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

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The 12th annual Victoria Ska Festival is here! Beginning Tuesday July-5th with a free for all kick off concert at Ships Point in the Inner Harbour  from 5pm-10pm (doors at 4:30pm). Come down and join the fun and be sure to drop by the Ancient Forest Alliance booth!

To see the full list of performing artists click here: https://victoriaskafest.ca/#/bands

 

For ticket information click here: https://victoriaskafest.ca/#/tickets

 

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

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On this year’s Earth Day, Liz Welliver, a 17 year old student from Pearson College near Victoria, BC, took the top prize for her writing in the biodiversity category in the international Young Reporters for the Environment (YRE) competition. Liz, along with three other Pearson students, had also previously put together an excellent seven minute video documentary on the Avatar Grove titled Making a Stand which can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXUPoY7rV4M  Congratulations Liz on your big win and continued success!

To read the award winning article click this link: https://youngreporters.wordpress.com/2011/05/12/liz-welliver-canada/

To see the news story about the win click this link: https://environmentaldefence.ca/articles/canadian-student-takes-top-prize-in-international-environmental-journalism-competition

 

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

Lichen: the new immortalization

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A rolling stone may gather no moss, but two environmental groups are hoping their fungus initiative sticks. And for those looking for that special gift this year, nothing says “I care” quite like eternalizing someone’s name in a species of lichen.

 

 

In an effort to raise funds, the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) has partnered with the Land Conservancy (TLC) of B.C. this week to auction off two different species of lichen. The fungus, which forms those haunting “elegant black tresses” on the branches in old-growth forests, is going to come at a pretty price: the highest bid for the AFA lichen is sitting at $1,000 right now, and the one for the TLC is at $3,000. Don’t give up hope yet, though. The auction doesn’t close until Oct. 2 — just in time for Christmas planning.

 

 

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.

 

 

“Many people want to be immortalized, and this is one way to do this — your name, or the name of someone or something you care about will be there for all of eternity,” says Barry Booth, TLC’s northern regional manager. “It starts by honouring someone’s contribution to the world, but the end result is conservation action, which is a wonderful way to be remembered.”

 

 

TLC is hoping the bid is able to cover the cost of the entire Clear Water Valley acquisition project, or $350,000. While it may be steep, bidders could even join the ranks of President Barack Obama, who has the “Obamae” lichen named after him.

 

 

For information on how to throw in your bid, visit ancientforestalliance.org, or conservancy.bc.ca.

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

Naming rights for new species up for auction online

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Ever wanted your name permanently associated with a stationary life form that is part algae and part fungi and wholly underappreciated?

Now is your chance. The naming rights to two new species of lichen are being auctioned online, with the proceeds going to the Ancient Forest Alliance and The Land Conservancy of B.C.

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.

With help from molecular lichenologists at the University of Helsinki in Finland and the University of Madrid in Spain, both species have been recently confirmed as unique, he said.

Goward has been studying lichens since the late 1970s and has already found about 20 new species.

“It’s like working in the Amazonian rainforest,” he said.

“So few people have looked at these things. What we don’t know is overwhelming.”

Scientific protocol dictates that the rights to name a new species go to the person who describes it, and in this case Goward is allowing those rights to be sold to the highest bidder.

The genus would remain unchanged, and the species name would have to be put into Latin form, he said.

For example, if the crottle lichen was named after someone named Smith, it would be formally Parmelia smithii.

“It’s like being present at a irth,” Goward said.

“We know the surname. What we’re deciding is what this baby will be called. The point is that the baby will last 70 or 80 years whereas this name will last for as long as civilization.”

Goward doesn’t care whether an individual or a multinational corporation wins, saying it’s all about raising money for conservation.

“Call it a gimmick or whatever. We’re a species that likes to name things. Very little money is going into conservation.”

To make a bid on naming the new species of horsehair lichen, visit www.ancient forestalliance.org The deadline is Oct. 2.

If you’d prefer to name the crottle lichen, visit conservancy.bc.ca

That deadline is Sept. 10.

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

Your name could go on a lichen

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If you’re liking lichen, you’ve got a chance to put your – or a loved one’s – name to one.

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.

Neither lichen can be found on Vancouver Island but the campaign raises awareness of the role these sybiotic union of fungi and algae play in the ecosystem.

“My idea was to try to help people set aside biologically critical land,” said Trevor Goward, a lichenologist with the UBC department of botany.

“I see old-growth forests as a biological archive.

They’ve been capturing the history, like a library. Yet we cut down these nodes of vast biological knowledge – these things have been accumulating for centuries, for millennia – and I just don’t think that’s right.”

Lichens are sensitive to pollution and disturbance and become rare in urban and industrial landscapes. Some lichens provide critical winter food for mountain caribou in B.C.’s inland rainforests and black-tailed deer in B.C.’s coastal rainforests.

The lichen on loan to the Ancient Forest Alliance is a bryoria or horsehair lichen, which forms elegant black tresses on branches of old-growth trees. The TLC’s lichen is a parmelia or crottle lichen which consists of strap-like lobes that are pale grey above and black below.

“We got our first bid [Friday] of $100,” said Ken Wu, executive director for the Ancient Forest Alliance.

“I hope people get it, that this is part of a bigger campaign to protect old growth.”

Those who want to make a bid to have one of the new species named after themselves or a loved one can visit the Ancient Forest Alliance’s website at www.ancientforestalliance. org or phone 250-896-4007.

The Land Conservancy can be reached at www.conservancy.bc.ca or by calling 1-877-485-2422.

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

If you take a lichen to them, name them

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The naming rights for two newly discovered B.C. lichens have been put up for auction by a pair of conservation groups.

“You can put your name [on] a charity or a building, and those will eventually fall down, but these names will be around as long as the name Shakespeare is around,” said Trevor Goward, who discovered the species. A renowned lichenologist, Mr. Goward’s name has been attached to at least five plant species by fellow biologists.

Proceeds from the two auctions will benefit B.C.’s The Land Conservancy (TLC) and the Ancient Forest Alliance.

While new lichens are discovered on an almost monthly basis, most of those are in the “dime-a-dozen” category of crust lichens, said Mr. Goward. The two lichens up for auction are from the much more prestigious “macrolichens” category.

They are also more celibate. Unlike most lichens, which reproduce sexually, the two up-for-auction lichens reproduce asexually. The Land Conservancy’s lichen also has the distinction of being a cousin of the Scottish lichens that are used to dye tartan.

Both species were discovered by Mr. Goward in or near B.C. rainforests as early as the 1990s. It took two teams of European researchers to plod through the world’s lichen literature before they could be confirmed as new species.

Naming rights auctions have emerged as a popular style of fundraiser in recent years, with groups selling off the names of everything from shrimp to butterflies to stars. In 2005, the Wildlife Conservation Society held a naming auction for a new species of monkey as a fundraiser to protect the monkey’s Bolivian habitat. Ultimately, gambling website GoldenPalace.com beat out Ellen Degeneres for the right to the monkey’s name with a bid of $650,000.

The Land Conservancy is doubtful it will be able to pull in monkey-sized levels of funding, but they are hoping for at least $350,000. An opening bid of $3,000 has already been filed, said Barry Booth, a TLC regional manager.

Founded in 1997, the Land Conservancy of B.C. works differently from most conservation groups in that, instead of canvassing government to conserve land, the Conservancy simply buys up conservation land itself. To date, the group has gathered up enough protected land to equal the size of Toronto.

The revenue from the lichen auction will go towards buying a well-trodden wildlife corridor located between two sides of a B.C. provincial park. The Land Conservancy is buying up 27 acres of land for $350,000. In return, the landowner is throwing on another 57 acres for free.

“When we do these kinds of projects … we’re always looking for a way to get the most for our conservation dollar,” said Mr. Booth.

The Ancient Forest Alliance, the other beneficiary of the lichen auction, works to nudge the B.C. logging industry towards logging second-growth, instead of old-growth forests.

Lichenologists, like deep sea researchers, are among the few scientists who still discover new species. Although new birds and rodents occasional show up in remote areas of South America, most land animals were named in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

“We’re interested in things that fly around and look pretty, but we haven’t really paid attention to where the real biodiversity is,” said Mr. Goward.

Original article: https://news.nationalpost.com/2011/06/18/if-you-take-a-lichen-to-them-name-them/

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

New Species Name to be Auctioned-off as Fundraiser for the Ancient Forest Alliance!

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Current Highest Bid:

$3,750 – Click here to top this bid at the Charity Buzz online auction!

Previous Bids

$3,500 – Don McKay, Ontario
$3,200 – Wade Davis, Stikine Valley
$3,000 – Andy MacKinnon, Metchosin
$2,000 – Paul George, Vancouver
$1,500 – Frank Wu, Calgary
$1,100 – Anonymous
$1,000 – Joseph Maskell, Revelstoke
$500 – Matt Breech, Vancouver
$350 – Jean Johnson, Sidney
$300 – Jenn Chow, Vancouver $250 – Anonymous
$150 – Katrina Andres, Vancouver

$100 – Stu Crawford, Vancouver

For the final two weeks of bidding, the auction is being hosted online at Charity Buzz. To place a new bid, follow this link to their website: https://www.charitybuzz.com/catalog_items/272986
*** The auction closes on Thursday, December 15th, 2011 at 12:00pm (noon) PST. ***

Here’s your chance to name a new species and help protect the spectacular, endangered ancient forests in British Columbia, Canada!

The scientific naming rights to a newly discovered species of lichen are being auctioned-off as a fundraiser for the Ancient Forest Alliance, a British Columbian non-profit conservation organization.

Canadian botanical researcher Trevor Goward discovered the new species of bryoria or “horsehair lichen” in the inland temperate rainforest of British Columbia. Goward is donating the naming rights for the new species to the Ancient Forest Alliance to help the organization raise funds for its conservation campaigns – and to help create a model to encourage other taxonomists around the world who discover new species to donate their naming rights to conserve endangered species and ecosystems!

WHY Should YOU Make a Bid for this New Species?

1. Your name would be enshrined as a legacy that could endure as long as our civilization lasts!

Having your name – or that of a loved one, your favourite celebrity, role model, hero, sports team – linked to a living species is a legacy that lasts a long time. It has been almost three centuries since the modern system of biological classification was developed by Carolus Linnaeus; and even now the names of people after whom he christened various plants and animals are still with us. With any luck your name will endure as long as our civilization does. Not even Shakespeare could hope for more than that!

2. It will help set a precedent for a potentially successful new way to raise millions of dollars for conservation around the world!

Thousands of new species are described by taxonomists every year.  If this fundraiser is successful, it will help to create a model that could convince other taxonomists to support conservation organizations, raising millions of dollars for conservation around the world for the Earth’s diverse ecosystems and biodiversity!

3. You will greatly help British Columbia’s leading – and leanest – environmental organization working at the forefront of the campaign to protect British Columbia’s endangered old-growth forests.

The old-growth forests of British Columbia are among the most magnificent forests on the planet, harbouring trees with trunks as wide as living rooms and that tower as tall as downtown skyscrapers. These forests are home to some of the largest and most charismatic animal species on Earth, including grizzly bears, mountain lions, wolves, and mountain caribou, and some of the most endangered species, like the spotted owl and white-headed woodpecker.

The Ancient Forest Alliance has generated huge media coverage, public awareness, and policy influence in less than 2 years since its founding – with only a tiny fraction of the funding base compared to other major environmental organizations. The organization has built vital new support among tourism businesses, First Nations, politicians, forestry workers, and a large diversity of citizens that will ultimately lead to success if the campaign is adequately funded.Media Release

New Lichen Species Names to be Auctioned off as Environmental Fundraisers to Protect British Columbia’s Wilderness Areas
Naming rights to two recently discovered species of lichens will be auctioned off as fundraisers for two B.C. environmental groups: The Land Conservancy (TLC) of British Columbia (www.conservancy.bc.ca), working to purchase private lands in the Clearwater River Valley adjacent to Wells Gray Provincial Park, and the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) (www.ancientforestalliance.org) working to protect B.C.’s old-growth forests primarily on public lands.
The two lichen species were discovered in B.C. in recent years by botanical researcher Trevor Goward. Since then their identity as undescribed species 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. However, an online auction running on each organization’s website into the fall will earn the highest bidders the right to name these lichens – whether after loved ones, themselves, or whomever they choose.
“Having your name linked to a living species is a legacy that lasts,” says botanist and taxonomist Goward. “It has been almost three centuries since the modern system of biological classification was developed by Carolus Linnaeus; and even now the names of people after whom he christened various plants and animals are still with us. With any luck your name will endure as long as our civilization does. Not even Shakespeare could hope for more than that.”
Lichens are small, stationary organisms often mistaken for plants, but better thought of as cooperative (symbiotic) unions of fungi and algae: https://www.waysofenlichenment.net/. Instead of invading or scavenging like other fungi, lichen fungi live off sugars from tiny photosynthetic algal cells maintained within the body of the lichen. Lichens are sometimes thought of as fungi that have discovered agriculture: https://www.waysofenlichenment.net/ways/readings/essay1 .
Many lichens are sensitive to pollution and disturbance and become rare in urbanized and industrialized landscapes. The conversion of old-growth forests to tree plantations is taking a particularly heavy toll on the abundance and diversity of lichens in British Columbia. Some lichens provide critical winter food for animals like mountain caribou in B.C.’s inland rainforests and black-tailed deer in B.C.’s coastal rainforests.
Lichens come in many shapes and sizes. The lichen on loan to the Ancient Forest Alliance is a Bryoria or “Horsehair Lichen”, which forms elegant black tresses on the branches of trees in oldgrowth forests. The Land Conservancy’s lichen is a Parmelia or “Crottle Lichen”, consisting of strap-like lobes pale greyish above and black below. It too inhabits the branches of trees, and grows in the Clearwater Valley, where TLC is working with Goward to create a critical wildlife corridor for southern Wells Gray Park: https://waysofenlichenment.net/wells/corridor project.
Goward is an internationally acclaimed lichenologist who has described about two dozen species and genera of lichens, mostly in western Canada. He is curator of lichens at the University of British Columbia and author of several books. His work can be found at: https://www.waysofenlichenment.net/portal. Goward lives in the Clearwater Valley near Wells Gray Provincial Park north of Kamloops, B.C. Recently Goward has come out in support of environmental groups, starting with the Ancient Forest Alliance and The Land Conservancy, by auctioning off some of his newly discovered species through the process he refers to as “taxonomic tithing”: https://www.waysofenlichenment.net/tithe/home .
“I whole-heartedly support efforts to set aside biologically critical portions of B.C.’s forestlands. Putting my new species up for auction for two highly-deserving environmental organizations – one working to protect public lands and other private lands – allows me to give something back to my home province,” says Goward.
“We’re extremely grateful to Trevor for his very innovative fundraising and awareness raising contribution to help us protect B.C.’s last endangered old-growth forests which sustain endangered species, the climate, tourism, and many First Nations cultures. As a new organization with limited funds, we need all the help we can get,” says Ken Wu, the Ancient Forest Alliance’s Executive Director. “Our goal is to raise $100,000 in 2011 to build the most effective, large-scale public education and mobilization campaign to ensure new forest policies on our public lands.”
“In partnership with Trevor, TLC is raising funds to create a permanent wildlife corridor that connects two separate portions of southern Wells Gray Provincial Park. The acquisition will include two significant donations of land by Trevor and his neighbours and the purchase of three further parcels. This naming auction will help support our campaign and we would like to thank Trevor for choosing TLC. Trevor’s passion and commitment to protecting B.C.’s special places is commendable,” says Barry Booth, TLC Northern Regional Manager. “In addition to the wildlife corridor, this project will also protect vital wetlands and a meadow that is home to Canada’s most diverse population of Moonwort Ferns. TLC and its partners need to raise $350,000 to complete the initial stages of this project.”
A previous online auction for the naming of a new species of monkey in Bolivia netted $650,000, with proceeds going towards the protection of the monkey’s habitat. [Original article no longer available]

Those who want to make a bid to have one of the new species named after themselves or a loved one should visit

the online auction website Charity Buzz for the AFA’s lichen: https://www.charitybuzz.com/catalog_items/272986

or contact The Land Conservancy at www.conservancy.bc.ca/ or phone 1-877-485-2422.

*** The auction closes on Thursday, December 15th, 2011 at 12:00pm (noon) PST. ***
More Fascinating Details about the Lichens and Taxonomic Tithing from Trevor Goward at:

June 14th – Rally to support Hul’quimi’num people’s fight against takeover of TimberWest

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TimberWest is holding their AGM tomorrow at the Sutton Place Hotel in Vancouver, BC starting at 10:00 am. People will start gathering at 9:00 am and the rally will begin at 9:30 am.

TimberWest’s holdings in British Columbia include 113,208 hectares of forest lands within the Hul’qumi’num Territory.  The takeover is being undertaken without full consultation of the Indigenous people of that territory, which is a direction violation under Canada’s International Human Rights treaty obligations.”   Kat Norris Indigenous Action Movement

“The Hul’qumi’num people continue to assert their fundamental human rights to these lands and resources on Vancouver Island. To protect their rights in their lands and resources involved in this billion dollar transaction, HTG has today filed a request for immediate assistance in the form of precautionary measures (the equivalent of an injunction) from the Inter American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), the human rights monitoring organ of the Organization of American States, which Canada joined in 1990.”   https://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/May2011/12/c4226.html

“In the 1880s Canada seized—without agreement or compensation—over 385,000 hectares of lands and resources owned and occupied by the Hul’qumi’num, on the basis that the Hul’qumi’num as ‘indians’, were inferior and not entitled to the same rights as others.” Lawyers Rights Watch.  Gail Davidson, Executive Director

Clear cutting in Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group traditional territory on southeastern Vancouver Island:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEpuciCDCcw&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

The last of BC's old-growth forest continues to be targeted by logging companies like this example on southern Vancouver Island.

B.C. isn’t doing enough to preserve its forests

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One month ago, six Orca whales -black and white, beautiful, and in the mood to show off their swimming skills -showed up in Burrard Inlet. Two weeks ago I saw a mother grizzly bear and her two cubs emerge from the woods to forage beside a gorgeous northern river. These sorts of experiences make B.C. special -they are but dreams for most of the world.

Orcas vacation here. Grizzlies live their lives here. I find myself trekking into B.C.’s wilderness when I’m not foraging in the fresh-food aisle at the grocery store or tied to my desk. Why? Because British Columbia has everything a mammal could want: clean water, air fit to breathe, fish, and forests.

Ensuring that vibrant communities and a diverse economy develop harmoniously with this incredible biological diversity should be central to our vision for the 21st century, but that is not the track our province is on.

It’s useful to remember that what we have here in B.C. has vanished from much of the continent. Over the last 200 years, the amount of quality habitat for North American mammals has shrunk dramatically.

Worldwide, 20,000 to 30,000 species die off each year due to deforestation, climate change, sea pollution and poaching.

Meanwhile, British Columbians have made some strides to be an exception to the downward global trend: the Great Bear Rainforest agreement of 2006 and the Mountain Caribou agreements of 2007, for example, should be cornerstones for building a B.C. for the 21st century that recognizes the importance of our old forests as immense carbon storehouses; as well as the living room, dining room and workplace for a multitude of species, including us.

While there have been impressive achievements toward implementing the terms of these agreements, there are still important elements that need to be hammered out -with vocal public support -in order to keep that family of grizzlies and those mountain caribou happy and alive.

But we also need to zoom out, and take a look at the province as a whole. Less than 10 per cent of B.C. is covered by the Great Bear and Mountain Caribou agreements. Outside of these areas, most of the laws, regulations and policies still favour a level of forest degradation that undermines the very aspects of the province that make it special. In spite of this reality, we saw industry taking to the pages of this newspaper on World Environment Day to pat themselves on the back for “the world’s most stringent legislative and regulatory framework.”

I beg to differ.

The current provincial system for deciding how much forest is allowed to be cut each year is risky: it gambles on tree-growth projections far into the future in order to overcut old growth forests now. Outdated and inflated data are used to justify letting big companies take extreme volumes of timber from the province.

From plans to clear carbon-rich forests for biofuel plantations, to excessive raw-log exports to China, B.C.’s current approach to its forests panders to distant economic interests whose insatiable demand for resources threaten the foundations of the province -if we try to supply it.

British Columbians value the natural wonders of our province. It is the provincial governments’ role to see beyond the short-term spreadsheet projections of corporate interests and to use accurate information to develop policy that serves our values.

The science on forest conservation recommends much greater amounts of forest be protected, and I have confidence that B.C. can meet the challenge. We can produce more jobs and value per cubic metre of forest cut while conserving much more of the forests themselves.

Carbon-rich forests keep the planet cool and the local rivers cool. That’s why the salmon spawn here, which draws the orcas, and others, to call this home.

It’s our home too, so let’s remind our politicians that there really is no place like it, and to keep it that way.

Valerie Langer is the director of ForestEthics’ B.C. forests campaign.

Click here to view the original article

Ancient Forest Alliance

World’s Largest Douglas-fir Tree – The Red Creek Fir!

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Please sign our petition at https://16.52.162.165/ways-to-take-action-for-forests/petition/

The largest Douglas-fir on Earth is the Red Creek Fir on Vancouver Island. The tree and a small surrounding stand of trees currently receive “soft” protection through an Old-Growth Management Area, but legislated “hard” protection is needed in the form of a conservancy, park, or ecological reserve that also encompasses a much larger buffer area.

More importantly, BC needs to implement a provincial old-growth strategy to end logging of our endangered old-growth forests and to ensure value-added, second-growth forestry instead.

Height: 73.8m (242′), Circumference: 13.3m (43.7′), Diameter: 4.2m (14′)

Direct link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfBWLVj-Xjg

Red Creek Fir tree near Port Renfrew, BC.