Plan to allow logging of old growth forests draws criticism

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Check out this Global News piece about conservationists’ disappointment with the BC NDP and their plans to auction off 1,300 hectares of old-growth on Vancouver Island, featuring Sierra Club BC’s Jens Wieting, and footage by AFA’s TJ Watt.

Keep in mind the statistics stated by the government are misleading. The BC government is combining the old-growth stats from Vancouver Island/South Coast – where very little has been protected (about 6% of Vancouver Island and 8% of the SW Mainland’s productive forests are in parks) with the Great Bear Rainforest, the northern rainforest where 85% of all the forests are off-limits due to a massive campaign of boycotts, protests, and negotiations for over two decades. To lump together the northern rainforest where regulations are strong (and where the trees are smaller and the forests are different) with the southern rainforest where the old-growth protections are sparse (and where the trees are much larger and the forests are generally more diverse) is disingenuous. When they say ‘55% of the old-growth forests on the coast are protected’ – the vast majority of that is in the Great Bear Rainforest, not on Vancouver Island where the conflict rages and old-growth logging occurs at a scale of about 11,000 hectares a year (in 2016) and where the forests are more highly endangered.

See the original clip here

The Cheewhat Giant, Canada's largest tree

3 ways to celebrate & support ancient forests this month

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1. Big Tree Poster Giveaway

 

From now until Earth Day (April 22nd, 2019), we’re giving away our Big Tree poster set featuring the San Juan Spruce, Canada’s Gnarliest Tree, and the Cheewhat Giant (valued at $25) for FREE! Pick up your poster set by visiting our Victoria office (303-620 View St) on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday from 11am to 4:30pm, order online (S&H fee applies), or call us at 250 896 4007 to arrange for shipping.

2. Get your 2019 Calendars – NOW ONLY $15!

There’s also still time to order your 2019 AFA calendar featuring spectacular photos of the Nahmint Valley, Meares and Flores Islands, the McKelvie and Caycuse watersheds, wildlife, and more – all taken by the AFA’s TJ Watt. We’ve dropped the price from $25 to $15, with all proceeds going toward our ancient forest campaigns!

 

3. Celebrate Earth Day with our AFA T-shirt photo challenge

Our new AFA t-shirts are a big hit and we want to see photos of you wearing yours in the great outdoors!

 

Snap a photo in a forest wearing your AFA t-shirt and share it on or before Earth Day (Monday, April 22nd) on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter using the hashtag #AFAEarthDay2019 (and make sure your post is public).

 

Order your t-shirt online by Tuesday, April 16th to allow time for shipping before Earth Day or stop by our office to pick one up in person.

 

Ancient Forest Alliance Photographer & Campaigner TJ Watt stands atop an 8ft wide old-growth redcedar stump in a recent clearcut by Teal-Jones on Edinburgh Mt near Port Renfrew.

On International Day of Forests, conservation groups call on B.C. government to immediately halt logging of last intact old-growth areas

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VICTORIA, BC – Environmental organizations Ancient Forest Alliance, Sierra Club BC and the Wilderness Committee are calling on the B.C. government to stop issuing logging permits in B.C.’s last remaining intact old-growth forest “hotspots” and endangered old-growth ecosystems and to implement legislation to protect endangered ancient forests. The call coincides with the International Day of Forests (March 21), declared by the United Nations as a day on which to celebrate and raise awareness of the importance of Earth’s forests.

“The BC NDP government has stated that they’re working on a strategy to protect endangered old-growth forests and are making changes to forestry laws,” stated Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner Andrea Inness. “While we are looking forward to hearing about details and timelines, we’re extremely concerned that the business-as-usual liquidation of old-growth forests is continuing in the last remaining intact old-growth ‘hotspots’ with the greatest conservation, cultural, and recreational values.”

About two dozen hotspots have already been identified on Vancouver Island. These include the Nahmint Valley in Hupacasath and Tseshaht territories near Port Alberni, where the B.C. government has direct control over BC Timber Sales, the provincial agency responsible for planning and issuing logging permits. The Central Walbran Valley and Edinburgh Mountain in Pacheedaht territory close to Port Renfrew and East Creek rainforest in Quatsino territory on Vancouver Island’s northwest coast are also considered critical hotspots.

Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner & photographer TJ Watt stands on top of a giant redcedar stump in a clearcut on Edinburgh Mountain near Port Renfrew.

“After decades of destruction, ancient forests and the web of life that depends on them are close to the brink,” stated Sierra Club BC senior forest and climate campaigner Jens Wieting. “Business as usual will result in species loss and leave communities with ecologically, culturally, and economically degraded landscapes. We need a halt on logging in critical areas to allow options for land use planning and time to strengthen regulation before it’s too late.”

Recent research mapping by the Wilderness Committee revealed that, in just five months, the B.C. government approved 314 new logging cutblocks with a total area of 16,000 hectares in critical southern mountain caribou habitat in B.C.’s Interior. This is despite the Province simultaneously working on a conservation plan to protect the highly threatened species.

“A ‘talk-and-log’ scenario is unacceptable given the ecological emergency we’re currently facing in B.C. The B.C. government must stop issuing logging permits in critical old-growth areas before more species fall through the cracks,” said Wilderness Committee campaigner Torrance Coste. “The NDP government needs to quit dragging their heels and show they’re serious about mountain caribou and endangered old-growth forest protection. They need to come up with both immediate and long-term solutions while there are still intact ancient forests left to protect.”

 Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner & photographer TJ Watt stands next to a giant redcedar tree in Eden Grove on Edinburgh Mountain near Port Renfrew.

Old-growth forests are integral for their cultural values for many Indigenous Nations, as habitat for endangered species, and for climate stability, tourism, clean water and wild salmon. B.C.’s temperate rainforests represent the largest remaining tracts of a globally rare ecosystem covering just half a per cent of the planet’s landmass. Outside the Great Bear Rainforest, the vast majority of provincial old-growth forests have been reduced to small percentages of their original extent. Logging continues with little legal safeguards to ensure a minimum protection based on science. Yet the current rate of old-growth logging on Vancouver Island alone is more than three square metres per second, or about thirty-four soccer fields per day.

Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner Andrea Inness stands beside a freshly fallen old-growth redcedar tree in BC Timber Sales cutblock in the Nahmint Valley near Port Alberni.

The environmental organizations are calling on the B.C. government to implement a science-based plan to protect endangered old-growth forests, in line with the NDP’s 2017 election platform commitment to take “an evidence-based scientific approach and use the ecosystem-based management of the Great Bear Rainforest as a model,” support Indigenous Nations’ sustainable economic development and land use plans, and ensure long-term forestry jobs in improved second-growth forest management and value-added manufacturing.

Background information:
For detailed Vancouver Island old-growth mapping and statistics, see:
https://sierraclub.bc.ca/white-rhino-map-shows-vancouver-islands-most-endangered-old-growth-rainforests/

The B.C. government has often stated that “over 55% of Crown old-growth forests on B.C.’s coast are protected,” but fails to mention that the vast majority of coastal old-growth forests that are protected from logging are in the Great Bear Rainforest, not on Vancouver Island, where old-growth forests are highly endangered and old-growth logging continues at a scale of about 10,000 hectares a year.

The government also claims that “on Vancouver Island, over 40% of Crown forests are considered old-growth, with 520,000 hectares that will never be logged.” However, the government hides the fact that the majority of this total area is low-productivity forest (i.e. stunted, marginal forests that grow along the outer coast, in high elevation, or in bogs and are therefore not at risk of being logged).

These numbers also ignore heavily logged forests on private lands, which make up more than a quarter of Vancouver Island and which are largely managed under provincial authority.

Finally, the B.C. government fails to mention how much old-growth has previously been logged on Vancouver Island: almost 80% of the original productive old-growth forest and over 90% of the low elevation, high-productivity stands (e.g. the very rare, monumental old-growth stands currently being logged in the Nahmint Valley and other hotspot areas).

ACTION ALERT: Send a message and help protect spectacular Jurassic Grove!

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Thank you to everyone who made a written submission in support of expanding protections for the Jurassic Grove! The comment period has now closed. We will keep you up to date with any future developments. Thanks!

Conservationists disappointed Budget 2019 fails to prioritize protection of endangered old-growth forests

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For immediate release
February 20, 2019

Victoria, BC – The Ancient Forest Alliance is disappointed the NDP government’s provincial budget, released yesterday, fails to allocate urgently needed funding for the protection of endangered old-growth forests.

“Despite the ecological and climate crisis engulfing BC’s productive ancient forests, the NDP government’s 2019 budget is bereft of meaningful solutions,” stated Forest Campaigner Andrea Inness. “For example, the budget lacks even modest funding for a desperately-needed provincial land acquisition fund to protect endangered old-growth forests and other ecosystems on private lands.”

Many of BC’s most endangered and biologically rich ecosystems, including old-growth forests, drinking watersheds, and areas of high scenic and recreation value, are found on private lands, which make up only five percent of BC’s land base, including over 20 percent of Vancouver Island.

Without dedicated, annual provincial funding to acquire private lands and add them to the province’s protected area system, ancient temperate rainforests such as the mountainside above the world-famous Cathedral Grove, along with hundreds of other endangered forests, wetlands, and grasslands across the province, remain vulnerable to development.

“The NDP government has a unique opportunity right now to obtain matching funds from the federal government’s $1.3 billion investment in conservation partnerships and protected area expansion, announced last year,” stated Inness. “This money could go to purchasing private lands or expanding protected areas on Crown lands, but no additional funding is allocated for conservation in Budget 2019. The BC government is missing out on a first-rate opportunity.”

“We’re encouraged by the government’s commitment in last week’s throne speech to implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and by their new, three-year $297 million revenue sharing agreement with BC First Nations, which includes support for environmental protection, although much of that funding will go to investments in infrastructure, health, and housing for First Nations communities.”

“A much greater funding commitment is needed to enable the sustainable development and diversification of First Nations economies while adequately supporting land-use planning processes and Indigenous protected areas that include old-growth forests.”

Background information
The Ancient Forest Alliance is proposing the BC government create a dedicated provincial land acquisition fund, starting with an initial $44 million annual commitment and rising to an annual $100 million through $10 million increases each year, to enable the timely purchase of significant tracts of endangered private lands of high conservation, scenic, and recreation value to add to BC’s parks and protected areas system. The group is asking the province to explore dedicated funding mechanisms, such as redirecting the province’s unredeemed bottle deposit funds (worth an estimated $5 to $15 million/year) toward private land acquisition.

The AFA is also calling on the BC government to implement a series of policy changes to protect endangered old-growth forests on Crown lands, including a comprehensive, science-based plan similar to the ecosystem-based management approach used in the Great Bear Rainforest; conservation financing support for First Nations communities in lieu of old-growth logging; and regulations and incentives to accelerate the transition to a sustainable, value-added, second-growth forest industry in BC.

Victoria City Council unanimously adopts resolution calling for the protection of Vancouver Island’s old-growth forests

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Victoria City Council unanimously adopted a resolution on Thursday calling on the BC government to protect Vancouver Island’s endangered old-growth forests, starting with a moratoria on old-growth logging, and to work with First Nations, local communities, labour organizations, and industry to pursue a transition to a sustainable, second-growth forest industry! Council endorsed the resolution for consideration at this year’s annual convention of the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities (AVICC), representing 53 municipalities and regional districts along BC’s coast, which passed a similar resolution on old-growth forest protection in 2016. 

The AFA commends Victoria Council for this decision, which adds to the growing list of municipalities, chambers of commerce, businesses, unions, and recreation and conservation groups across BC who have signed resolutions or statements, urging the BC government to increase protection for BC’s endangered old-growth forests.

Canada’s ‘most magnificent old-growth forest’ near Port Renfrew

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Watch video news coverage here 

CHEK News: Conservationists are asking the provincial government to protect what they are calling Canada’s “most magnificent” old-growth forest near Port Renfrew. Ceilidh Millar reports.

It may remind some of a prehistoric-creature, but even Hollywood would be hard-pressed to re-create a sight as spectacular as “Mossome Grove.”

“It’s the most magnificent and beautiful forest in the country,” said Ken Wu with the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance.

Short for “mossy and awesome” Mossome Grove is a 13-hectare old-growth grove located along the San Juan River near Port Renfrew.

The conservation group recently identified the area, and say it is home to some of the top ten widest trees in the province including a Sitka spruce with a diameter of 3.1 metres.

There is also a giant Bigleaf maple, nicknamed the “Woolly Giant,” which has produced a branch measuring 76-feet in length.

Wu says it could the longest horizontal branch on any tree in B.C.

“They are also very old,” Wu explained. “I would estimate the spruce are as young as 300 or 400-years-old and maybe as old as 800-years-old.”

They aren’t revealing its exact location, for fear it will be logged as the grove is on mostly unprotected land.

The grove is situated on Crown land in the unceded territory of the Pacheedaht First Nation band.

“It’s a mishmash of different jurisdictions but most of it could be logged,” Wu said.

Conservationists say the province needs a more protective old-growth policy.

“They are logging about 10,000 hectares which is over 10,000 football fields of old-growth every year on Vancouver Island alone,” explained Wu.

The B.C. Ministry of Forests said in a statement that the grove is contained in a woodlot operated by Pacheedaht Forestry Ltd., and there is no imminent logging planned.

“The Ancient Forest Alliance supplied the ministry with an updated map of the grove area yesterday, so ministry staff are currently reviewing the map to determine what protections exist in the area,” it said.

Under the Vancouver Island Land Use Plan, more than 13 per cent of Vancouver Island will never be logged, including 520,000 hectares of old growth forests, the statement said.

However, a proper protection policy can’t come soon enough for those fighting to save our forests.

“Let’s leave these ancient trees,” explained Wu. “Especially these magnificent valley bottom giants like this for future generations of all creatures.”

Conservationists want protection on ‘Canada’s most magnificent’ old-growth forest

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The Canadian Press
January 12, 2019

VANCOUVER — Conservationists in British Columbia are pushing for protections on an area of old-growth forests they describe as “Canada’s most magnificent.”

The grove is located on Crown land in the San Juan River Valley near Port Renfrew on southern Vancouver Island in the unceded territory of the Pacheedaht First Nation band.

The 13-hectare grove of immense old-growth Sitka spruce and big-leaf maples draped in hanging mosses and ferns was first located in October and explored again in late December, said Ken Wu, executive director of the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance.

“It is probably the most spectacular and beautiful old growth forest I’ve ever seen and I’ve explored a lot of old growth forests,” Wu said. “(The trees) look shaggy because they’ve got all this hanging mosses and ferns on their branches. So they look like ancient prehistoric creatures.”

Most of the grove is unprotected, with a small portion — about four hectares — off-limits to loggers through the provincial government’s old-growth management area, he said.

Some of the trees in this grove are near-record sized, including a Sitka spruce with a diameter of 3.1 metres that would rank among the top 10 in the province, Wu said.

A massive maple that conservationists have nicknamed the “Woolly Giant” may have the longest horizontal branch of any tree in British Columbia, measuring 23.1 metres, he said.

“It’s covered in thick mats of hanging mosses and ferns, resembling a prehistoric monster.”

Wu said conservationists are calling this area of old-growth forests, “The “Mossome” Grove,” which is short for mossy and awesome.

“It includes lots of the tall, straight Sitka spruce like Roman pillars and they’re very impressive giants along with ancient moss covered shaggy, big-leaf maples,” he said.

It’s hard to say how old these trees are, Wu said.

“These are great growing conditions,” he said. “The trees can be as young as 400 years old but I would estimate around the 800-year-old range for the big spruce.”

Ancient Forest Alliance and other conservation groups are asking the provincial government to save not just this newly found old-growth forest but others too, he said.

This forest can be saved from logging if the provincial government simply extends its existing old growth management area, which currently protects about two hectares of this grove, he said.

The B.C. Ministry of Forests said in a statement that the grove is contained in a woodlot operated by Pacheedaht Forestry Ltd., and there is no imminent logging planned.

“The Ancient Forest Alliance supplied the ministry with an updated map of the grove area yesterday, so ministry staff are currently reviewing the map to determine what protections exist in the area,” it said.

Under the Vancouver Island Land Use Plan, over 13 per cent of Vancouver Island will never be logged, including 520,000 hectares of old growth forests, the statement said.

The ministry is also updating the forest inventory for Vancouver Island and monitoring the effectiveness of best management practices related to protecting legacy, or big trees, it said.

Wu said conservation organizations want comprehensive science-based legislation to protect not just this grove but all old-growth forests.

Old-growth forests are vital to sustaining wildlife, including unique species that can’t live in the second-growth tree plantations that old growth forests are being replaced with, he said.

The Mossome Grove is home to not just some of the oldest and grandest trees but also animals and birds such as Roosevelt elk, black-tailed deer, black bears, wolves, cougars, marbled murrelet, northern goshawk, pygmy owl, screech owl, Vaux’s swift, and long-eared bats.

They are also vital for tourism, providing clean water for communities and wild salmon, for carbon storage, and for many First Nations cultures, Wu said.

“We’ve already lost well over 90 per cent of our grandest old-growth forests in the valley bottoms,” he said.

Read this Canadian Press article in the Globe and Mail, the National Post, or in the Toronto Star.

Mossome Grove: ‘One of the most beautiful’ forests on Earth

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Note: Mossome Grove is a 13 hectare grove, not 6 hectares, as stated in the article

Times Colonist, January 13, 2019

Ancient Forest Alliancee campaigner and photographer TJ Watt by the ninth-widest big-leaf maple in B.C., in the Mossome Grove near Port Renfrew.

A six-hectare parcel of old-growth forest in the San Juan River Valley, near Port Renfrew, has been dubbed Mossome Grove (a combination of “mossy” and “awesome”) by the conservationists who recently came across it.

It includes huge old-growth Sitka spruce and big-leaf maples adorned with hanging moss and ferns.

At present, most of the grove is unprotected. It is on Crown land.

Ken Wu, executive director of the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance, said the site is special.

“I think anybody who sees the photos and, at some point, gets a chance to visit the area will recognize it as one of the most beautiful and photogenic forests on Earth, literally. It would be hard for Hollywood to top this one.”

Wu said he marvels at the rare combination of “tall, straight, solid Sitka spruce” and ancient, mossy maples resembling “prehistoric, shaggy monsters.”

“They’re like the epitome of all the greatest qualities of ancient forests combined in one grove.”

TJ Watt of the Ancient Forest Alliance said the grove should be “the new poster child for B.C.’s endangered ancient forests.”

For now, those who found the grove are not saying exactly where it us, Wu said.

“At this point in time, we’re not going to disclose the location because there’s no trails there and it’s a fairly sensitive site,” he said. “First things first, we’ve got to get the area protected and the old growth protected.”

Included in the grove are the ninth-widest Sitka spruce and ninth-widest big-leaf maple in B.C., Wu said.

“The spruce is over 10 feet wide, the maple is almost eight feet wide.”

He said second-growth forest dominates much of the B.C. landscape, so it’s important to protect the major old growth that is left.

Wu said the provincial government is working to establish a new old-growth management policy.

“We don’t know what that consists of yet.”

See the original article here

Old-growth forest near Port Renfrew needs protection, group says

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Watch this CTV piece about Mossome Grove, located by conservationists from the Ancient Forest Alliance and Endangered Ecosystems Alliance in October

See the original news piece here