Announcements

Check out what our motion-activated camera captured! This mother black bear and her cub in the endangered Lower Edinburgh Grove are seen checking out the Ancient Forest Alliance's camera and climbing up the enormous old-growth redcedar tree in an area that is threatened with logging by Teal Jones near Port Renfrew, in several clips and photos taken recently. Be sure to Send a Message to help protect this special forest at: www.BCForestMovement.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlMFpADt84c

The Province of BC is looking at establishing a new protected area in the “northern wetbelt” rainforest east of Prince George next to Slim Creek Provincial Park, and is soliciting feedback on a plan to protect the unique ecosystems of the beloved Ancient Forest (where thousands of people have now hiked the trails among the giant cedars)

The proposed protected area includes unlogged temperate rainforest with trees over 1,000 years old, as well as rare plants and lichens.

Local conservationists with the Northern Wetbelt Working Group are proposing that protections be significantly expanded, based on scientific recommendations that sustaining biodiversity and the ecological integrity of the area over the long-run requires a larger area.

PLEASE sign-on to a letter supporting a new protected area, including on an expanded scale based on science, at: [Link not available].

The province is also accepting email comments on the plan; send your feedback to ancientforest@gov.bc.ca before Nov. 2, 4 p.m.

Thank you!

DATE: Friday, October 30, 2015
LOCATION: Duncan, BC
TIME & PLACE: Begins at 12 noon at Trunk Rd and Highway 1, then march down to Charles Hoey Park (by the train station)

** Invite others and coordinate rides on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/events/1693082370937511/ **

Join forestry workers, environmentalists, unions, politicians, and diverse community members for a march and rally to end the export of raw logs and to support a sustainable, second-growth forest industry in BC.

Since the BC Liberals came to power, they have undertaken unsustainable, job-killing policies in the forest industry, including:

• Allowing over 6 million cubic metres of raw, unprocessed logs to leave the province each year to foreign mills in the US and Asia, while BC mills are often starved for fibre and dozens have shut down in recent years.
• Failing to implement any fundamental incentives or regulations to ensure the conversion or retooling of old-growth mills to process second-growth logs as the old-growth stands are cut-over and second-growth stands mature. This has set the stage for major old-growth mill closures over the past decade and increased second-growth and old-growth raw log exports.
• Deregulating vast areas of timber on the southern coast by allowing companies to remove their private forest lands from their Tree Farm Licences, thus removing the restrictions on raw log exports and most environmental laws on those lands.
• Allowing huge amounts of wood waste.
• Using stumpage fees to fund marketing schemes in China that have paved the way for a massive increase in raw logs and old-growth wood exports to Asia.
• Allowing the unsustainable overcutting of forests in many regions of BC, endangering the long-term future of forestry dependent communities.

Show your solidarity with workers and environmentalists for a sustainable, value-added second-growth forest industry! Bring your friends and family!

Organized by the Pulp, Paper, and Woodworkers of Canada (PPWC – see: www.PPWC.ca) with the support of the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA – see www.AncientForestAlliance.org).

For more info contact Cam Shiel at camshiell78@gmail.com

See new construction progress on the Avatar Grove Boardwalk from last weekend at: https://on.fb.me/1UA4yMo and see a time-lapse video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ez0xdSy2xEE

PLEASE DONATE:
• Securely online.
• To the Avatar Boardwalk ($100 funds 1 metre) and Big Lonely Doug Trail and Viewing Platform here.
• Or phone us with your credit card at 250-896-4007 or send a cheque to: Ancient Forest Alliance, Victoria Main PO, Box 8459, Victoria, BC, V8W 3S1, Canada

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Dear Ancient Forest Alliance friend:

As the hot dry days of summer wind down, the Ancient Forest Alliance is gearing up for a busy fall season of expeditions, campaigns, and boardwalk/trail construction projects!

Recently, with the help of dedicated volunteers, we built an important section of the Avatar Grove boardwalk as we work to complete this major project by next spring (see the top link for photos!).

Over the summer we also undertook numerous photographic expeditions into several endangered old-growth forests, organized a biodiversity survey (a “bioblitz”) by biologists at the endangered Echo Lake Ancient Forest, launched a public mobilization campaign to protect the Central Walbran and Edinburgh Mountain Ancient Forests, and held numerous hikes, presentations, and news media interviews.

See a couple recent “Did you know?” pieces about Vancouver Island’s endangered old-growth forests on Shaw TV with the Ancient Forest Alliance’s executive director, Ken Wu: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_TrNdJNMvY and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cZnuN5qJus

See a photo in Maclean’s Magazine of tree-climbers scaling “Big Lonely Doug”, Canada’s 2nd largest Douglas-fir tree, taken by the AFA’s photographer and campaigner TJ Watt: https://16.52.162.165/news-item.php?ID=916

See a Global TV interview about the threat to the Central Walbran and Edinburgh Mountain Ancient Forests by Ken Wu: [Video not currently available.]

We have a lot underway, but in particular we need your financial help for three major projects:

1. Completing the Avatar Grove Boardwalk and building a “Big Lonely Doug” tree-viewing platform. Due to the generous financial support of donors like yourself and the help of dedicated volunteers, we’ve constructed a first rate boardwalk in the Avatar Grove. Construction has recently begun to complete the boardwalk – see images of an incredible new section built by volunteers just this past weekend down the steep slope to the stream in the Upper Grove: https://on.fb.me/1UA4yMo The boardwalk is vital to protect the delicate understory, to enhance visitor safety, and to support the local eco-tourism economy. There are several sections that still need completion, including a boardwalk over the flooded muddy section and along parts of the new loop trail in the Lower Avatar Grove, handrails on bridges, staircases, viewing platforms, and better signage. Please DONATE at: https://16.52.162.165/avatar-grove-boardwalk-now-completed-and-open/

In addition, Big Lonely Doug, Canada’s 2nd largest Douglas-fir tree that stands alone in a recent clearcut near Port Renfrew, also needs a safe trail and a tree-viewing platform at its base to protect its roots as people flock to see this goliath tree. Please DONATE at: https://16.52.162.165/avatar-grove-boardwalk-now-completed-and-open/

2. Expanding Public Education and Mobilization Campaigns for Ancient Forests. This fall, we will ratchet-up our public education and mobilization campaigns to protect old-growth forests in the Central Walbran Valley, Edinburgh Mountain, Echo Lake, Horne Mountain above Cathedral Grove – and most importantly, to eventually achieve comprehensive, science-based legislation to protect all of BC’s endangered ancient forests. We’ll organize a torrent of public events, rallies, and media campaigns to reach millions of people. At the same time, we’ll be spending a lot of time working with key individuals and groups, including First Nations leaders, politicians, tourism operators, union organizers, scientists, faith group leaders, and civil servants to move the issue forward. Please DONATE at: https://16.52.162.165/donations.php

3. Expeditions into endangered old-growth forests. We will continue to explore and document with professional photos and videos the colossal forests throughout BC in order to bring the plight of these magnificent forests to millions of people. We aim to explore remote regions near the Brooks Peninsula, on Nootka Island, on central and southern Vancouver Island, in the southwest mainland, and various wet and dry forests of BC’s Interior. To help us document these endangered areas we are using a small drone with a GoPro camera attached! Please DONATE at: https://16.52.162.165/donations.php

These are just a few of the important projects we’re undertaking as part of our broader campaign to achieve legislation to protect endangered old-growth forests across BC and to ensure a sustainable, second-growth forest industry.

With YOUR help, our magnificent remaining ancient forests could stand for another thousand years…

For the Wild,

Ken Wu, TJ Watt, Joan Varley, Hannah Carpendale, Amanda Evans, Jackie Korn, Mike Grant

Ancient Forest Alliance