A shot from this year's Tree Huggers Ball!! If you missed this one

Wiggle your trunk at the Tree Huggers Ball

Note from the Ancient Forest Alliance: A huge THANK YOU to Nathaniel Glickman and members of the UVic AncientForest Committee for organizing a totally fun and successful fundraising night with a first rate line-up of local musicians (Moonshine Gang Victoria Chapter, (as the) Crow Flies, Redwood Green, Co-Captain, and DJ Rough Child) on Saturday’s 3rd Annual “Tree Huggers Ball”! The event raised a total of $4800 for our young organization that depends on grassroots support to stay afloat! Big thanks as well to Amanda Cook for donating nearly $400 in proceeds from sales of her “Stand up for the Coast” t-shirts! See you again next FALL!!

Martlet article below:

Being part of positive environmental change can be a rewarding experience, but also exhausting. For those who find themselves worn out from all the petition-signing or phone-calling, the third annual Tree Huggers Ball is being held at Felicita’s on Saturday, March 23, by the UVic Ancient Forest Committee and promises to put the fun back in fundraiser.

“The goal is about fun — we have great music from local artists, and everyone can come and have a good time,” says TJ Watt, co-founder of the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA). “In the world of activism, it’s easy to be bombarded with bad news, so it’s important to put time aside for friends and dancing.” The Tree Huggers Ball will include local bands such as Redwood Green, Rough Child, Co-Captain, (as the) Crow Flies and The Moonshine Gang.

The UVic Ancient Forest Committee puts on the event as a fundraiser for the AFA. The AFA is a non-profit organization that works to protect B.C.’s endangered old-growth forests, ensure sustainable second-growth forestry (forests that have been planted in clear-cut areas) and end the export of raw logs.

“We’re pushing the B.C. Liberal government and the NDP opposition to create a new provincial old-growth policy that would protect endangered old-growth forests in B.C.,” says Watt. Watt, who grew up in Victoria, is the forest campaigner and photographer with the AFA, which just celebrated its three-year anniversary this month. Watt spends much of his time exploring valleys on Vancouver Island and documenting the state of the forests, using photos and videos to capture the oldest trees — as well as the oldest stumps. Watt won the Martlet’s inaugural photo feature contest this year with his photo of a man standing on an enormous stump in the midst of a clearcut. “We’re losing the old-growth forest ecosystems and endangered species,” he says. “They are hugely important for clean air, clean water and the climate.”

The AFA began humbly. “The Ancient Forest Alliance started out with a Gmail account,” says Watt. But the organization developed quickly as support grew for its first project: protecting Avatar Grove, a 59-hectare stand of giant old-growth Douglas fir and Western redcedar just outside Port Renfrew. One of the giant cedars in Avatar Grove has been dubbed “Canada’s gnarliest tree” due to a 12-foot-wide burl growing on its trunk. The AFA worked with the local business community and Chamber of Commerce in Port Renfrew while campaigning to raise awareness, which led to the grove’s protection in early 2012. “It was the hottest campaign for a specific old-growth forest in the past decade,” states Watt, “and our first major victory.”

Other recent achievements includes staving off logging in the Walbran Valley’s Castle Grove, protecting approximately half of the world’s largest night roosting site for bald eagles around Echo Lake on the Lower Mainland and helping stop the B.C. government’s recent plan to expand Tree Farm Licenses (TFLs) in the province through Bill 8. To do this, the AFA led media campaigns and encouraged its supporters to write letters and call representatives. “We have over 20 000 supporters,” says Watt. “That includes many students, but also small business owners and even forestry workers. We have speakers from the pulp, paper and woodworkers union and have support from various First Nations. We work to include as wide a demographic as possible and bring about change by running solutions-based campaigns.”

Despite widespread support, the AFA still faces challenges in convincing the government that old-growth forests are indeed endangered and shouldn’t be cut down. “The public is largely supportive, but the B.C. Liberal government maintains that old-growth forests are somehow not endangered, even after 150 years of logging,” says Watt.

In an effort to protect endangered private lands, the AFA is calling for the creation of a B.C. park acquisition fund that sees $40 million set aside each year with which to purchase endangered old-growth forests or areas of high recreational value.

Last year, the Tree Huggers Ball raised upwards of $3 000 with the aid of an anonymous donor who matched all other donations. Watt hopes for another successful event this year.

“We run AFA on a shoestring budget,” he says. “So an event like this really goes a long way for us, and we’re very grateful for the support.”

The funds go toward endeavours such as exploring old-growth areas, creating new maps and reports and delivering information throughout the province with slideshow tours.

Although there is no official dress code, Watt encourages people to be creative and have fun with the tree theme of the event. “We encourage people to dress up like the forest. Wear your green or wear your tree stuff. Wear branches. Be forest friendly!”

Direct link to online article: https://martlet.ca/wiggle-your-trunk-at-the-tree-huggers-ball/

Torrance Coste

Group angry over old-growth clearcut in Walbran Valley

As Torrance Coste stood beside giant stumps in a clearcut in the Upper Walbran Valley, he wondered why anyone would cut down 900-year-old trees.

“Unlogged stands and 900-year-old trees are incomparable in terms of their value in sequestering carbon,” said Coste, a campaigner with the Wilderness Committee.

“Given what we know about climate change, liquidating the last few stands of old growth for very short-term profit is extremely irresponsible.”

Coste drove into the Walbran Valley this month with a student movie crew that wanted to film giant trees.

The story they have taken back to New York will not reflect positively on B.C.’s logging practices, he said.

“I just stopped dead in my tracks. The forest was now a field of stumps. It was the worst sort of clearcut you will see anywhere.”

The area is about one kilometre from Castle Grove, which contains the “Castle Giant” — a western red cedar with a five-metre diameter, considered one of the widest trees in Canada.

The area has also been ground zero for forest protests on Vancouver Island.

Protests in 1991 resulted in the lower half of the Walbran Valley and the Upper Carmanah Valley being added to Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park in 1995.

In 2003, more protests erupted, resulting in the arrest of environmentalist Betty Krawczyk, who was 74 at the time.

Last year, after another skirmish over logging plans near Castle Grove, the company backed off and the province promised to look for new ways to protect ancient stands of trees.

“We need an old-growth logging ban right off the bat,” Coste said.

The recent logging, which took place on Crown land, was conducted by the Teal Jones Group of Surrey in late November. The company had all necessary permits and plans in place, said Forests Ministry spokesman Brennan Clarke in an emailed response to questions.

The cuts took place within a special management zone that includes 2,600 hectares along the east side of the Walbran protected area, he said. Clearcuts are limited to a maximum of five hectares and cutblocks that are selectively logged cannot be larger than 40 hectares.

“The government is still actively working on new ways to protect ancient or giant trees,” Clarke wrote. “On Vancouver Island, 46 per cent of the forest on Crown land is old growth. Of the 862,125 hectares of old-growth forest, it is estimated that over 520,000 hectares will never be harvested.”

No one from Teal Jones was available to comment on the logging because of spring break holidays.

Rob Fleming, the B.C. NDP’s environment critic, said the clearcut beside the road leading into Castle Grove shows the need to strengthen old-growth management areas.

“I think we need to look at gaps in the current laws and designated protected areas and look at why 900-year-old trees and stands are not protected,” he said.

The problems were underlined recently by auditor general John Doyle, who said B.C. is not doing enough to protect the province’s biodiversity, Fleming said.

“A patchwork doesn’t protect biodiversity,” he said.

“On Crown land there should be better opportunities to have old growth preserved. We just don’t see any proactive old-growth or conservation strategies in B.C.”

Read more: https://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/group-angry-over-old-growth-clearcut-in-walbran-valley-1.96796

Groups wary of logging near park

Survey tape was discovered recently in an old-growth Douglas fir and hemlock forest 300 meters from Cathedral Grove’s park boundary and a local conservation group is now calling for stronger old-growth protection policies in B.C. to protect this land and other places like it.

“Cathedral Grove is the mascot of old-growth forests in Canada,” said Qualicum Beach resident Annette Tanner, chair of the Mid-Island Wilderness Committee.

“If we can’t ensure its ecological integrity because of the B.C. government’s inaction, or complicity‚ it really gives a black eye to B.C.’s environmental reputation in the international community.”

The planned cutblock by Island Timberlands is about 40 hectares and lies within a formerly protected Ungulate (deer) Winter Range, according to the Wilderness Commmitee. It lies on the southwest facing slope of Mt. Horne on the ridge above the park and highway.

Tanner and other conservationists said they are concerned that logging the area would further fragment the forest that is contiguous with the small park, and destroy an important wildlife corridor. They said they believe logging would also threaten eco-tourism in the area by destroying a major section of the popular hiking trail, the Mt. Horne Loop Trail, which the cutblock overlaps.

The lands are privately owned by Island Timberlands.

The Ancient Forest Alliance, based in Victoria, is also calling on the B.C. Liberals and NDP to commit to a provincial plan to protect the province’s old-growth forests, to ensure sustainable second-growth forestry and to end the export of raw, unprocessed logs to foreign mills, among other actions.

Calls from The NEWS to Island Timberlands seeking comment were not returned by deadline.

MLA Scott Fraser Receives “Forest Sustainability Award” For Years of Outspoken Public Service to Protect Endangered Old-Growth Forests, Halt Forestry Deregulation, and Support BC Forestry Jobs

For Immediate Release
March 25, 2013
 
Today NDP MLA Scott Fraser (riding of Alberni-Pacific Rim) received a “Forest Sustainability Award” from conservationists and forestry workers for his years of exceptional public service as an elected Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) in British Columbia to protect endangered old-growth forests, to counter the deregulation of forest lands on Vancouver Island, and to restrict the export of BC raw logs to foreign mills.
  
The award was presented by Ken Wu and TJ Watt of the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA), a non-profit environmental group working to protect old-growth forests and ensure sustainable second-growth forestry. The award is jointly sponsored by the Youbou TimberLess Society (YTS), former employees of the now-defunct Youbou sawmill who continue to advocate sustainable forest policies.
  
The brief ceremony took place in Cathedral Grove on Vancouver Island, Canada’s most famous old-growth forest that is currently under threat with a planned cutblock by Island Timberlands on the above mountainside on Mount Horne (see:  https://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/old-growth-near-cathedral-grove-set-for-imminent-logging-activists-1.90194)

 
Joining the award ceremony to show their support for Fraser’s good work were Arnold Bercov (Pulp, Paper, and Woodworkers of Canada – President of Local 8), Jane Morden and Mike Stini (Port Alberni Watershed-Forest Alliance), and Annette Tanner (Mid-Island Chapter of the Wilderness Committee).
 
“I’m grateful to receive this wonderful recognition for my work. Our old-growth forests are a vitally important part of this province’s identity, and a sustainable forest industry will benefit everyone. I will champion endangered old-growth protection and sustainable forestry leading up to the election and subsequent to the election whether as part of a new government or in the opposition,” stated Fraser.
 
“Scott Fraser has been an exceptional MLA for his energy and outspokenness to protect endangered old-growth forests and forestry jobs. He’s one of the rare politicians who has a real connection to BC’s majestic old-growth forests –  a politician who actually hikes and gets muddy in these special places. It’s clear that his advocacy has not been lip service or simply a means to score political points, but because Fraser has a genuine passion – you can feel it when he’s talking – for our old-growth forests and for a sustainable forest industry that could support future generations of forest workers in this province,” stated Ken Wu, Ancient Forest Alliance executive director. “It's important to give credit where credit is due, and Fraser certainly deserves credit for making forest sustainability central to his role as an elected public servant in his time.”
 
“This past decade has been an atrocity for BC’s forestry workers – over 70 mills have closed and 30,000 forestry jobs have been lost. Fraser has repeatedly gone to bat against the deregulation of BC’s forest industry and the massive export of raw logs that is killing current and future manufacturing jobs in this province,” stated Ken James, president of the Youbou TimberLess Society. “We need MLA’s like Fraser in government to champion a forest industry that will sustain both ecosystems and human communities.”
 
Since Fraser was elected in 2005 as an MLA for the New Democratic Party opposition member, he has repeatedly worked for sustainable forestry on such issues as:
 
– Tree Farm Licence (TFL) deregulation, where the BC Liberal government removed 88,000 hectares of Weyerhaeuser’s (now Island Timberlands) corporate forest lands from their Tree Farm Licences in 2004, removing regulations and policies designed to protect old-growth and wildlife, as well as restrictions on raw log exports, prohibitions against real estate development for non-forestry uses, and controls on the rate of cut. This large scale deregulation of forest lands on central Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast was one of the most destructive, anti-environmental acts of the BC Liberal government during its reign of power. Fraser has repeatedly sought to ensure that a follow-up agreement to protect the old-growth ungulate winter range between the company and the government is pursued, to no avail so far.
 
– Cathedral Grove, speaking up against adjacent logging plans several times, including recently where a surveyed Island Timberlands cutblock threatens an old-growth Douglas fir and hemlock forest in an area formerly intended for protection as an Ungulate Winter Range on Mount Horne above the park. The cutblock would also annihilate part of the Mount Horne loop trail.
 
– McLaughlin Ridge, the prime old-growth winter range for deer that was formerly intended for protection as an Ungulate Winter Range until the BC Liberal government removed existing protections and failed to implement other planned protections for the area in 2004 as part of their TFL deregulation scheme. Island Timberlands has already logged part of its ancient forests and plans to log more in the future.  Fraser has worked hard for this area’s protection.
 
– Cameron Valley Firebreak, a rare valley-bottom to mountain-top ancient Douglas fir, cedar and hemlock forest that was formerly planned to become an Ungulate Winter Range for Roosevelt elk and black-tailed deer until the BC Liberal government deregulated the land in 2004. Island Timberlands has now logged perhaps half of the area now.
 
– Raw log exports. Since the BC Liberals came to power in 2001, a mass exodus of raw logs have left the province, currently about 6 million cubic meters of logs each year, costing thousands of existing and potential forestry jobs in BC’s mills and wood manufacturing facilities.
 
– Private Managed Forest Lands Act, the too-weak regulations on private managed forest lands that do little to protect riparian ecosystems, endangered species, old-growth forests, and the ecological integrity of the vast private forest lands on Vancouver Island and elsewhere. Large swaths of these lands were formerly regulated up to stronger public lands standards until the BC Liberal government deregulated them.
 
– Spearheading the introduction of petitions into the Legislative Assembly to protect endangered old-growth forests, ensure sustainable second-growth forestry, and to end raw log exports, on behalf of the Ancient Forest Alliance recently (22,000 signatures) and the Wilderness Committee in 2009 (30,000 signatures).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ancient Forest Alliance

Global TV News – Cathedral Grove & the NDP on Forestry

Direct link to video: https://youtu.be/NOz232HDx3Y

Conservationists are calling for much stronger, comprehensive old-growth protection policies in BC after having discovered a major logging threat to Canada's most famous old-growth forest, Cathedral Grove in MacMillan Provincial Park on Vancouver Island. Conservationists came across survey tape marked “Falling Boundary” and “Road Location” in an old-growth Douglas fir and hemlock forest only 300 meters from the park boundary.

Ancient Forest Awareness Blitz: This Saturday in Vancouver-Point-Grey (Premier Christy Clark’s Riding)

Come on out this Saturday, March 23rd to Calhoun's Bakery, 3035 West Broadway, Vancouver, BC.

10:30 am – Meet fellow volunteers over a coffee and have a briefing on the issues and on what to do. Meet at Calhoun’s at 3035 West Broadway in Kitsilano, Vancouver

11:00 am -1:30 pm – Pair up and go Delivering Leaflets/ Door Canvassing/ Street Canvassing depending on individual preferences. Students and non-students all welcome!

Check out the Facebook page for this event at: https://www.facebook.com/events/233736906772955/

Join a team of environmentally-minded volunteers organized by the Ancient Forest Alliance and the UBC Ancient Forest Committee for a massive “info blitz” in Premier Christy Clark’s riding of Vancouver–Point Grey to help save ancient forests and ensure sustainable forestry jobs. 

 

Read more about this volunteer gathering below or on the Facebook event page: 

With only 2 months left before a provincial election in mid-May, BC’s politicians are highly sensitive to public opinion and pressure. NOW is the best time to get new environmental policy commitments from both the BC Liberal government and the NDP opposition who will likely form the next government.

We will first meet to introduce ourselves to each other, learn the key facts about old-growth forests and BC forest policy, and then learn about how to engage people in the riding by canvassing (or which streets to simply drop off leaflets into mailboxes, if you are more shy).

Once each person is clear and comfortable with what to do, we will then fan out across the riding in pairs to deliver leaflets and/or canvass residents door to door or on the streets (depending on each individual’s comfort level), informing thousands of local residents about the BC Liberal government’s (ie. Premier Christy Clark, in this riding) and the NDP opposition’s (represented by candidate David Eby in this riding) current position on old-growth logging and sustainable forestry.

Our main goals will be to raise large-scale awareness, to gather petition signatures, and to get as many local residents to write and phone Christy Clark and David Eby to save ancient forests and to end raw log exports.

With a group of two dozen volunteers we will be able to reach as many as 2000 households in a few hours!

BC’s old-growth forests are vital to sustain endangered species, the climate, tourism, clean water, wild salmon, and many First Nations cultures. Over 80% of the ancient forests in southern BC have been logged, while BC’s forestry jobs are being shipped off as raw logs to foreign mills. Read more info and sign the petition at ancientforestalliance.org/ways-to-take-action-for-forests/petition/ See spectacular photos of our ancient forests at: https://16.52.162.165/photos-media/

So far the BC Liberal government has been defending continued large-scale old-growth logging and raw log exports from the province, often citing highly misleading statistics to convey the false message that old-growth forests are not endangered. They must quickly veer away from promoting the destructive status quo, lest they are tarred with a legacy as the anti-environmental despoilers of Beautiful BC.

The NDP opposition has so far stayed silent on a previous commitment by leader Adrian Dix in 2011 during his bid to become party leader, where he stated that if elected, he would, “Develop a long term strategy for old growth forests in the Province, including protection of specific areas that are facing immediate logging plans”. They must be pushed to fulfill this promise and develop it further to include substantive details that will fundamentally alter the status quo of old-growth liquidation. See:
[Original article no longer available]

Thank you for taking a stand for our Ancient Forests and BC Jobs!

For more info contact Ken Wu or Hannah Carpendale at the Ancient Forest Alliance at info@16.52.162.165 or Cori, Parker, or Laura of the UBC Ancient Forest Committee at ubc.afc@gmail.com  

The fight to protect what’s left of old-growth forests

Let’s forget about the end of oil for a moment and worry about something more immediate: the end of old-growth forests.

British Columbia is the last place in Canada where you can still find ancient, monumental trees standing outside parks. We are not talking here just about big, old trees, but about trees 250 to 1,000 years old, that tower 70 metres in height. If one grew on the steps of Parliament, its tip would block out the clock face on the Peace Tower. And set down in Vancouver, they would be as tall as many office towers.

Surprisingly, it is still legal in B.C. to cut down trees like that. And so many of these giants have been cut over the past 20 years, says Ken Wu of the Ancient Forest Alliance, that the end of old growth is near.

“We’ve just about hit it already in the coastal Douglas-fir zone,” he said. “On eastern Vancouver Island, we’ve got 1 per cent of old growth left. On the south Island, south of Alberni, we’ve got about 10 per cent left.”

Three years ago, Mr. Wu founded the Ancient Forest Alliance, a small group dedicated to just one task – saving old trees. Since then, he and his colleagues have spent a lot of time tramping around coastal forests, mapping groves of giant trees – and pleading with the government to protect them.

They have successfully saved some patches of forest, such as the now-famous Avatar Grove, which has become a tourist attraction near Port Renfrew. But Mr. Wu has lost a lot of fights, too, returning to find stumps where there had been a majestic cathedral of trees.

“The place that stands out for me is in the Walbran Valley [on the West Coast of Vancouver Island.] … It really is a Jurassic Park landscape. You’d think there would be Brontosauruses walking through there, with enormous trees, hanging mosses and ferns everywhere. … But in the last few years, we’ve seen the area logged. It looks like Swiss cheese now. Huge stumps as large as my living room where there used to be trees as tall as a downtown skyscraper.”

Mr. Wu doesn’t mince words when asked what he thinks of scenes like that.

“So when you are getting down to the last of an ecosystem and the government is not doing anything to stop that, not only is that criminal negligence, it’s being an accomplice to the crime,” he said.

Of course, it is perfectly legal in B.C. to take a chain saw and cut down a tree that is 200, 400 or even 1,000 years old. Loggers don’t have to get special permits just because a tree is exceptionally old, or remarkably big. If it is in an authorized cut block, it can be logged – and for a long time, it seemed only Mr. Wu and a handful of other environmentalists have heard those giants fall.

But slowly a public distracted by debates over tanker traffic, oil pipelines and coal ports, is turning its interest back to the fate of B.C.’s iconic old-growth forests.

When the Ancient Forest Alliance started a petition recently calling for the protection of B.C.’s endangered old growth, 22,000 people signed up. Another 1,800 confirmed on the group’s website and Facebook page that they would attend a protest rally at the legislature.

Mr. Wu is hopeful that this growing public awareness will encourage the government to make policy changes. “The main goal is to get a provincial old-growth strategy in place that would inventory old growth and protect it in regions where it is scarce,” he said. “At the same time, we recognize that there’s a lot of people working in the forest industry.” Mr. Wu believes B.C. could get more value out of logging second-growth timber. He also thinks the province should stop exporting whole logs.

He feels confident government can be persuaded to act before the last old growth is logged.

But on Sonora Island, near Campbell River, a group of residents went for a walk in the woods recently and this is what they found – towering, 600-year-old trees marked to be cut.

If that logging goes ahead, B.C. will have lost another piece of the 1 per cent of old growth that remains in the area. That puts us pretty close to the end of the game.

Link to online article: www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/the-fight-to-protect-whats-left-of-old-growth-forests/article9868144/

Global TV News – Protesters Want Government to Protect Old-Growth Forests

About 500 people protested in front of the BC Legislature on Saturday afternoon to bring awareness to the loss of B.C. endangered old-growth forests.

Organized by the Ancient Forest Alliance, the group wants the BC Liberal government and the NDP to commit to an plan that will protect B.C.’s old-growth forests, and ensure sustainable, second-growth forestry jobs.

More than 3,700 people have sent messages so far to the BC Liberal government and NDP Opposition to protect old-growth forests and ensure sustainable second-growth forestry through the organization’s website: www.BCForestMovement.com

“With an election coming up, now is the time for BC’s politicians to commit to protecting our endangered old-growth forests, to ensure sustainable second-growth forestry, to end the export of raw logs to foreign mills, and to implement First Nations land use plans,” said Ken Wu, the AFA’s executive director.

“The status quo of liquidating the biggest, best old-growth stands and exporting massive amounts of raw logs abroad is destroying ecosystems, jobs, and communities. Now, of all times, BC’s politicians must develop some wisdom, foresight, and a backbone for a sustainable forestry overhaul in this province. No politician or party will escape scrutiny on their forestry agenda this electoral season, we’ll see to that.”

On Vancouver Island, 75% per cent of its original ancient forests have already been logged, including 90 per cent of the valley bottoms where the largest trees grow. The AFA said B.C.’s old-growth forests are vital to support endangered species, tourism, the climate, clean water, wild salmon, and many First Nations cultures.

Watch the original story on our YouTube channel here.

The UVic AFA’s 3rd Annual Tree Huggers Ball Dance Party Extravaganza Fundraiser this SATURDAY March 23rd!

The UVic Ancient Forest Committee will be hosting their 3rd Annual Tree Huggers Ball this coming Saturday March 23rd from 7:30 pm to 1:00 am at Felicita’s Pub, 3800 Finnerty Rd., Victoria, BC. There will be a full night of bands and Djs and lots of awesome prizes, all for a great cause. All of the proceeds from this event will go directly to the Ancient Forest Alliance to assist in their fight to protect BC’s remaining old-growth forests. Please bring your friends and family as this promises to be a night to remember. Tickets will be $10 and will be available at the door and prior as announced!

Check out the facebook page for this event: https://www.facebook.com/events/140870222749121/

Here’s the music line up for the evening:

Warm Up Jam BROI (Bring Your Own Instrument)
Reveal your secret talents, any acoustic instrument you can find, bring.

Moonshine Gang Victoria Chapter
Cortesian Folk Rock

As The Crow Flies.
Psychedelic indie-folk country-rock

Redwood Green
Acoustic Rock Ska

Co-Captain (aka Dylan Gale)
Happy Go Lucky Electronic Beats

Rough Child (aka Alistar Stewart)
Move your Feet Dub-step