Ross from Patagonia, Deon & Milen for the AFA films and photo stories, Strait and Narrow, Darren for his custom Ancient Forest Ale, the awesome bartenders Brendan & Erica, and everyone who came out to make this night a stellar success!
Media Release: Two Years into Old-Growth Strategic Review mandate, BC is failing to deliver change on the ground
/in Media ReleaseFor Immediate Release, September 8, 2022:
Two years into Old-Growth Strategic Review mandate, BC is failing to deliver change on the ground
Environmental organizations call for immediate action to make the promised paradigm shift a reality as at-risk forests continue to be destroyed
VICTORIA / UNCEDED LEKWUNGEN TERRITORIES – Two years after the provincial government released the report of its Old-Growth Strategic Review (OGSR) panel, Ancient Forest Alliance, Sierra Club BC, Stand.earth and the Wilderness Committee have given B.C. failing grades for its progress to protect threatened old-growth forests. Grades for four of five key issues fell since the last report card, with time running out to address delays before it’s too late to safeguard remaining endangered old-growth forests.
View Full Report Card Image Here
The OGSR report, released Sept. 11, 2020, makes clear recommendations to keep at-risk old-growth forests standing and overhaul forest stewardship within three years. However, the B.C. NDP government has fallen far behind, so far completing none of the panel’s 14 recommendations two-thirds of the way through the three-year timeline laid out in the report.
“Two of the three years to implement the B.C. government promises on old-growth have passed. Yet, clearcutting of irreplaceable, endangered old-growth continues, even in the most-at-risk stands,” says Jens Wieting, Senior Forest and Climate Campaigner at Sierra Club BC. “Instead of changing course, we are still marching towards ecosystem and climate breakdown. The window for action is closing. The next premier of B.C. must act swiftly before it’s too late.”
Following the assessment of a second expert group, the Technical Advisory Panel (TAP) in 2021, last November, the province released mapping of five million hectares of unprotected, at-risk old-growth and stated its intention to temporarily defer logging for about half of that (2.6 million hectares) considered most at-risk in the short-term. The TAP scientists emphasized deferrals were needed, especially for areas where logging was already planned, which they expected to encompass about 50,000 hectares. In April 2022, Forest Minister Katrine Conroy announced that a little over one million hectares of these deferrals had been finalized — leaving more than half of the most at-risk old-growth forests open for logging — but was unclear about which deferrals would actually stop permitted logging. Ongoing monitoring via field assessments and satellite analysis show clearcutting continues in stands recommended for deferral. It’s resulting in the loss of tens of thousands of hectares of the most ecologically valuable forests.
“With one hand, the province is signing off on logging and road building in proposed old growth deferrals, and with the other it’s congratulating itself for saving the forests,” says Tegan Hansen, Senior Forest Campaigner at Stand.earth. “Deferrals are meaningful when they stop logging, not as a political talking point. We need to see this government live up to its promises and prevent the destruction of the most at-risk old-growth forests.”
The B.C. NDP government has stated it will not halt logging without agreement from First Nations, but has not offered adequate funding to address the economic impacts of foregoing logging for short-term deferrals, or for long-term protection. The organizations are urging the province to immediately provide full financial support to First Nations to ensure logging is deferred in all at-risk old-growth forests, as called for by the Union of BC Indian Chiefs in June.
“If the province is serious about protecting old-growth, they must come forward with at least $300 million in conservation financing for First Nations to address the economic impacts of accepting short-term logging deferrals and enacting long-term protection measures for old-growth, and leverage the federal funding available to expand protected areas in Canada,” states TJ Watt of the Ancient Forest Alliance. “Without that funding, which the province must be fully aware is critical for these efforts to succeed, progress will remain stalled and irreplaceable ancient forests will continue to fall.”
In their bi-annual report card, the four organizations gave the B.C. government a D for funding provided to date, and the same grade for the deferrals enacted so far. For transparency and communication on old-growth, the province received a D-. And for changing course to prioritize ecological health and providing a three-year timeline to implement the OGSR’s recommendations, the province earned failing grades.
Over the summer, the provincial government has remained tight-lipped about old-growth forests. In the meantime, images of logging in proposed deferral areas have garnered attention and public frustration with the ongoing destruction of irreplaceable forests in B.C.
“The recommendations of the OGSR are clear and measurable, and this government told the public it would act on them with urgency. What we’ve seen in the two years since is the opposite, a slow, plodding approach that’s not at all indicative of a paradigm shift,” says Torrance Coste, National Campaign Director for the Wilderness Committee. “Ultimately, the score that matters is the one kept in the forests themselves. And the fields of fresh clearcuts in endangered old-growth underscore the NDP government’s failure to protect the most threatened forests.”
Ancient Forest Alliance, Sierra Club BC, Stand.earth, and the Wilderness Committee will continue to mobilize the public, document ongoing old-growth logging and partner with First Nations, community groups, municipalities, unions and businesses to advance meaningful protection for threatened old-growth forests and a paradigm shift that puts ecological integrity and the wellbeing of communities over short-term timber values.
Robinson’s Outdoor Store Film Night & Fundraiser for AFA
/in AnnouncementsHey Victoria Friends! Join us at Robinson’s Outdoor Store (1307 Broad St, Victoria) on Thursday, September 8th at 6:30 pm for a Film Night and Fundraiser for AFA!
Hosted by Robinson’s Outdoor Store and Patagonia, the evening will feature an original 4 episode docu-series from Robinson’s, three short films from Patagonia, a presentation from AFA’s TJ Watt, and there will even be an Ancient Forest Ale available for your enjoyment!
Doors open 6:30 p.m., with the films beginning at 7:00 p.m. Admission by donation. Call 250-385-3429 to register or email robinsonsoutdoors@shaw.ca.
We respectfully acknowledge this event will take place on the territory of the Lək̓ʷəŋən peoples (Songhees and Esquimalt Nations).
Kanaka Bar IPCA Proposal
/in AnnouncementsIn August 2022, members of the Ancient Forest Alliance had the opportunity to explore some important sites that are part of the proposed Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area (IPCA) put forward by the Kanaka Bar Band in the Kwoiek and Fraser Valleys near the town of Lytton, BC.
The Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA), Endangered Ecosystems Alliance (EEA), and Nature-Based Solutions Foundation (NBSF) – which form the Old-Growth Solutions Initiative (OGSI) – are supporting the Kanaka Bar Band’s proposal to protect 35,000 hectares of land (an area nearly twice the size of Carmanah-Walbran Provincial Park), including 12,500 hectares of some of the most biodiverse old-growth ecosystems in BC, home to dozens of species-at-risk.
Of particular value is the protection of old-growth forests from the Interior Douglas-fir (IDF) zone, which is the most underrepresented ecosystem in the protected areas system in BC. In fact, this proposed IPCA includes the largest specimens of interior Douglas-fir trees known in Canada! Protecting such high-value tracts of this threatened ecosystem would make enormous strides to preserving the incredible diversity of old-growth forests in the province.
This proposal has yet to be finalized and future steps include community consultation, acquiring necessary provincial and federal funding, and finally the enactment of provincial legislation. We are excited to work on this project as it develops and to support the dedication and vision of Chief Jordan Spinks, Kanaka CEO Greg Grayson, and Lands Manager Sean O’Rourke, as well as other members of the Kanaka Bar Band on this fantastic initiative that conjoins indigenous land stewardship and the protection of endangered old-growth forests.
Learn more here: https://ancientforestalliance.org/band-in-b-c-s-fraser-canyon-proposes-to-protect-manage-350-sq-km-swath-of-land/
Nahwitti Lake Old-Growth Trail
/in Photo GalleryOn the shores of Nahwitti Lake between the towns of Holberg and Port Hardy in Tlatlasikwala & Quatsino Territory stands one of the loveliest little old-growth trails on Vancouver Island. This gentle path winds through a lush old-growth forest and features massive Sitka spruce trees that soar majestically from enchanting fields of ferns before ending at the shores of the lake. In a landscape that’s been almost entirely cleared of its ancient giants, it provides a stunning glimpse into the grand forests that once grew here.
This big tree trail could also be a major ecotourism draw – similar to Avatar Grove in Port Renfrew – and should be added to the list of must-see north island wilderness destinations such as San Josef Bay and the North Coast Trail.
To visit the trees, find the recreation site trailhead in a small parking area just off Holberg Rd on the east end of Nahwitti Lake (50.697842, -127.812370). Be sure to support the local business community as well, helping them benefit from big tree tourism.
Carnivorous Sundews
/in EducationalRather than make its food through photosynthesis, carnivorous sundews, like the ones seen here, supplement their diet by feeding on insects! The tiny tentacles have a sticky dew or “mucilage” on them to help trap and digest their prey for a hearty meal.
Known by the Haida First Nation as “many hearts,” the sundew is a dynamic plant revered for its medicinal properties and as a good luck charm for fishing. The nitrogen-starved wetlands they thrive in, take thousands of years to develop and are home to a variety of beautiful life forms, including mosses, herbaceous plants, shrubs, trees, and fungi, not to mention these brightly coloured creatures!
These ‘botanical oddballs’ can be found in hot, humid areas such as Georgia and Florida in the US, but the majority are found in Australia and South Africa. In BC, they can be found in the bog forests along the coast, such as the Shorepine Bog Trail near Tofino – look very close at the ground next time you’re walking there!