On Saturday, the Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations publicly stated their commitment to designate the entire Avatar Grove off limits to logging through an Old-Growth Management Area (OGMA).
The Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce has partnered with the Ancient Forest Alliance, the advocacy group that leads tours of the majestic ‘Avatar Grove’, to funnel more tourists into the area and feed the local economy.
To get to the campground from Victoria take West Coast HWY #14 and turn RIGHT onto Deering rd immediately upon reaching Port Renfrew. Cross the single lane bridge over the San Juan River and once on the other side there is camp parking on both the left and right hand side of the road.
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.
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.
I would like to thank the Sooke Harbour House, The Ancient Forest Alliance and Adriane Carr for making the event all possible. We raised $6,100 in pledges and cash donations, and made new friends who own companies who are able to give a hand in other areas.
At a fundraiser on March 17 at the Sooke Harbour House, local area business people and interested conservationists came together to raise funds for an information centre in Port Renfrew.
Watch the news clip from Al Jazeera, one of the largest TV news networks on Earth that reaches 220 million homes in over 100 countries, who have just featured the Ancient Forest Alliance’s campaign to protect British Columbia’s endangered old-growth forests and the Avatar Grove on Vancouver Island.
"This will be the biggest international news hit for the old-growth campaign in a long time," Ken Wu of the Ancient Forest Alliance said Thursday. "There is a strong international market for environmental issues, particularly one that is very charismatic."
In response to a complaint filed about ancient redcedars up to 16ft in diameter being logged near Port Renfrew, BC, the Forest Practices Board, a third party government-appointed watchdog, has concluded that there is 'strong public interest' in seeing giant trees and unique stands of old-growth forest protected and that the BC government has the tools to do so.
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