Thank You to Patagonia Victoria!

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Thank you most graciously to Patagonia Victoria for generously donating $500 to the Ancient Forest Alliance! The donation comes from a recent symposium and sale at the University of Victoria which raised awareness about environmental activism, responsible consumerism, and outdoor adventures, and goes above and beyond the Patagonia Victoria/Banff /Calgary of Elements Inc. annual commitment to the 1% For the Planet program! Patagonia Victoria has also supported the movement to protect old-growth forests in BC by hosting numerous events in their store and helping to mobilize community members. We are enormously grateful for their continuous and outstanding support!

Money trees

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CBC News
November 13, 2018

The struggle over what’s ancient, giant, valuable and dwindling in B.C.’s coastal forests

I.

For the past seven years, environmentalists in B.C. have been looking for trees just like it — wide, tall and centuries old — big, ancient trees that erupt out of the ground and make people standing beside them look minuscule and insignificant.

They could be red cedar, Douglas fir, hemlock or sitka spruce, at least 250 years old and dominant in the densely forested landscapes where they grow.

In May, an hour’s drive southwest from the Vancouver Island logging town of Port Alberni, a group including TJ Watt and Andrea Inness found one — a giant Douglas fir measuring 66 metres tall and three metres in diameter at chest height.

“It’s kind of like coming across a unicorn,” said Inness, 36, who grew up on a small island off Vancouver Island and talks about old-growth giants with a religious reverence.

The pair, who work for the environmental group the Ancient Forest Alliance, figured it was the ninth largest tree of its kind in Canada and around 800 years old.

“Trees of that size are so few and far between now … less than one per cent remains of the old-growth Douglas fir stands, so we were giddy with excitement,” said Inness.

But two weeks later, the giant fir was cut down by loggers who say it was rotten in its core and worth more being turned into products like wooden beams than living out its life in the forest.

“It creates a lot of revenue,” said fourth-generation logger Jeremy Matkovich about old-growth trees like the fir. “It has supported my family, my dad’s family — it’s going to be [the same for] my kids’ family, probably their kids.”

The tree is — or was — a symbol of the latest iteration of B.C’s War in the Woods where, on one side, environmentalists want all old-growth trees off limits to cutting because of the role they play in preserving biodiversity and keeping climate change from advancing.

The other side — forestry workers — wants at least some old-growth trees available to logging as the wood is valuable and important to an industry that supports more than 140 rural communities across the province.

II.

Many Canadians know Douglas firs as well-shaped and fragrant Christmas trees in their homes, but in B.C.’s temperate rainforest, they can reach staggering heights and live for up to 1,000 years.

It can rain up to 250 centimetres a year in these rainforests, which are along the coast of B.C.’s mainland, Haida Gwaii and western Vancouver Island. All that moisture feeds an ecosystem perfect for trees to grow into massive green and growing monoliths.

Stepping into a grove like the one where the giant Douglas fir was discovered is like pushing through a heavy curtain of green and entering into a dimension where the only sounds you hear are the sway of massive branches in the wind, the dripping of moisture and the soft crunch of your feet sinking into dense, soft earth of rotting wood and fern fronds.

The air is dank and dense with oxygen, the smell slightly sweet and deep.

Both loggers and environmentalists agree that there is a big wow factor when they come across a truly big old tree.

“It’s breathtaking to stand before something that’s lived for upwards of 1,000 years,” said Watt. “It’s a truly humbling experience.”

The province says there are 1.9 million hectares of forests on Crown land on Vancouver Island. About 840,000 hectares of that is considered old growth and out of that, the province says 520,000 hectares are protected from logging.

Still, the Sierra Club of B.C. estimates that around 10,000 hectares of old growth, 100 square kilometres, is being cut each year.

One of the Ancient Forest Alliance’s 10 demands for the industry is to transition to only cutting second growth trees, leaving all old growth to remain, live, die and help the groves exist and thrive. Second growth forests are made up of replanted trees that get harvested every 50 to 100 years.

Loggers say significant groves of old-growth forest are already protected and the industry is transitioning to second growth, but to stop cutting old growth immediately could put whole towns out of work.

It’s been 25 years since 800 people were arrested as they tried and succeeded in saving the ancient forests of Clayoquot Sound near the coastal towns of Tofino and Ucluelet.

Loggers themselves respect those turbulent years, saying that forest practices were modernized as a result. The rate of cutting dropped and there were also changes to better manage ecosystems.

III.

Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner Andrea Inness looked sad when asked about the big fir being cut down.

“[It’s] a little bit like coming across an elephant that’s been shot for its ivory and it’s wrong,” she said. “[It’s] a little bit hopeless that the ninth widest tree in Canada can’t be protected … what hope is there for the rest of endangered eco-forest systems?”

She stood in a special place for the Ancient Forest Alliance called Avatar Grove, which is a 20-minute drive from Port Renfrew on the southwest coast of Vancouver Island.

Inness looked up to the top of another Douglas fir, which is not as big as the one that was taken, but still impressive. Its roots have formed a sort of platform above the spongy earth where it grows. Its trunk is dense and gnarled and wide. Inness craned her neck back to try and glimpse its top.

“You know, I get a profound sense of just connection to nature, connection to the past,” she said about this area.

“This is what Vancouver Island is supposed to look like and did look like for many, many thousands of years.”

Avatar Grove, (yes, named after the movie) is the alliance’s showcase for old, ancient trees.

TJ Watt first went into the area in 2010 and took Ancient Forest Alliance founder Ken Wu to the green and lush ravine leading down to the Gordon River the following year.

At that time, there were markers hung from trees, put there by logging surveyors, but no cutting permit had been issued.

Watt and Wu knew it was a special area with several large and impressive Douglas firs, but also red cedars that were unique and old because of the giant burls on their trunks.

After photographing the trees, they set to work advocating to have the area saved from logging, built stairs and boardwalks for easier access for visitors and applied to the province to have the area designated as a recreation area.

Now thousands of people come each year to walk through and take photographs of themselves standing beside the trees.

Port Renfrew has also since rebranded itself as Canada’s tall tree capital, hopeful that tourism dollars will be its key economic driver rather than logging or fishing.

“It brings me such joy to hike here throughout the summer months. You bump into people from all around the world, many … say it’s the most beautiful place they have ever been,” said Watt, who owns a home in Port Renfrew.

“But at one point in time its future was uncertain.”

The big tree hunters hope to develop other groves like this, creating showcases for people to see and experience these ecosystems.

“Avatar Grove … has been an incredibly useful tool for advocacy and for getting people connected to these amazing forests,” said Inness.

IV.

What groups like the Ancient Forest Alliance are doing has resulted in a new version of the War in the Woods, a public relations battle over B.C.’s iconic old trees that is playing out online, in political lobbying and during hikes in the forest rather than with civil disobedience and arrests like the summer of 1993.

Inness, along with Watt, a soft-spoken 34-year-old who grew up skateboarding outside Victoria, and Wu, 44, are full-time big tree hunters looking for specimens they say are anchors of B.C.’s unique coastal rainforests.

“I feel truly lucky that we still have some of Earth’s last temperate rainforests right here on Vancouver Island,” said Watt. “[The] passion in my life is exploring and documenting these landscapes, hopefully resulting in their protection.”

Their campaigns dispute the province’s numbers about what amount of old growth is left. Wu argues that the province includes old-growth trees that exist in hard-to-log areas or places where they actually don’t grow that big or contribute as much to ecosystems as their giant cousins in lush valley bottoms.

“It’s like adding your Monopoly money with your real money and saying you are a millionaire,” said Wu.

The B.C. government fails to mention the context of how much old growth has been previously logged, said Wu. The AFA estimates that to be 75 per cent or about 1.5 million hectares of the original two million hectares of productive old-growth forest on Vancouver Island.

Environmentalists like those with the AFA say that remaining huge and ancient trees are worth far more to the unique ecosystem of the coastal temperate rainforest than being cut down and milled.

They support diverse ecosystems and even when they hollow in the middle, die, fall over and rot, they help support the growth of new trees, plant life and animals.

Some First Nations want also old growth preserved for cultural and environmental reasons. There is also an economic model showing their value as tourist and recreation destinations.

To strengthen these messages Inness, Watt and Wu push through yet-to-be-logged wild areas on public land to find trees like the big fir. They photograph the giants to reflect their stunning size and age. The goal is to hopefully drum up support over social media from residents to call on governments to keep them from being logged.

“To fight to protect something, you need to know about it and care about it and I think photography as an art form, especially, helps bridge that gap and make people aware about these incredible old-growth forests that are home to some of the largest trees on Earth that are still actually being cut down in many cases,” said Watt.

V.

Forestry workers — loggers — have themselves been outspoken about the photos and campaigns organizations like the AFA are doing, saying they hurt their industry at a time when changes could be coming from the provincial government on how Crown land and its resources are managed.

“It puts a bad name to everyone out here trying to make a living,” said Jeremy Matkovich, 42, a third generation logger from Campbell River.

His grandfather worked in an era when horses were used to haul logs out of the forest.

His father is still logging and his two sons, 19 and 21, are also loggers.

He stood in a cut block devoid of standing trees, wore a high visibility vest and defended the industry that has supported his family and his town for a century.

“We do it in an environmentally safe way,” he said about modern day logging.

“I don’t think [people] understand how many products they actually have in their home from logging.”

With Matkovich was Zoltan Schafer, a registered professional forester who started working as a logger when he was 14 years old.

He’s known as Zolie and seems to know pretty much everything and everyone involved with logging on Vancouver Island. He turns 60 this year and says much has changed since he started in the 1970s.

“It’s been a drastic change,” he said, adding that the Clayoquot protests really paved the way for these changes.

“I think the environmental movement was probably a good thing to wake up the industry but I think the balance has to come back.

“Are we always going to have old-growth timber?” he asked. “Yes.

“Maybe not in the percentage that certain people want, but we have reserves. And it’s going to stay.”

From the air on a helicopter ride to the area around Nahmint Lake, outside Port Alberni, Schafer pointed out dense groves of old growth that he says won’t be logged. Their scraggly tops, poke out above other trees along the water’s edge.

The tour was organized by the Truck Loggers Association, which represents loggers working public lands. Up above the landscape, yes there are bare, clear-cut areas, but it’s hard not to notice the vibrant green tree tops where old growth is or the emerald carpet of second growth trees.

There are still so many trees, either there for hundreds of years or replanted in the past 50.

The area the helicopter set down in was recently cut. Hundreds of logs still littered the landscape, the smell of sawdust and earth was strong and fragrant.

Schafer showed us around, walking up and down one of the access roads built to get at the trees. He has the body of a hockey player, wore a yellow and orange high visibility vest and kept his hands tucked in his waistband.

He wore his baseball hat at an angle on his head but his boots were well-worn and when he talked about changes to the industry, he was serious.

“They don’t try and clear cut anymore. They try and leave mosaics,” he said about the area.

What he is talking about is how modern logging looks. Gone, he said, is the complete mowing down of trees off entire hillsides, leaving 100 hectares of nothing but stumps and garbled up leftover trees, rocks and mud.

Loggers now leave parcels or swaths of trees of different sizes within and around the cutting areas, what Schafer calls mosaics. This is intended to help preserve the natural diversity of the area and help it when it’s replanted.

In January, the province also published a special legacy tree policy to help loggers assess large, ancient trees that should be kept from being cut. The government is reviewing it to potentially strengthen it.

Still, old-growth trees — the giants — are prized.

Schafer walked over to one that had been cut down, chopped into chunks beside the access road we stood on. It’s a big red cedar, probably somewhere around 300 years old.

Schafer counted the rings and pointed out how blemish-free the wood is, how at a mill it can be made into high value lumber or even even high-end furniture or musical instruments.

“This is what we call a ‘money tree,’” he said.

According to the Truck Loggers Association, these types of trees are worth far more than second growth trees.

Typical coastal old-growth sites can yield as much as 1,500 to 1,800 cubic metres per hectare whereas second growth sites yield around a third of that because they are harvested at younger ages, according to the TLA.

If you picture a cubic metre as a box, it has 1,000 litres of space.

Old-growth logs fetch around $350 per cubic metre for lumber-quality logs and $700 per cubic metre for high-end grades. By comparison, second-growth logs range between $120 and $200 per cubic metre.

It’s not hard to understand how old growth has kept logging as a viable industry along B.C.’s coast. Based on the TLA’s numbers, logging one hectare, or 0.01 square kilometre of the highest quality old-growth trees, could potentially generate wood worth more than $1 million.

As Schafer walked through the area pointing out old-growth trees that are currently off limits to cutting, he explained how increased protections have come, and continue to come, but to transition immediately out of logging any old-growth trees to just cutting second growth is not doable.

“We have to have a balance,” he said.

The TLA agrees and says that the current proportion of the harvest from coastal second-growth forests has risen steadily over the last decade from about five per cent of the harvest in 2000 to about 50 per cent of the total harvest today.

Leaving every remaining old-growth tree standing on Vancouver Island would result in the closure of four saw mills, at least one pulp mill and spell the end of the cedar shake and shingles industry, according to the TLA.

Schafer said the industry is sustainable with its current practices.

“I think there is a balance and I think it’s being done and I don’t think you are going to satisfy everybody,” he said. “You never are.

“I think the loggers do care, the ones I have dealt with and work with. We all try and do the right thing … protecting the streams and wildlife, cleaning the block up, getting it replanted.”

Schafer said this right where the big fir, described as a unicorn, was logged in May, two weeks after it was recorded by environmentalists.

The province’s legacy tree policy didn’t end up protecting it because the area was auctioned off by the government before the policy took effect.

No matter, say loggers like Matkovich who argue the tree was better served coming down than left standing.

“It was completely rotten,” said Matkovich. “It only had probably 50 years left and it would have blown over anyways.”

They resent the photos the AFA took and posted online of the tree cut from its base and lying prostrate on the ground.

VI.

Many people working within B.C.’s logging industry know that times continue to change and some are already getting prepared for there being less old growth to cut and mill.

On the shores of the inlet outside Port Alberni, fourth generation logger Mike McKay showed us his sawmill, Franklin Forest Products.

It was a logging camp in the 1930s before being converted to a sawmill in the late ‘70s.

His father brought it into the modern area in the 1990s and now McKay is taking it further.

He pointed to a structure of beams, belts, ladders and steel — a processor that can mill second growth logs.

“I’m going to take one last kick at the cat,” he said about the seven-figure investment he hopes will give his mill a future.

McKay, 48, employs 35 people.

“I am proud of that,” he said out from under his hard hat, which is emblazoned with maple leaves and the words “Canada Strong.”

“Sometimes it’s a little bit of pressure to keep them all employed but we seem to be doing a good job.”

The mill once had 70 workers before downturns in the industry. It also used to only cut old-growth logs, but now, 75 per cent of what McKay turns into fence posts and lumber is from old growth, and 25 per cent is from second growth.

“I think there is a transition period that we all need,” he said, adding that if there was an immediate transition to second growth logging only, his mill would go out of business.

McKay said there has been a significant preservation of old-growth forests around Port Alberni. The rest, he said, need to function as working forests, meaning they should be cut and replanted at intervals.

While environmentalists like Watt and Wu describe these working forests — second growth groves — as “astroturf” because of how uniformly they look from the air compared to old-growth groves, they do recognize their utility.

The AFA is supportive of a second growth industry and wants the province to help people like McKay retool their mills to be able to process it. But they also say curbing the export of logs from B.C. to overseas would equally help.

The Ancient Forest Alliance is looking to the B.C. NDP to make good on its 2017 election platform, to partner with First Nations to further modernize public land use planning, which is managing land in ways that meet economic, environmental, cultural and social objectives.

That could include coming up with more huge protections like what was done in the Great Bear Rainforest on B.C.’s central coast. An area the size of Vancouver Island is now off limits to logging.

In its 2018 budget, the province committed $16 million over three years to land use planning and the forestry ministry is reviewing how it treats old growth as part of that.

Ancient Forest Alliance campaigners say they’re waiting to see what comes from the province while continuing to push their way through the dense groves on Vancouver Island to find more old-growth trees to wow the public and policymakers with, like that huge Douglas fir they found in May.

“Holy moly — that’s a hell of a cedar,” Wu said as he scrambled through the fern-covered forest floor of yet another grove already surveyed for logging.

He stood up against the trunk of the massive cedar and posed for a photo taken by Watt.

They’re hopeful impressions like this will do something to keep these old giants from being felled but realistic that loggers will most likely get here first.

See the original piece here

Old-growth logging threatens culture, says Nuu-chah-nulth tribal council

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The Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council says the provincial government needs to do more to protect B.C.’s remaining ancient forests for both cultural and environmental reasons.

Nuu-chah-nulth territory on the west coast of Vancouver Island is home to some of the province’s largest remaining old-growth trees.

But tribal council president Judith Sayers says the province needs to stop — or at least slow down — the rate at which they are disappearing.

“Our whole lives really, and a lot of our spirituality, is wrapped up in the forests,” she said.

Nuu-chah-nulth Nations use old-growth yellow and red cedar for traditional purposes, such as canoes, totem poles and long houses.

Other nations often come to Nuu-chah-nulth territory for access to ancient cedar because it is no longer available in their own regions, Sayers said.

Current logging practices also have a negative impact on salmon-bearing streams in the territory, she added.

There are protections in place, through parks and wilderness areas, for about 55 per cent of the 3.2 million hectares of old-growth forests. On Vancouver Island that translates into roughly 520,000 hectares where logging is off limits.

Environmental groups have been pressuring the government to expand restrictions on old-growth logging and shift the industry entirely to second-growth trees. But old-growth trees are more valuable.

Rights and title

A number of Nuu-Chah-Nulth Nations do have timber harvesting businesses, and some are involved in land-use planning as signatories to the Maa-Nulth Treaty signed between five First Nations and the federal and provincial governments.

But they work to preserve old-growth, Sayers said, while calling on the province to ensure other forestry companies do the same, especially in light of outstanding issues around Indigenous rights and title.

“These are our territories. We have title to these lands. We still haven’t resolved that title,” she said.

The province is in the process of modernizing its land use planning policies.​

In a statement, the Ministry of Forest, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development said it recognizes the close connection Indigenous communities have to old-growth forests.

It said it is committed to working with First Nations to sustainably​ manage ecosystems.

Read the original story here.

Fighting to protect B.C.’s ancient forests

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Check it out! The AFA’s TJ Watt and former Executive Director Ken Wu were featured on CBC’s “The National” showcasing an endangered ancient forest and recent old-growth clearcutting near Hadikin Lake on Vancouver Island.

Watch the original piece here.

*Please take note of these relevant facts while watching:
1) Most of BC’s industry is already based on second-growth, but, without a course correction from the BC government, the timber industry won’t stop until the very last unprotected old-growth tree has fallen.

2) The NDP has no targets, timelines, or policies to expedite the transition to second-growth forestry while protecting remaining old-growth forests. This is a huge moral, environmental, and economic failure on the BC government’s part.

3) 79% of the productive old-growth forests have been already logged on Vancouver Island, including well over 90% of the valley bottoms where the largest trees grow. Only 8% are protected in parks and Old-Growth Management Areas.

4) Economic studies have shown that old-growth forests have greater economic value standing compared to logging when factoring in values for tourism, recreation, clean water, fisheries, non-timber forest products (wild mushrooms, berries, etc.), and carbon offsets. This is more true today than ever – Port Renfrew and Tofino are shining examples of communities whose economies have vastly benefited from standing, living ancient forests. With more and more visitors coming to BC to experience our ‘pristine’ wilderness, many more communities could benefit from protecting old-growth, now and into the future!

Avatar Grove Photography Installation Featured in New Downtown Vancouver Bookstore

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Photography installation by celebrated Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky at Indigo Robson. Photo Credit: Janis Nicolay Photography (CNW Group/Indigo Books & Music Inc.)

A large-scale photography installation by renowned Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky featuring one of Vancouver Island’s most stunning ancient rainforests, Avatar Grove, will grace the walls of the new Indigo bookstore, opening today on Robson Street in downtown Vancouver. The installation incudes a short description of the importance and status of BC’s endangered old-growth forests and, thanks to the photographer’s support of our work, also mentions the Ancient Forest Alliance!

AFA Campaigner and Photographer TJ Watt worked alongside Burtynsky during filming and photography expeditions for The Anthropocene Project, a multidisciplinary body of work combining art, film, virtual reality, augmented reality, and scientific research that explores the impact humanity has had on the natural world. One of the locations they visited was Avatar Grove near Port Renfrew in Pacheedaht territory, which the AFA campaigned on and successfully protected in 2012 and which has become a well-known tourism attraction, drawing thousands of people from around the world every year.

Burtynsky captured striking photos of the grove, which, starting today, will be admired by many thousands of Indigo shoppers thanks to a friendship between the renowned photographer and Heather Reisman, Chief Executive of Indigo Books & Music. The arrangement also includes an extraordinarily generous donation of twenty-five thousand dollars to the Ancient Forest Alliance by Edward Burtynsky and a matching donation from Indigo in support of our work to protect endangered ancient forests!

The installation creates an exceptional opportunity to raise awareness of the beauty and grandeur of BC’s ancient forests, educate thousands of Indigo shoppers about their importance and status, and inspire Lower Mainlanders to explore those forests for themselves! A huge thank you to Edward Burtynsky and to Indigo Books and Music for supporting the ancient forest movement and the AFA!

International call for action to save B.C.’s old-growth rainforests

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As part of an international call for action, the voices of 185,000 people from around the world were heard Thursday at the B.C. Legislature, when a petition calling for the protection of B.C.’s old-growth forests was delivered to the government.

Together with representatives from tourism businesses and local government, Sierra Club BC and German environmental organization Rainforest Rescue called for an end to the ongoing clearcutting of Vancouver Island’s last endangered ancient rainforest.

“The ongoing destruction undermines the positive image of Canada internationally,” said Mathias Rittgerott, spokesperson with Rainforest Rescue. “Protecting rare old-growth forests is a crucial step in fighting global warming and saving habitat of endangered species. There is no price tag for the value of these forests.”

Sent to Premier John Horgan and Forest Minister Doug Donaldson, the petition calls on the provincial government to “impose an immediate moratorium on the logging of intact forests in hotspots such as the Central Walbran and other valuable areas on Vancouver Island and the mainland.”

Ministerial assistant Tim Renneberg accepted the petition on behalf of the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development.

Most of the concerned citizens who signed the petition are from Canada, the United States, Germany, France, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, Australia and Argentina.

Local political support for the call came from Sonia Furstenau, MLA for Cowichan Valley, Adam Olsen, MLA for Saanich North and the Islands and councillor-elect for the City of Victoria Laurel Collins who joined the group on the steps of the legislature.

“We can produce high quality, high value wood and good jobs while protecting watersheds and our climate with strong forest stewardship and improved forest management,” said Collins.

The ongoing harvesting of the globally rare, endangered old-growth rainforests worries Island tourism operators and experts as well, who say the destruction jeopardizes B.C.’s tourism economy.

“Opportunities to experience old-growth forests are increasingly rare in B.C. and particularly on Vancouver Island. Tourism businesses built around these experiences are sustainable year after year. The lack of consideration and foresight for other economic uses of these resources is a significant concern,” said Scott Benton of the Wilderness Tourism Association of BC.

“Tourists come to Vancouver Island to experience what is missing in so many other parts of the world: intact nature,” echoed Brian White, professor at Royal Roads University School of Tourism and Hospitality. “And yet what they find when they get here is big stumps, not big trees. We’re concerned about the impact on tourism businesses.”

The NDP’s 2017 election platform included a commitment to act for old-growth, promising to take “an evidence-based scientific approach and use the ecosystem-based management of the Great Bear Rainforest as a model.”

The group is asking the government to follow through on that promise.

Acclaimed Documentary, Anthropocene: The Human Epoch, Depicts Beauty and Destruction of BC’s Old-Growth Forests

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Cinematographer Nicholas de Pencier filming in Avatar Grove near Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island.

For immediate release
October 18, 2018

The widely acclaimed documentary film entitled Anthropocene: The Human Epoch, which premiered last month at the Toronto International Film Festival, highlights the profound impact humanity has had on planet Earth, including the destructive logging of BC’s coastal temperate rainforests.

Anthropocene is the final installation in a series of three films that includes multiple-award-winning films Manufactured Landscapes (2006) and Watermark (2013) by renowned filmmakers Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas de Pencier and photographer and artist Edward Burtynsky. The film, which had shoots in 43 locations in 20 different countries, features scenes of Avatar Grove, a now-famous old-growth forest that the Ancient Forest Alliance successfully campaigned to protect, and old-growth logging near Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island as an example of the extent to which humans have altered the natural world and its ecological processes.

“Having grown up on Vancouver Island, it was very important to me that we showcase both the beauty and the destruction of BC’s coastal temperate rainforests in the film,” stated Anthropocene Co-Director, Jennifer Baichwal. “Of the many dramatic examples of humanity’s impact on the natural environment that we documented across the world, the logging of old-growth forests on Vancouver Island was deeply disturbing.”

“These incredible ecosystems evolved over many thousands of years and yet, in a little over a century, we’ve managed to wipe out about 80% of the original, productive old-growth forest in southwest BC and well over 90% of the highest productivity forests with the biggest trees and most biodiversity. Witnessing this destruction first-hand was devastating and made me want to fight for a complete moratorium on old-growth logging in BC and Canada, period. There is plenty of second-growth available for industry and logging old-growth is cynical, greedy, and deeply short-sighted. When will we stop? When there are no trees left?”

The film artfully explores the theory proposed by the Anthropocene Working Group, an international body of scientists, that we have entered a new geological epoch wherein humans are the primary cause of planetary change. It is also part of a larger body of work called The Anthropocene Project, which includes exhibits at the Art Gallery of Ontario and the National Gallery of Canada, featuring photographic prints, high-definition murals, film and augmented reality (AR) installations. One of the three AR installations allows viewers to experience Big Lonely Doug, Canada’s second-largest Douglas-fir tree which stands alone in a clearcut on Vancouver Island, at or near actual scale.

Anthropocene also includes footage by Ancient Forest Alliance Campaigner and Photographer TJ Watt, including the logging of some of Canada’s finest old-growth forest in the Nahmint Valley, as well as a shipment of raw logs exports leaving Port Alberni for overseas markets. Watt worked with the filmmaking crew for several days over the course of two years while they were shooting for the film, guiding them to big trees and clearcuts around the Port Renfrew area.“It was an amazing opportunity,” said Watt. “For more than a decade I have looked up to renowned photographer Edward Burtynsky and I’m honoured to have worked alongside him and the rest of the talented team on this powerful film. It’s been a great reminder that, on a global scale, the ancient forests of BC are some of the most precious and threatened places on the planet.”

“Seeing the destruction of Vancouver Island’s ancient forests depicted alongside the world’s largest and most polluting mines, most destructive machines, iconic endangered species like Sumatran tigers, and coral bleaching events in the Great Barrier Reef really puts the situation into context,” stated Ancient Forest Alliance Campaigner Andrea Inness.

“BC’s old-growth temperate rainforests are globally significant. Not only are they admired and visited by millions of people from around the world, they are an important component in the fight against dangerous climate change. They store more carbon per hectare than any forest on Earth. Continuing to log these carbon sinks – particularly in light of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s recent findings – is downright foolish.”

“The BC government has a window of opportunity right now to protect the last remnant tracts of productive old-growth in BC before they’re lost, but first they need a major wake-up call. BC decision-makers need to listen to the messages that films like Anthropocene are sending: that our extractive, resource-based economy has done irreparable damage to the planet and that we need to apply our ingenuity towards innovative and truly sustainable solutions.”

 

Background information on old-growth forests
Old-growth forests are vital to sustaining unique endangered species, climate stability, tourism, clean water, wild salmon, and the cultures of many First Nations. On BC’s southern coast, satellite photos show that at least 75% of the original, productive old-growth forests have been logged, including well over 90% of the valley bottoms where the largest trees grow. Only about 8% of Vancouver Island’s original, productive old-growth forests are protected in parks and Old-Growth Management Areas (see maps and stats at: https://16.52.162.165/ancient-forests/before-after-old-growth-maps/).

Old-growth forests – with trees that can be 2,000 years old – are a non-renewable resource under BC’s system of forestry, where second-growth forests are re-logged every 50 to 100 years, never to become old-growth again.The Ancient Forest Alliance is recommending comprehensive, science-based plan to protect endangered old-growth forests, policies that ensure a sustainable, value-added, second-growth forest industry, and support for First Nations land use plans, Indigenous Protected Areas, and sustainable economic development and diversification in lieu of old-growth logging.

Despite their 2017 election platform promise to use the ecosystem-based management approach of the Great Bear Rainforest as a model for managing old-growth forests across the province, the BC NDP government has yet to take any meaningful action toward this commitment.

 

Old-growth logging in 2017 - Edinburgh Mt

VIDEO: What Will it Take to Save BC’s Old-Growth Forests?

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What Will it Take to Save BC’s Old-Growth Forests? 

Summer 2018 marked the 25-year anniversary of the Clayoquot Sound mass blockades, where over 12,000 people took part in the largest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history to protect the area’s remaining intact ancient forests from logging. 25 years on, old-growth forests in Clayoquot Sound and across BC are still awaiting protection and, on Vancouver Island, thousands of hectares of ancient forest ecosystems are being forever lost to industrial logging each year.

To commemorate these landmark protests, the AFA released a series of films exploring the significance of the War in the Woods of the 80’s and 90’s, the ecological and economic values of old-growth forests, and the role of Indigenous communities in their protection.

This film, which concludes our series, presents an overview of these issues and the solutions urgently needed to finally protect ancient forests. These solutions, including science-based old-growth protection legislation; policies that ensure sustainable, value-added second-growth forestry; and support for First Nations’ sustainable economic diversification, are fully within reach. They require political will from the NDP provincial government and broad support from British Columbians from all walks of life.

See interviews by Ken Wu (Ancient Forest Alliance co-founder), TJ Watt (Ancient Forest Alliance photographer and co-founder), Valerie Langer (former Friends of Clayoquot Sound Campaign Organizer), Paul George (Wilderness Committee co-founder), Dr. Andy MacKinnon (forest ecologist, co-author of the Plants of Coastal BC), Arnie Bercov (Public and Private Workers of Canada President), Dan Hager (Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce President), Andrea Inness (Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner), Eli Enns (Tla-o-qui-aht Ha’uukmin Tribal Park co-founder, Indigenous Circle of Experts Co-Chair), and Tyson Atleo (Ahousaht hereditary leader)

Please help us in calling on the NDP government to finally end the decades-long battle for BC’s ancient forests by sending an instant message at www.ancientforestalliance.org/send-a-message today.

Destinations: Port Renfrew

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Pacific Yachting
September 20th, 2018

With a new well-protected marina, Wild Renfrew is the perfect stopover for cruising the west coast of Vancouver Island

Pacific Gateway Marina, built on the south shore of Port San Juan in Port Renfrew, is so new it doesn’t show up on even the most updated charts. It’s still a marina in evolution but the most important aspects are in place: the heavy breakwater, a set of sturdy docks, a fuel dock and fish-cleaning stations. The breakwater is essential, as the frequent west and southwest winds funnel up Port San Juan and there’s not even a small land protrusion to shield a vessel from the wind and waves. Years ago, we anchored here and we rocked and rolled throughout the night; we never stopped again on the way to and from Barkley Sound.

And we aren’t alone. One of the impediments to cruisers visiting Vancouver Island’s west coast from the south has been the long slog from Becher Bay or Sooke to Barkley Sound. The approximately 90- mile run is a daunting distance, especially for smaller sailboats. Catching an ebbing tide can help during the trip, but you must fight the flood at some stage. That’s why having a safe stop at Port Renfrew’s marina is such a pleasure—it cuts the voyage into two almost equal segments.

This heavy-duty breakwater was built to protect the marina against any weather.
This heavy-duty breakwater was built to protect the marina against any weather.

WE’D LEFT CADBORO BAY in Beyond the Stars, our Hanse 411, for the short trip to Becher Bay. The sun was hot early on, a welcome change from our region’s long, rainy and cold winter. The sky filled with puffy clouds resembling woolly sheep- skins. A few Dall porpoises sliced their ins through the water, while gulls raised a racket as they dove into a herring ball. Some hitched a ride on floating logs, reminding us to be watchful and recalling the adage from ancient mariner Bruce Taylor, “don’t steer your boat where the seagulls walk.”

We sped through Race Rock Passage, with its black-and-white ringed lighthouse starkly outlined against the glacier-capped Olympic Mountains. Whirl Bay presented a surprisingly strong back-eddy where lat circles were ringed by tiny whitecaps—small white horses on a trot—halved our speed. A fishboat so laden its gunnels nearly touched the water passed by. We anchored in Becher Bay behind Wolf Island and spent the afternoon recovering from the bustle of getting ready for a seven-week cruise. Early the next morning, we began the 50-mile passage to Port Renfrew.

PACIFIC GATEWAY MARINA From a distance, the new rock breakwater on the marina’s northwest and southwest sides is high enough that only the white-hatted pilings show. The new facility replaced an old, unprotected marina whose docks were deployed only during the summer. Sport-fishing boats are the new dock’s primary occupants while both sides of a long finger offer transient moorage for vessels up to 80 feet. We had five metres under the keel at low tide.

PGM is part of the Mill Bay Marine Group, which has purchased, built or refurbished five marinas in B.C. over the past several years, including this one, Mill Bay, MK Marina in Kitimat, Port Sidney and Port Browning.

A high wall, made up of grey igneous rock and brittle layers of black shale, looms behind the marina. It’s where the breakwater was born. “It took several years to get the permits in place,” said Glenn Brown, whose wife Vicki Asselin, is the marina site manager. “We started blasting in January 2016. Three 50-ton and two 30-ton excavators loaded the rock into trucks. Down a newly built road, the trucks backed up to the water and dumped their loads until the rock remained above water. As the breakwater grew, they’d back up further, on and on, seven days a week from late May until the end of September until the barrier rose two metres above high tide.

“We had a storm this winter,” Glenn continued.“It took down trees but the sea didn’t come over the breakwater. A good test! I think this will be a world-class marina. The owner, Andrew Purdey, does things right. No skimping on materials.”

During our visit, we registered up to 18 knots of wind but didn’t feel a ripple. A Cal 24, Pizza Pocket, tied up behind us. Vancouverites Dave and Vesna said it was their first time on Vancouver Island’s west coast. “We read about the new marina in a Pacific Yachting ad,” said Vesna. “We wouldn’t have come if it hadn’t been for this place to tie up. It would’ve been just too far for a small boat to venture out.”

Plans for the marina are on-going. Water and power are slated for installation in 2018. Once a sewage treatment plant is built, laundry, showers and toilets will replace the porta-potties. The post-and- beam structure at the top of the dock may become a restaurant; in the meantime, a Bridgeman’s food truck sells burgers and other fast food. A hotel will be built at the bottom of the rock wall and cottages will occupy the acreage owned by the development. Purdey has already installed a helipad so he can visit the marina—and fish—frequently.

LATER THAT DAY, I met a group of fishing guides, baseball caps in place, relaxing at a picnic table with a beer, a smoke and fried onion rings. A strong part of the local culture, they’d had a successful day with their B.C. and Alberta-based clients, each having caught their quota of two chinook salmon and one halibut (two coho later in the season).“They must all have their fishing licence before they come,” said self-appointed spokesman, Brannon Derek. “We take a maximum of four passengers and charge up to $1,300 a day. Plus tips, of course.

“I see you’re all having a beer together,” I said.“Is there no competition among you fishing guides?” “Nah,” said Brannon. “We all work together. We’re often busy seven days a week. And we help each other. In fact, a freak wave broke the windows on another boat just yesterday and cut a client’s neck badly. A lot of blood. We wrapped a big towel around his neck. Then we swapped boats. The other per took my boat and delivered the injured guy to shore while I slowly brought back the stricken boat.”

Fishing guide John Wells has lived in Port Renfrew for 17 years and loves the freer, non-city aspects of the outdoor life. He has the build and complexion of some- one who spends most of his time on the water and in the sun.“This is a great place to live,” he said. “I like the natural beauty of this region. It’s outdoor living yet we’re close to Victoria if need be. We’re lucky up here, leaving the city stress behind. In the winter, I hunt deer and Canada geese.”Then, looking up at me from under his baseball cap’s rim, he asked if I liked crab. “Who doesn’t?” I answered. “Well,” he said, “you see those traps on the first dock? Go haul out that line next to them and you’ll ind crabs in the crab hotel. Take what you want.” This generous offer wasn’t wasted on us; we fished out three lovely Dungeness and had a feast.

PROVISIONING IS SCARCE in Port Renfrew. A small general store serves the 250 year-round residents and visiting hikers and campers, but for most, it’s too far to walk to from the marina. However, if you’re tired of cooking aboard, besides the food truck, three eateries are easily reached on foot. You can follow the road around or take a bit of a short cut by climb- ing the 122 steps to the upper road.You’ll skip-quickly ind Tomi’s, a small place serving breakfast and lunch. At exactly one kilo- metre from the marina, Coastal Kitchen Café is operated by Chelsea Kuzman. The café cooks breakfast and a lunch that includes calamari, salmon, halibut, burgers and pie.

I ate lunch at the Renfrew Pub (1.3 kilometres from the marina), once the Port Renfrew Hotel. It burned down in 2003, was rebuilt as the pub and now rents cottages down the boardwalk that also leads to an unprotected, seasonal government dock. Visitors come here for holidays, or stay before hiking the West Coast Trail, which runs between Port Renfrew and Bamield, or the less strenuous Juan de Fuca Trail (heading south from Renfrew.) The well-known Botanical Beach and the start of the Marine Trail are located another 2.5 kilometres down the road.

I’d been told that I should seek out Johnny Mac, the unofficial mayor of Port Renfrew: “He’ll be at the pub on the first stool at the bar when you come in the door. Can’t miss him.” Indeed, Johnny was just finishing his pint; sporting a short grizzled beard, he joined me on the deck while I ate a terrific seafood chowder. (The pub’s menu promotes a drink called the Johnny Mac.) He said he’s travelled the world competing in the sport of archery and represented Canada at the Seoul Olympic Games—one of his proudest achievements. But after retiring as a shipwright, he chose to live in the small isolated town of Port Renfrew. “For the fishing and the lifestyle,” he said. “I care about Port Renfrew. I want people to enjoy it here. I often help them. I’m like a personal tourist guide.”

THE BIG TREE TOUR From Port Renfrew, TJ Watt operates the Big Tree Tour (bigtreetours.ca), using his sturdy van to drive up to six visitors to view some of the biggest and oldest trees in the world. Some may be 1,000 years old. “I was on a photography trip and found these mammoth trees,” said TJ. “I identified the groves as a special old-growth forest of high conservation and tourism value. We’ve called it Avatar Grove. Seeing them, the trees shifted my baseline and I joined conservation groups.”

With Ken Wu, he founded the Ancient Forest Alliance, which, along with the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce’s strong support, has campaigned to prevent the trees from being logged. Since identifying the groves, TJ has built boardwalks clad in non-slip chicken wire to protect roots and provide excellent viewing platforms. While there, he explains the climate and environment that allows trees to grow to these great heights and girth.“The tour is of moderate difficulty but I’ve had visitors from around the world and of all ages,”he said. “These trees always amaze people and that keeps me excited too. It’s a spiritual experience to see them.”

Depending on weather and tides and the time visitors have, Big Tree Tours can tailor tours to include visits to Sombrio Beach and Botanical Beach.

Atavar-Grove. The tree in the foreground is an old-growth redcedar. The tree in the background is a giant Douglas-fir.
Atavar-Grove. The tree in the foreground is an old-growth redcedar. The tree in the background is a giant Douglas-fir.

THE WILD RENFREW ADVENTURE CENTRE, with offices next to the pub on the boardwalk, also offers tailored adventures. “Along with partners and guides, the centre conducts ocean wildlife tours in RIBS, focusing on all the ocean’s creatures, not just whales,” said manager Martin Knor. “With Pacheedaht guides, canoes and kayaks we will explore the Gordon and San Juan rivers. And we offer nature tours of the nearby big trees like Avatar Grove, the beaches, lakes and intertidal zones. We take walk-ins from yachts or cottages. Plus, we’ll rent electric scooters for people to explore on their own.”

Port Renfrew is rebranding itself: “Wild Renfrew—Wilderness within Reach.” Vacation cottages are springing up. The Chamber of Commerce sees tourism as a job creator. The new marina for boaters and the planned accommodations on its site will add more allure for visitors.

With all these visitors, by sea and by land, will Port Renfrew become less wild? Will it lose its small-town, rough-hewn character? Perhaps, but not for quite a while yet.

If You Go

Pacific Gateway Marina
pacificgatewaymarina.ca

Wild Renfrew Adventure Centre
wildrenfrew.com

Etymology

Before Spanish explorer José Maria Narváez called the inlet “Port San Juan,” the Pacheedaht First Nation, meaning “People of the Sea Foam,” had their village sites around the bay. according to Raincoast Place Names, Narváez arrived here on June 24, 1789, the date purported to be John the Baptist’s birthday. The Port’s name honoured this New Testament figure, a favourite in Spanish Catholicism. Captain Vancouver recorded the name on his charts. The European settlement at the head of the bay also called itself San Juan, but continual confusion with the U.S.’s San Juan Island led to a renaming. Port Renfrew may refer to the Prince of Wales, who also holds the title of Baron Renfrew.

Read the original article

AFA’s Executive Director Ken Wu steps down to start new organization, the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance, while remaining on AFA’s Board

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Victoria, BC – The Ancient Forest Alliance’s co-founder, Ken Wu, has announced his departure from his position as the organization’s Executive Director of eight years, since co-founding the group in early 2010.  Wu is currently establishing a new national organization, the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance, that will be focused on promoting “ecosystem literacy” and the science-based protection of all native ecosystems in Canada.

Wu co-founded the Ancient Forest Alliance with TJ Watt in 2010 after working for a decade as the Executive Director and Campaign Director of the Wilderness Committee’s Victoria chapter. Watt, the AFA’s Campaigner and Photographer, whose photos of BC’s biggest trees and stumps have graced news and social media sites around the world since the organization’s inception, will join Campaigner Andrea Inness and Administrative Director Joan Varley to form an Executive Team that will replace the Executive Director and lead the effective management of the organization. Wu will remain on the Board of Directors of the Ancient Forest Alliance and will continue to assist the organization in an advisory, training, and fundraising capacity.

“It’s time for me to move on from running the day to day operations of the Ancient Forest Alliance as its Executive Director and to commence with my new organization, the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance, which I’ve been thinking about for several years now,” stated Wu. “For the past few years, I’ve had to split my time between Victoria, where I’ve lived for the previous 20 years running environmental groups including the Ancient Forest Alliance, and Montreal, where my family is. It’s become unfeasible to spend so much time in BC away from my 2-year-old daughter in particular.”

“I’m very excited to start a new national organization that will work to protect endangered ecosystems across the country, based on science and traditional ecological knowledge, and that incorporates the many insights on environmental campaigning that I’ve gained over the span of 27 years at the Ancient Forest Alliance and other environmental organizations. While I love old-growth temperate rainforests and am fully dedicated to their protection, I’ve always been a fanatic for the diversity of native ecosystems in Canada and around the world. For years, I’ve yearned to further explore and help protect the prairie grasslands and badlands, the dry Ponderosa pine forests, grasslands and “pocket desert” of the BC Interior, the diverse Carolinian deciduous forests of southern Ontario, the spectacular, rich marine ecosystems of both the East and West Coast, and the overlooked and neglected freshwater ecosystems of Canada.”

“I will continue to advise and assist the Ancient Forest Alliance in their work and will partner with the AFA through the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance on campaigns to protect old-growth temperate rainforests, which has been an enduring passion of mine since I was a child.”

“I’m proud of the work the Ancient Forest Alliance has done over the years, protecting the Avatar Grove, building alliances with First Nations, environmental groups, and non-traditional allies including businesses, Chambers of Commerce, unions, and forestry workers, and changing the narrative in BC forestry politics to show that protecting old-growth forests is a net benefit for the economy.”

“I feel confident leaving the AFA, given the organization now has long-term, dedicated, and highly skilled staff; is financially viable having grown almost ten-fold in annual revenues since its inception; and has an extensive, dedicated base of supporters that will always keep it afloat. At the same time, the organization still is modest in size and still needs to grow more in order to hire additional staff and increase its capacity to ensure the protection of BC’s old-growth forests. To this end, I will continue to assist the AFA everywhere I can while building my new organization.”

Since its founding, the Ancient Forest Alliance has grown from a small organization with just two staff, 300 donors and an annual revenue of $60,000, to nine primary staff, over 20,000 donors, and projected revenues of $600,000 this year – the vast majority of which comes from individual donors within British Columbia.

The Ancient Forest Alliance is best known for its successful campaign with the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce to protect the Avatar Grove old-growth forest and for building a high-quality boardwalk in the grove to protect the forest understory, enhance visitor safety and access, and to support the local eco-tourism economy. Since then, Port Renfrew has been dubbed the “Tall Trees Capital of Canada” and has experienced a massive surge in economic activity due to the interest in old-growth tourism around the town. The AFA’s campaign to vastly expand the ancient forest movement to include “non-traditional allies” including Chambers of Commerce (resulting in a resolution by the BC Chamber of Commerce in 2016 calling on the BC government to expand old-growth protections in the province to support the economy); with forestry workers including the Public and Private Workers of Canada (PPWC) (who passed a resolution calling for an end to old-growth logging on Vancouver Island in 2017), and with local governments (including the Union of BC Municipalities which called for an end to old-growth logging on Vancouver Island in 2016), has helped to change the narrative in the province that protecting old-growth forests hampers the economy and jobs – instead, showing the opposite to be true, that protecting old-growth forests creates significant revenues and employment opportunities in local communities.

The AFA has also helped to raise the profile of endangered old-growth forests in the province, partly through identifying and nick-naming ancient groves and trees, including “Big Lonely Doug,” Canada’s 2ndlargest Douglas-fir tree near Port Renfrew, and by developing a viral campaign earlier this year against the logging of old-growth stands in the Nahmint Valley near Port Alberni, where Canada’s 9thwidest Douglas-fir was cut down. The organization’s campaigns have exerted significant pressure on both the previous BC Liberal government, which backed down from opening up Old-Growth Management Areas for logging and from expanding Tree Farm Licences in the BC Interior due to pressure from the AFA and its allies, and now the new NDP government, which is feeling the heat in particular over old-growth logging by its own logging agency, BC Timber Sales, due to the AFA’s campaign in the Nahmint Valley.

More Background Info

Old-growth forests in BC are home to unique and endangered species that can only live in old-growth forests, are vital pillars of BC’s multi-billion dollar tourism industry, store vast amounts of atmospheric carbon, provide clean water for communities and wild fisheries, and are vital parts of many First Nations cultures. The 50- to 100-year-old rotation age for logging in BC ensures that old-growth forests will never return after they are cut; therefore, logging old-growth forests is a non-renewable activity. Large-scale industrial logging is the norm over vast regions of British Columbia, making it the last western jurisdiction where old-growth logging is still a dominant economic activity. On Vancouver Island, already about 80% of the original, productive old-growth forests have been logged, including well over 90% of the valley bottoms where the largest trees grow. Only about 8% of the original, productive old-growth forests are protected in parks and Old-Growth Management Areas on Vancouver Island.

The Ancient Forest Alliance is pushing for the BC government to enact new legislation to protect BC’s remaining old-growth forests based on science, while also calling on the BC government to support First Nations land use planning with conservation financing dollars to support the sustainable economic development and diversification of the communities as old-growth forests are protected.  In the meantime, immediate measures are needed to halt old-growth logging while land use plans are developed, including implementing moratoria in old-growth “hotspots” (i.e. more intact areas of greater conservation significance), effective legislation to protect the biggest trees with surrounding buffer zones as well as the grandest groves, upgrades to “non-legal” Old-Growth Management Areas into becoming legally-binding entities, and a halt to the BC government’s logging agency, BC Timber Sales, from issuing old-growth cutblocks. In addition, a BC land acquisition fund is needed to purchase and protect endangered ecosystems on private lands, including old-growth forests.

Wu’s new organization, the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance (EEA), will focus on lobbying the provinces and territories to adopt the federal 17% protection target by 2020 for Canada’s terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems, while ultimately pushing for federal and provincial endangered ecosystems legislation that requires protection targets be established based on the latest conservation biology science and Indigenous traditional ecological knowledge in all ecosystem types across the country. The organization will also focus on promoting “ecosystem literacy” to help expand awareness among Canadians about the biogeography, flora, fauna, and conservation status of ecosystems across the country, including where they live.

The Endangered Ecosystems Alliance’s first launch events will occur in Victoria on Sept. 17 (Alix Goolden Hall, 7-9pm), in Avatar Grove on Sept. 18 (meeting at the trailhead at 1pm and touring the grove until 4pm), and in Vancouver on Sept. 19 (Croatian Centre, 3250 Commercial Drive, 7-9pm), where guest speakers will include renowned conservation biologist Dr. Reed Noss, botanist Dr. Andy MacKinnon, conservationist Vicky Husband, forestry worker and union leader Arnold Bercov, and Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner Andrea Inness.

The EEA’s new website (still under development) can be seen at:  www.EndangeredEcosystemsAlliance.org