Announcements

On April 28th the Vancouver Natural History Society (Nature Vancouver) awarded the Ancient Forest Alliance's executive director Ken Wu for his years of old-growth forest activism. Past recipients of the Frank Sanford Award for Community Service include the late mountaineer and conservationist John Clarke, journalist Larry Pynn, and outdoor writer Jack Christie. Amazingly, the organization is 98 years old, dating back to 1918! They far predate the modern environmental movement, and many of the members are “ecologist elders” with tremendous knowledge and insight on a vast array of natural history subjects. Board members Daphne Nagorsen and David Cook presented the award to Ken.

WHEN: Tuesday April 26, 6:30pm (doors 6pm)
WHERE: Rio Theatre, Vancouver (1660 E Broadway, at Commercial Drive – see MAP)
TICKETS: $15 – purchase online HERE or at the door (**note: 19+ event)

As well as the film screening, the evening will feature:
* Slideshow presentation by the AFA about the state of BC’s old-growth forests
* Q&A session with Elizabeth Yake (producer), Doug Chapman (lead actor-TBC), Ken Wu & TJ Watt (AFA)
* Raffle prize draw! (raffle tickets sold at event)
* Drink bar (note that this is a 19+ event)

For more info, contact organizer Ariane Tisseur at arianet604@gmail.com

RAFFLE PRIZES DONATED BY:
Aphrodite’s Organic Café and Pie Shop (www.organiccafe.ca)
Banyen Books & Sound (www.banyen.com)
Bicycle Hub (www.bicyclehub.ca)
Bikeroom (www.bikeroom.ca)
Eternal Abundance Organic Vegan Grocery & Café (eternalabundance.ca)
Halfmoon Yoga (www.shophalfmoon.com)
Icebreaker Merino Clothing Inc. (ca.icebreaker.com/en/home)
LUSH (www.lush.ca)
MEC (www.mec.ca)
Sea to Sky Gondola (www.seatoskygondola.com)
Semperviva
Showers Pass (www.showerspass.com)
Urban Body Organics (www.elementswellnesscentre.com)
…and more!

POSTER PRINTING DONATED BY: Spike Imaging (www.spikeimaging.com)

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ABOUT THE FILM – HADWIN’S JUDGEMENT

2015 Canada/UK 87 minutes
Directed by Sasha Snow
Produced by Elizabeth Yake, Dave Allen, David Christensen & Yves J. Ma
Featuring Doug Chapman, Herb Hammond, John Vaillant
Winner of VIMFF Best Canadian Film * Nominated for Canadian Screen Award for Best Feature Length Documentary & Best Cinematography

Hadwin’s Judgement is a spellbinding and visually stunning account of environmentalism, obsession, and myth set in the Pacific Northwest. It chronicles one man’s resolute struggle to reconcile what he regarded as an intolerable and conspiratorial affront – not just to the land, but to humanity as well. Based on John Vaillant’s award-winning book The Golden Spruce, the film covers the events that led up to the infamous destruction of an extraordinary 300-year-old tree held sacred by the indigenous Haida nation of Haida Gwaii, British Columbia.

Grant Hadwin, a logging engineer and formidable survivalist, lived and worked happily for many years in BC’s remote and ancient forests. But witnessing the devastation wrought by clear-cutting finally drove him to commit what some would say was an extraordinary and perverse act, one that ran contrary to all he had come to value.

A compelling hybrid of drama and documentary, Hadwin’s Judgement interweaves speculation, myth and reality to explore the possible motives for Hadwin’s unprecedented crime and the consequences of his actions. The film charts his emotional crusade against the destruction of the world’s last great temperate rainforest, a crusade that ends tragically with a mystery – and a prophetic warning – that seal Hadwin’s fate as both madman an visionary.

Proceeds of this film screening go to the Ancient Forest Alliance in their work to protect British Columbia’s endangered old-growth forests and to ensure a sustainable, second-growth forest industry. www.AncientForestAlliance.org

A few days ago, 14 year old Taliesin came into our office with a $300 donation that he raised while busking with his accordion in North Vancouver over the past few months.

See him playing his own song that he wrote while busking for us at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrrVKZTM2FU

Taliesin had to choose a charity to support for his school philanthropy project, and we're most grateful that he chose us! Tali likes Art, Biology, and Physics, and has always had an interest in plants, and in fact for his school's science fair just built his own polygraph to measure the feelings of plants in response to various stimuli!

His mom has also written a blog about Tali's project at: https://rickshawunschooling.blogspot.ca/2016/04/philanthropy-project.html

We at the AFA are most grateful for the generosity and dedication of this young big tree enthusiast!

The Ancient Forest Alliance’s and UVic Environmental Law Centre’s resolution calling on the province to establish a “Natural Land Acquisition Fund” to purchase and protect endangered ecosystems on private lands (using the ‘Pop for Parks’ mechanism) was also passed today at the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities (AVICC) AGM. If implemented by the province, this will make it easier to purchase and protect places like Mount Horne – the endangered mountainside above Cathedral Grove at risk from Island Timberlands – and endangered forests, grasslands, wetlands, and ecosystems throughout BC on private lands. THANKS to the thousands of you who wrote letters, and to the Highlands, Victoria, and Saanich councillors who pioneered the original support for this, and for all the councillors today who voted for the fund!