Hul'qumi'num Chief Treaty Negotiator Robert Morales and and HTG Executive Assistant Rosanne Daniels under the mossy maples.

Media Release: Canada’s Mossiest Rainforest

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Conservationists with the Ancient Forest Alliance (www.ancientforestalliance.org) on Vancouver Island have come across what they are calling “Canada’s Mossiest Rainforest”, a forest of enormous old-growth bigleaf maple trees – some up to 2.5 meters (8 feet) wide – completely draped in gardens of mosses and ferns. Unlike other spotlighted old-growth forests in British Columbia that have all been “coniferous” or needle-leaf trees (fir, cedar, spruce, etc.), this is an old-growth “deciduous” or broad-leaf forest. The “Mossy Maple Rainforest” is found near Cowichan Lake on southern Vancouver Island in Hul’qumi’num First Nations territory.

See an incredible photogallery of the “Mossy Maple Rainforest” at:

https://16.52.162.165/photos-sub.php?sID=2

Within the “Mossy Maple Rainforest” are two different old-growth stands several hundred meters apart, surrounded by second-growth maples, red alders and conifers:

– The “Mossy Maple Grove” is the densest and mossiest old-growth stand with specimens up to 2.5 meters (8 feet) in trunk diameter. It is also nicknamed “Fangorn Forest” in reference to the ancient deciduous forest in the second “Lord of the Rings” series. It is located on private forest lands that until recently were owned by TimberWest until the company sold its private lands last summer to two public sector pension funds, the BC Investment Management Corporation (BCIMC) and the federal Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSPIB), without consulting the local Hul’qumi’num First Nations. The luxuriant understory is filled with a large diversity of herbaceous plants, and is frequented by elk and bears.

– The “Mossy Maple Gallery” is a more open, park-like stand of scattered giant maples and some enormous cedars and Douglas firs growing on Crown lands north of Mossy Maple Grove. Giant Devils Club with their brutally spiny stems, and legions of elk, deer, wolves, cougars, and black bears make this area home as evidence by their abundant tracks and scat. This area is known to local hunters.

“This type of forest is new to most conservationists and to the general public, few of whom are aware of old-growth deciduous rainforests. It’s sort of like spotting a woolly rhinocerous among a regular herd of endangered rhinos,” stated Ken Wu, Ancient Forest Alliance co-founder. “Bigleaf maples support First Nations cultures, abundant wildlife, salmon streams, BC maple syrup, and important scenery. The last ancient stands must be protected.”

The Mossy Maple Rainforest is in the unceded territory of the Cowichan people who are part of the Hul’qumi’num First Nations group ( https://www.hulquminum.bc.ca/).

“Our culture and our identity as Hul’qumi’num people are tied to our land. The large scale clearcutting on our unceded territories is an assault on our culture and on our human rights,” stated Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group chief negotiator Robert Morales. “The Hul’qumi’num land use plan calls for the protection of the last old-growth remnants in our territories. The BC government failed to consult with us regarding the sale of TimberWest lands to the two pension funds and they still refuse to negotiate compensation for the give-away of over 80% of our territories to private interests through the E&N land grant over a century ago.”

Currently there are no known logging plans – nor protective designations – for either of the two old-growth maple groves. Old-growth bigleaf maples are highly sought after by the logging industry for their extremely strong, dense wood, and most old-growth stands are now long gone.

“Bigleaf maples because of their hard wood was used by our people to make many things, especially paddles, while the large variety of understory plants are still used for many types of medicines and foods. The herds of elk and the remaining salmon have always been vital foods to our culture,” stated Arvid Charlie, an elder with the Cowichan Tribes with an extensive knowledge of the traditional uses of plants and resources.

In recent years farmers and woodlot owners on Vancouver Island have begun tapping bigleaf maples for their syrup, which is milder and different in flavour than syrup from sugar maples in eastern North America. Currently demand for BC maple syrup far surpasses the supply.

The Ancient Forest Alliance is calling on the BC government to protect BC’s endangered old-growth forests through a Provincial Old-Growth Strategy and through implementing First Nations land use plans, and to ensure the sustainable logging of second-growth forests. To protect old-growth bigleaf maples on private lands, the government needs to allocate funds to systematically buy up these stands for conservation purposes.

“These ancient maple rainforests are some the mossiest and awesome – or ‘mossome’ as we like to say – forests on Earth. If done sensitively, they could support a significant eco-tourism and cultural tourism industry that would benefit the local economy, much as the famous bigleaf maple rainforests of the Hoh Valley in Washington’s Olympic National Park do,” stated TJ Watt, AFA co-founder and photographer.

BACKGROUND INFO on BIGLEAF MAPLES

Bigleaf or broadleaf maples (Acer macrophyllum) can grow to 3 meters (10 feet) in trunk diameter and to over 300 years old, making them among the largest deciduous trees in the temperate world. Most old-growth bigleaf maple stands have been logged over the past century, along with the original giant Sitka spruce that they often grow with along rivers and streams.

Bigleaf maples are naturally found along the lower elevation rivers and streams of Vancouver Island and the southern Mainland coast, in many cases on private lands. They naturally grow on old river terraces along streams and rivers and other naturally disturbed sites in wet areas and are sometimes succeeded after several centuries by taller conifers – Sitka spruce, redcedar, western hemlock, Douglas fir.

In recent years, some Vancouver Island farms and woodlots, particularly in the Cowichan and Comox Valleys, have begun tapping bigleaf maple stands to make BC maple syrup, which could become an economic incentive to keep bigleaf maples groves standing. Currently the demand for bigleaf maple syrup far outstrips the supply.

Logging of conifers can assist the spread of second-growth bigleaf maples up slopes and mountainsides in areas where they would normally be at a competitive disadvantage to conifers. Old-growth bigleaf maples tend to be found at lower elevations on flatter land and near streams and rivers where they established themselves long before European colonists arrived.

Bigleaf maple wood is heavily sought after for making furniture and musical instruments, and bigleaf maple commercial logging and even tree poaching is a common problem in BC.

Their bark is ideal for the growth of diverse mosses, licorice ferns, and lobaria (“lettuce”) lichens, harbouring more “epiphytes” (plants growing on trees) than any other trees in North America.

Over time soil accumulates underneath the decomposing mosses and ferns on the tree branches. Researchers in the 1980’s discovered that the maples actually send aerial roots from their branches into these canopy soils to tap the extra nutrients!

Bigleaf maple groves often have rich soils that support a luxuriant and diverse understory layer of herbaceous plants and shrubs, giving some stands a semi-tropical feel in summer time.

The edible young maples, shrubs and diversity of herbaceous plants often attract elk and deer, and hence their predators, cougars and wolves.

Bigleaf maples provide shade, woody debris, leaf litter nutrients, and stream bank stabilization that help to support salmon and trout.

Bigleaf maple wood was used by coastal Salish people to make paddles, spindle whorls, bowls, spoons, hairpins, combs, adze handles, cedar bark shredders, and fish lures (Plant Technology of First Peoples in British Columbia, Dr. Nancy Turner, 1998) while the large variety of understory plants are used for numerous medicines and foods.

Columbia Blacktail Deer

Old-Growth Logging of Forest Lands Formerly Intended for Protection on Vancouver Island Threatens Deer Winter Range and Endangered Goshawk Habitat

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Conservationists are calling on the BC government to protect a 500 hectare tract of old-growth forest near Port Alberni that biologists have classified as both critical habitat for wintering deer and nesting endangered Queen Charlotte goshawks. Conservationists would like the BC government to purchase the forest on private land on McLaughlin Ridge from Island Timberlands.

See new photos of the endangered McLaughlin Ridge at: https://16.52.162.165/photos-media/mclaughlin-ridge/

See a new Youtube clip about McLaughlin Ridge at:  https://youtu.be/XsZiO1wAKwE

The land was formerly intended for protection as an Ungulate Winter Range (UWR) for black-tailed deer and as a Wildlife Habitat Area (WHA) for the endangered goshawk until 2004 when the BC Liberal government removed 88,000 hectares of land now owned by Island Timberlands from their Tree Farm Licenses (TFL’s), thus removing most existing environmental protections and exempting the area from other planned protections on those lands. Island Timberlands began logging the 500 hectare tract of old-growth forest a year ago, clearcutting 100 hectares or more from both sides of the Grove, while about 400 hectares of the core area still remains – for now.

“McLaughlin Ridge is a provincially-significant site and easily the most important deer winter range and goshawk habitat on southern Vancouver Island – to let the whole thing get logged would be a travesty,” stated Jane Morden, coordinator of the Port Alberni-based Friends of McLaughlin Ridge. “We will be asking Island Timberlands to show good will to the community by putting their logging plans for McLaughlin Ridge on hold until funds are put forward to protect this critical old-growth habitat.”

“Here’s another major example of the serious havoc wreaked by the BC government’s TFL-removal scheme. The BC government created this mess by largely deregulating these forest lands – now they need to clean it up by protecting the old-growth forests, deer winter range, and endangered species habitat previously protected or intended for protection, including purchasing McLaughlin Ridge for protection,” stated Ken Wu, Ancient Forest Alliance co-founder.

The removal of Weyerhaeuser’s private forest lands (later sold to Island Timberlands) from TFL’s 44 and 39 in 2004 also led to the removal of numerous environmental protections and exempted the area from other planned environmental protections on 88,000 hectares of deregulated land on Vancouver Island, the Sunshine Coast, and Haida Gwaii. This included thousands of hectares of planned protection for endangered species (Wildlife Habitat Areas), deer and elk winter habitat (Ungulate Winter Ranges), and old-growth forests (Old-Growth Management Areas), as well as riparian forest protections for salmon and trout, controls on the rate of logging, prohibitions against real estate development, and provincial restrictions on raw log exports.

McLaughlin Ridge is considered by government biologists to be one of the most ecologically significant sites in BC of extremely high conservation value. It is a south-facing (ie. warmer, sunnier) stand of extremely rare old-growth coastal Douglas firs – 99% of which have been logged – and hemlocks covered in lichens that serve as food for deer in times of heavy winter snowfalls and provides them shelter against the elements. Vancouver Island’s black-tailed deer population declined from over 200,000 animals in 1980, to an estimated 55,000 animals by the turn of this century in large part due to the destruction of their mid-elevation old-growth wintering habitat.

“Take note these are not deer that live at sea level where there is rarely snow or urban deer that feed on your flowers and garden veggies. These are high altitude deer populations that live in mountainous regions of Vancouver Island where there is a massive amount of snow in winter – like over 10 feet deep in places – and no veggie gardens to eat,” stated Wu. “The deer rely on old-growth forests like McLaughlin Ridge for winter shelter and lichens for food, which are lacking in the clearcuts and second-growth stands. Fewer deer mean less food for wolves, cougars, bears, First Nations, and non-First Nations hunters.”

The Queen Charlotte goshawk subspecies found on Vancouver Island and Haida Gwaii is a bird of prey that is “red”-listed (ie. endangered) by the provincial government. The McLaughlin Ridge is considered to be one of the finest sites for nesting and foraging Queen Charlotte goshawks left. Queen Charlotte goshawks live in coastal old-growth and mature forests, feeding on squirrels and birds. Only a few hundred nesting pairs are known to exist. Several nests have been found on McLaughlin Ridge in years past. Canada’s inadequate Species At Risk Act (SARA) requires that the provincial government develop a recovery plan to rebuild the populations of endangered species, which the province has not completed yet for the Queen Charlotte goshawk. An effective recovery plan should surely require the protection of the goshawk’s most important old-growth habitat, including the McLaughlin Ridge.

The original logging rights on public (Crown) lands on Vancouver Island were granted to logging companies for free earlier last century on condition that the companies include their private forest lands within the regulatory designation known as Tree Farm Licenses in order to control the rate of cut, ensure wood went to local mills, and ensure environmental standards. Allowing companies to keep their Crown land logging rights while removing their private lands from the TFL’s (thus allowing them to log forests previously protected or intended for protection, to export raw logs, and to sell-off forest lands to developers) has been considered by many to be a breach of the public interest.

The Hupacasath First Nation band in Port Alberni won a Supreme Court ruling in 2008 stating that the provincial government failed to consult and accommodate their interests in allowing the removal of 77,000 hectares of TFL 44 lands. The band is currently in negotiations with the BC government to seek redress for this failure.

“99% of the coastal old-growth Douglas firs have already been logged on Vancouver Island – it should be a no-brainer now that no more should be logged,” stated TJ Watt, Ancient Forest Alliance co-founder and photographer. “Why are we being forced to fight over the last 1% still? This is nuts!”

Conservationists call for the Protection of Endangered Ecosystems on Department of National Defence (DND) Lands

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Ancient Forest Alliance worries about potential sell-off of unused DND lands for real estate development and calls for federal government to let Canadian Wildlife Service, Parks Canada, the provinces, regional districts, and First Nations protect unused DND lands.

The potential sell-off of Department of National Defence (DND) lands reported by the Ottawa Citizen and the Canadian media recently is causing concern for conservationists who fear some of Canada’s most endangered ecosystems could be jeopardized by real estate development.

Instead the Ancient Forest Alliance is calling on the federal government to protect the endangered ecosystems and exceptional natural areas on unused DND lands through:

– the Canadian Wildlife Service as new National Wildlife Areas

– Parks Canada as new National Parks

– transferring unused DND lands to the provinces for new Provincial Parks, Provincial Conservancies (in BC), or Ecological Reserves

– to Regional Districts in BC as new Regional Parks

– to First Nations as treaty settlement lands under agreement to become new First Nations protected areas where subsistence, cultural, and spiritual uses will continue

The Department of National Defence controls 800 parcels of federal public lands totalling 2.25 million hectares (about two-thirds the size of Vancouver Island) in Canada for military use, although vast areas are unused and remain in excellent ecological condition. From endangered coastal old-growth forests to prairie grasslands to Carolinian deciduous forests in southern Ontario to large intact boreal forests, Canada’s least disturbed ecosystems are often in the unused portions of the DND’s lands.

“It might be surprising to most Canadians, but in many cases the ecosystems in the best ecological condition in Canada are on DND lands. Much DND land is unused, and in other areas the occasional bullets and bombs still often have lower impacts than the large-scale industrial resource extraction, clearcutting, strip-mining, oil drilling, agriculture, and suburban sprawl that impact other lands in Canada,” stated Ken Wu of the Ancient Forest Alliance. “We’re demanding that the federal government show environmental leadership by protecting the endangered ecosystems and key natural areas on DND lands through new National and Provincial Parks, National Wildlife Areas, and Ecological Reserves rather than selling them off for suburban sprawl.”

In the Capital Regional District around Victoria, the DND controls over 4000 hectares of public lands, which include the very finest old-growth Coastal Douglas Fir forests and Garry oak ecosystems left in Canada in places like Rocky Point and Mary Hill in Metchosin, and DND lands behind the Juan de Fuca Recreation Centre, adjacent to Fort Rodd National Historic Park, and at Royal Roads University (which leases their lands from the DND) in Colwood.

“40% of the Coastal Douglas Fir ecosystem is now underneath the pavement of Victoria, Nanaimo, and Duncan, or converted to agriculture, and 99% of its old-growth forests are already logged. The finest remnants of the Coastal Douglas Fir ecosystem are here on the DND lands,” stated TJ Watt, Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner and photographer. “It’s a first rate national conservation priority to get them protected. It’s time for everyone to speak up!”
 

This label will be coming to a liquor store near you next month

Ancient Forest Alliance wins Benefit Brew competition of Phillips Beer

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For Immediate Release
October 1, 2011

Ancient Forest Alliance wins “Benefit Brew” competition of Phillips Beer

The Ancient Forest Alliance is the winner of an online voting competition to become the recipient of a new benefit microbrew beer made by local Victoria company, Phillips Beer. “Ancient Brown Ale” will be the new microbrew beer to be released next month into select private liquor stores, with full sales proceeds going to the Ancient Forest Alliance.

“We’re very pleased to win the Benefit Brew competition. $10,000 is huge for us, equivalent to about 25% of our funding this year. We’re a new organization with very limited funds, but we’ve been working extremely hard to save ancient forests – and we promise proceeds from the Benefit Brew will go far with us,” stated TJ Watt, Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner. “I’m also sure that among the Ancient Forest Alliance’s beer drinking supporters there are a lot of Phillips Beer fans, which is a local company that is renowned for its tastiness and quality.”

The Benefit Brew competition was narrowed down to 10 applicant charities and non-profit organizations on September 9, followed by a two-week online vote on Phillips Beer’s website which ended on September 23. It’s expected the sales proceeds will total up to $10,000 for the Ancient Forest Alliance.

The Ancient Forest Alliance is a Victoria-based, registered charitable environmental organization founded in 2010, working to protect BC’s endangered old-growth forests and forestry jobs. The organization organizes hikes, slideshows, rallies, and public education campaigns, calling on the BC government to protect BC’s endangered old-growth forests and ensure sustainable second-growth forestry. The organization’s campaign to protect the Avatar Grove near the town of Port Renfrew has had a particularly high profile with the public and in the media. See the organization’s spectacular photo and video gallery here.

Phillips Beer was founded by Victoria brewer, Matthew Phillips, over a decade ago. From the company’s humble beginnings, originally financed on Phillip’s multiple credit cards with deliveries made from his 1985 Subaru station wagon, Phillips Beer has become recognized as one of the foremost brewing companies in Canada, winning numerous provincial and national awards for their diverse, quality microbrews.

“The Ancient Forest Alliance is grateful for the great amount of support we’ve received from the small business community of Victoria and Vancouver Island. Phillips Beer’s Benefit Brew will be a major infusion of support that will help us build a stellar ancient forest campaign this fall,” stated Ken Wu, co-founder of the Ancient Forest Alliance. “Not only will the funds be extremely helpful, but the beautiful and informative labels on the bottles themselves will help to raise awareness about the need to protect old-growth forests! We want to thank thousands of our supporters for voting for us and Phillips Beer for supporting the non-profit and charitable community of BC.”

MP Keith Martin stands in front of "Canada's Gnarliest Tree" in the endangered Upper Avatar Grove.

On National Tree Day the Ancient Forest Alliance calls for a “Provincial Heritage Trees Designation” to Protect Canada’s Largest and Oldest Trees

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Today, September 21 has been declared “National Tree Day” in Canada and the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) is calling on the British Columbian government to establish a Provincial Heritage Trees and Heritage Groves designation. Such a designation would protect the largest, oldest, and most unique trees of each species, as well as the most magnificent monumental stands of old-growth trees in the province.

*TODAY from 11:00-11:30 am media are invited to join Ancient Forest Alliance cofounders Ken Wu and TJ Watt at the largest Douglas-fir tree (3 meters or 10 feet wide in trunk diameter) in Greater Victoria in Francis King Regional Park’s Heritage Grove for a brief press conference and tour. Please meet in the parking lot by the park’s nature centre off of Munn Rd. Click here for Google Map.

“British Columbia is world renowned for having Canada’s largest trees and some of the most magnificent forests on Earth – how many jurisdictions still have trees with trunks as wide as living rooms and that tower as tall as downtown skyscrapers? What better way to celebrate the trees of Canada than to protect Canada’s largest trees, here on Vancouver Island?” stated Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner and photographer TJ Watt. “Just as we have laws to protect 100 year old heritage buildings, we need laws to protect 1,000 year old heritage trees and groves.”

See images of Canada’s largest trees on the Ancient Forest Alliance’s online photo galleries (Media are free to reprint any photos. Credit TJ Watt if possible.)

The province keeps a list of the 10 largest trees of each species through the Big Tree Registry but the list does not confer any legal protection for the trees, and many are unprotected.

Former BC Minister of Forests and Range Pat Bell mentioned in February 2011 that the province would look into creating a new legal tool to protect BC’s largest trees and monumental groves but the BC government has since not mentioned of any progress on this initiative.

Several BC municipalities such as Victoria and Oak Bay already have tree protection bylaws that prohibit the cutting of large trees over a certain trunk diameter, as well as the cutting of rare native species like Garry oak and Arbutus trees without a special permit.

“Not only do we need to protect our largest trees and monumental groves, most importantly the BC Liberal government must protect our endangered old-growth ecosystems on a much larger scale through a Provincial Old-Growth Strategy to sustain our biodiversity, climate, wild salmon, and tourism industry,” stated AFA co-founder Ken Wu. “Most of the world is logging second, third, and fourth growth forests now, and the BC government must ensure the same here instead of facilitating the collapse of our last old-growth ecosystems.”

Already 75% of Vancouver Island’s original, productive old-growth forests have been logged, including 90% of the valley bottoms where the biggest trees grow and richest biodiversity is found. For satellite maps visit: https://16.52.162.165/ancient-forests/before-after-old-growth-maps/

Ancient Forest Alliance

New Company Develops Online Games for a Better World

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For Immediate Release
September 8, 2011

New Company Develops Online Games for a Better World

First new game helps non-profit organization to protect British Columbia’s old-growth forests!

Victoria, Canada – Fuelled by a desire to make a difference, a Victoria, B.C. company is out to create a new way for charities and non-profit organizations to raise funds. Donate2Play Media (https://www.donate2play.com/) creates fun social games for charities. Through the incorporation of fun facts, compelling imagery and the viral nature of social media, Donate2Play provides a novel and lucrative fundraising channel for charities of all varieties.

“Online gaming is one of the largest industries on the Internet, generating tens of billions of dollars in revenues annually – why not funnel some of those revenues towards making the world a better place?” asked Kelly Pereira, Co-Founder of Donate2Play. “Our games will not only raise funds, but also increase awareness about the specific causes promoted by the charity at hand.”

“Wordraiser”, Donate2Play’s inaugural game (see https://www.wordraiser.com) is customized to their first non-profit partner, the Ancient Forest Alliance (https://16.52.162.165/), a Victoria-based environmental organization working to protect British Columbia’s endangered old-growth forests. Wordraiser is a skill-based game for Facebook users in which players solve anagrams to pass through levels, while learning about the Ancient Forest Alliance’s cause. Using Donate2Play’s patent-pending model, players are prompted to donate at key junctures in the game – for donation amounts equal to pocket change.

“We’re very grateful to Donate2Play for choosing us as their first beneficiary. Not only will the game raise greatly needed funds for us, but will also raise awareness among new people on the plight of British Columbia’s endangered old-growth forests by using our photos, environmental fun facts, and petition in the game,” stated TJ Watt, co-founder of the Ancient Forest Alliance. “We’ll be asking our Facebook supporters and the environmentally-minded public to play this game as a contribution to our organization – and to have fun and learn at the same time!”

Donate2Play seeks to help alleviate the headaches of charities from traditional fundraising campaigns: perpetually requesting donations, investing in advertising and finding sponsors. The Donate2play model provides a fun, fresh and engaging way for charities to raise funds, while capitalizing on the growing trends of social media and online gaming.

The first beneficiary of this new model, the Ancient Forest Alliance, has been working through public education and mobilization calling on the BC government to protect the province’s endangered old-growth forests, ensure sustainable logging of second-growth forests and ban raw log exports. Of particular note, the organization has built huge public momentum for the protection of a grove of old-growth trees nicknamed the “Avatar Grove,” near the town of Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island.

Donate2Play was the brainchild of Victoria residents Tomas Ernst, Adrian Pereira and Kelly Pereira. Ernst, having spent the last five years working on development projects in the South Pacific for the World Bank, realized the need for NGOs to develop new, more effective fundraising channels. “Having worked with a number of charities, I’ve always felt the process of giving needed a rethink. So we asked, how could we transform the traditional fundraising process and offer a more value-added experience to the donor?” said Ernst, Co-Founder of Donate2Play Media.

Together with the Pereira’s, who have over a decade of entrepreneurial experience building successful online businesses, the idea to bridge the gap between gaming and fundraising was developed.

“We’ve chosen to support the Ancient Forest Alliance as beneficiaries, as they are a highly respected and deserving new grassroots organization with a most worthy cause,” stated Adrian Pereira, Co-Founder. “We really enjoyed working with AFA – incorporating their brand, high resolution images and interesting facts into the game allowed us to produce an experience that would better educate the player and increase both awareness and funds!”

According to Ken Wu, Co-Founder of the Ancient Forest Alliance, “Donate2Play’s games for a better world could lead to a mini-revolution of increased support for the environmental movement and progressive causes. The concept is genius and we’re happy to work with the founders of Donate2Play who are cutting edge entrepreneurs with a conscience.”

Avatar Grove

Ancient Forest Alliance welcomes proposed interim protection for Avatar Grove

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Today the BC government officially proposed to designate the entire Avatar Grove near Port Renfrew as an Old-Growth Management Area (OGMA), pending completion of a 60 day public review period. An Old-Growth Management Area would prohibit logging in the 49 hectare stand of monumental ancient trees. The Avatar Grove’s designation as an OGMA is being welcomed by the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) as an important interim protection for the exceptional grove, which the organization would eventually like to see designated as a provincial conservancy or park.

“The Avatar Grove is an exceptional stand of extremely rare valley-bottom ancient forest that is easy to get to, unlike most other old-growth stands that are on steep slopes, far away on bumpy logging roads. It is fast becoming a pillar of the local economy, not unlike being ‘the Cathedral Grove of Port Renfrew’, and is BC’s most heavily visited unprotected ancient forest. As such we support the Avatar Grove being declared off-limits to logging as an Old-Growth Management Area,” stated Ken Wu, Ancient Forest Alliance co-founder. “Our much larger goal is to end logging of all endangered old-growth forests because there is so little left, and to ensure sustainable logging of second-growth forests. The BC government needs to devise a comprehensive Provincial Old-Growth Strategy towards these ends.”

The Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations (MFLNRO) is proposing to designated 49 hectares as an Avatar Grove Old-Growth Management Area, as well as an additional 10 hectares of old-growth forests near Axe Creek., for a total of 59 hectares within OGMA’s. However, 57 hectares of OGMA’s will be removed to compensate the logging licensee, Teal-Jones, in Tree Farm Licence 46 for the protection of the Avatar Grove and Axe Creek areas.

“Our goal is to protect all of our endangered old-growth forests, not just the Avatar Grove. As such we’re against the removal of any existing old-growth protections, because so little old-growth remains,” stated TJ Watt, Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner and photographer. “Our ancient forests are vital for supporting endangered species, the climate, clean water, tourism, and many First Nations cultures.”

The Avatar Grove was located by the Ancient Forest Alliance’s TJ Watt in December of 2009, and shortly thereafter was flagged for logging in February of 2010. The AFA has been working with the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce to see the area protected, and organizes regular public hikes to the grove. The Avatar Grove is filled with monumental stands of giant Douglas firs and redcedars – some 14 feet (4 meters) in trunk diameter, including “Canada’s Gnarliest Tree”, a giant redcedar with an enormous burl. It is home to wolves, cougars, bears, deer, and elk. See photos at: https://16.52.162.165/photos-media/

Already about 75% of Vancouver Island’s original, productive old-growth forests have been logged, including 90% of the valley bottoms where the largest trees grow. See ”before” and “after” maps at https://16.52.162.165/ancient-forests/before-after-old-growth-maps/

An old-growth Douglas-fir stand was clearcut in June and July of this year in the Caycuse Valley south of Cowichan Lake and north of the Walbran Valley. The area was important deer wintering habitat.

Recent Old-Growth Clearcutting of Deer Wintering Habitat on Vancouver Island Documented and Posted on Youtube

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The Ancient Forest Alliance has released a video clip documenting the recent clearcutting of an extremely rare old-growth Douglas fir forest on Vancouver Island that served as vital wintering habitat for the Island’s diminishing black-tailed deer population.

See the Youtube clip at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LveT-hz-Y2I
(*ignore the swarming blackflies in the clip – apparently they don’t mind logging)

The old-growth stand was clearcut in June and July of this year in the Caycuse Valley south of Cowichan Lake and north of the Walbran Valley. The grove stood on public (Crown) land in Tree Farm License 46. The newly clearcut area is surrounded by an Ungulate Wintering Range (UWR) designated by the Ministry of Forests to sustain deer populations and an Old-Growth Management Area (OGMA) that prohibits logging. Unfortunately an important chunk of the old-growth Douglas firs were left out of protection and have now been clearcut.

“It’s incredible that despite a four-fold drop in Vancouver Island’s deer population in recent decades and despite 99% of our old-growth Douglas firs having already been logged, the BC government is still approving old-growth clearcuts in critical deer wintering habitat,” stated Ken Wu, Ancient Forest Alliance co-founder. “Clearcutting of old-growth forests not only harms black-tailed deer populations, but also harms the creatures that eat deer – wolves, cougars, bears, First Nations hunters, and non-First Nations hunters.”

Biologists with BC’s Ministry of Environment estimate that Vancouver Island’s deer population has dropped from over 200,000 individuals in the 1970’s to 55,000 individuals by the 2000’s in large part due to the logging of their old-growth wintering habitat. Coastal black-tailed deer populations that live at higher elevations where there is regular snowpack, such as throughout much of Vancouver Island’s interior, spend the winter months in old-growth forests where they find food and shelter. Much of their winter diet consists of lichens that grow in greatest abundance in old-growth forests, hanging on tree branches and falling onto the ground during winter storms. Large, fallen logs and dense thickets of shrubs and young trees in the understories of old-growth forests provide hiding places from predators and shelter during bad weather. Second-growth forests tend to have a scarcity of winter food and shelter.

As old-growth forests diminish in extent from logging, the remaining old-growth patches become unnaturally concentrated with deer in winter seeking food and shelter and which become easy targets for predators. In some instances cougars and wolves will slaughter large numbers of deer due to their natural predatory instincts under such unnatural circumstances – where a century ago stood a vast sea of old-growth forests covering most of Vancouver Island. At least 87% of the productive old-growth forests on Vancouver Island south of Port Alberni and Barkley Sound have already been logged. See “Before” and “After” maps of old-growth forests on Vancouver Island at:
https://16.52.162.165/ancient-forests/before-after-old-growth-maps/ 

“Now that we’ve released this video clip, I can hear it now: ‘Bah Humbug! Deer don’t need lichens – they eat corn all over the Prairies and have overrun my Gordon Head garden in Victoria!’ loudly proclaim the uninformed. But we’re talking about specific populations of Columbian black-tailed deer that live in regions with regular snowpack, which occurs on about half of Vancouver Island – not any deer species or populations that live anywhere on Vancouver Island or Canada or the world!” remarked an impatient Wu. “More than ever, Christy Clark’s BC Liberal government is morally obliged to enact a comprehensive provincial old-growth strategy that will end the logging of our last endangered ancient forests and ensure sustainable second-growth forestry instead. Why go down to the end of a resource? It’s bad for deer, it’s bad for hunters, it’s bad for the ecosystem, it’s bad for tourism, and it’s ethically wrong. Let’s hope the BC government starts showing some wisdom, foresight, and courage for a better future.”

Previously Ungulate Wintering Ranges and Old-Growth Management Areas have disappeared on Vancouver Island. For example, an important Ungulate Wintering Range for Roosevelt Elk was eliminated north of Sooke in 2007 when the BC government allowed the removal of Western Forest Products’ forest lands from Tree Farm License 25, while ancient forests proposed by local First Nations as Old-Growth Management Areas near Port McNeill were taken off the table from protection with the removal of lands from Tree Farm License 6 at the same time.

The Ancient Forest Alliance is calling on the BC government to protect BC’s endangered old-growth forests through a Provincial Old-Growth Strategy, to ensure sustainable second-growth forestry, and to ban the export of raw logs. Currently the BC government has stated that they will look at developing a new legal tool to protect the largest monumental trees and groves in BC, which if done right would be a welcome initial step forward.

See various photogalleries of old-growth forests and clearcuts on Vancouver Island at:
https://16.52.162.165/photos-media/
(***Note: Media are free to reprint any photos – please give credit to TJ Watt if possible)

See various video clips about Vancouver Island’s largest trees and old-growth forests at:
https://16.52.162.165/photos-media/videos/

Avatar Grove

BC Government Takes Important Step towards Protecting Vancouver Island’s “Avatar Grove”

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For Immediate Release

July 25, 2011

BC Government Takes Important Step towards Protecting Vancouver Island’s “Avatar Grove”

The BC government has committed to take an important step towards protecting the Avatar Grove near Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island. On Saturday, the Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations publicly stated their commitment to designate the entire Avatar Grove off limits to logging through an Old-Growth Management Area (OGMA). The official designation of an OGMA will be pending the outcome of a public review period, the details of which will be announced in the future. 

“This is good news and is a great success for our campaign – but it’s not the final victory yet for the Avatar Grove. An Old-Growth Management Area is an important step forward and is essentially an interim protection that keeps away logging for now. It’s sort of like wearing a bear costume while foraging alongside grizzlies – you’re never really confident the protection will last,” stated Ken Wu, Ancient Forest Alliance co-founder. “Ultimately the Avatar Grove will require stronger, more permanent legislated protection as a provincial park or conservancy. In the larger picture, of course, we really need an end to all logging of BC’s endangered old-growth forests, including an immediate ban on old-growth logging on southern Vancouver Island where almost 90% is gone.”

“It’s hard to believe how far, how fast, the campaign to protect the Avatar Grove has come in just a year and a half ago when I stumbled across this incredible stand of ancient trees. In a short time it has become all the rage for thousands of nature-loving tourists coming from far and wide. Avatar Grove has quickly become the ‘Cathedral Grove of Port Renfrew’,” stated TJ Watt, Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner and photographer who found the Avatar Grove in December, 2009. “The Ancient Forest Alliance will continue working with the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce and conducting regular public tours until Avatar Grove receives legislated protection.”

Old-Growth Management Areas (OGMA’s) are regulatory protections in a category similar to Riparian Reserves, Wildlife Habitat Areas, and Ungulate (deer) Wintering Ranges and are not true protected areas. For the most part they prohibit logging, with some minor exceptions. They are established by the Ministry of Forests and can be quietly modified or removed by the bureaucracy or minister without any Legislative vote or debate. They do not show up on any highway maps, and are essentially out of sight and out of mind of the BC public. They do serve as important interim measures against old-growth logging when located in productive stands (ie. commercially valuable stands with large trees, as opposed to marginal, stunted old-growth stands where they are often located as well) and as stepping stones towards more permanent legislated protection.

Provincial parks, provincial conservancies, and ecological reserves on the other hand are legislated protected areas and therefore are stronger and more permanent than regulatory protections like OGMA’s. They are created through a majority vote of MLA’s in the Legislative Assembly – and therefore require a majority vote of MLA’s to be eliminated. They also usually exist on provincial highway maps, which fosters major public awareness, tourism, and environmental concern for their well-being. This makes it extremely difficult if not next to impossible to eliminate parks and legislated protected areas in BC these days, especially with today’s high level of environmental awareness.

The Avatar Grove is an exceptional ancient forest for many reasons. It has some of Canada’s largest trees, including scores of giant western redcedars – some over 4 meters (14 feet) wide, including “Canada’s Gnarliest Tree” with its 3 meter (10 feet) wide burl. It is easy to get to, being only a 15 minute drive from Port Renfrew mostly along paved roads. The Grove itself is found on gentle terrain in the valley bottom and lower slopes, most of which have been logged in southern BC. Virtually all other remaining old-growth stands are far along bumpy logging roads, on steep slopes. It is home to Vancouver Island’s largest wildlife species:  wolves, cougars, black bears, elk, and deer. Since the Grove was found marked for logging in 2010, thousands of tourists have come to meander among its mossy giants. The local Chamber of Commerce and businesses in Port Renfrew, Sooke, and Victoria are championing the Avatar Grove’s protection.

In March, former Minister of Forests Pat Bell stated that the BC government was considering devising a new legal tool to protect the province’s largest trees and monumental groves. See: https://16.52.162.165/b-c-looking-for-new-ways-to-protect-ancient-trees/

So far no announcement has been made about this designation or which unprotected groves will be protected.

“The BC government should be commended for committing to designate the Avatar Grove off limits to logging and to devise a new legal tool to protect BC’s largest heritage trees and groves. We look forward to the details of their progress on these initiatives,” stated Ken Wu. “However, most importantly, Christy Clark’s BC Liberal government fundamentally has a responsibility to undertake a much more comprehensive Provincial Old-Growth Strategy to end logging BC’s endangered old-growth forests because so little remains – it’s nuts to log until the end of the resource, especially when there is a major second-growth alternative now.”

See spectacular photo galleries of Canada’s largest trees at:

https://16.52.162.165/photos-media/

See “before” and “after” old-growth forest maps of Vancouver Island at: https://16.52.162.165/ancient-forests/before-after-old-growth-maps/

See the AFA’s “Largest Trees” series of 1 minute video clips:

– “Canada’s Largest Tree – the Cheewhat Cedar”: https://youtu.be/Xw2Im8nSOdg

– “Canada’s Gnarliest Tree – Save the Avatar Grove”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_uPkAWsvVw

– “World’s Largest Douglas Fir – the Red Creek Fir”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfBWLVj-Xjg

– “Canada’s Largest Spruce – the San Juan Spruce”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lql9_hWuFLA&NR=1

Naming rights for this new species of Bryoria or “Horsehair Lichen”

Wade Davis and Andy MacKinnon, BC’s Best Known Botanists, Make Bids for Naming Rights for New Species of Old-Growth Forest Lichens as part of Conservation Fundraiser

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For Immediate Release

Friday, July 22, 2011

 

Wade Davis and Andy MacKinnon, BC’s Best Known Botanists, Make Bids for Naming Rights for New Species of Old-Growth Forest Lichens as part of Conservation Fundraiser

 

Two of BC’s best known botanists Wade Davis and Andy MacKinnon have made over $12,000 in total combined bids for the naming rights to two newly discovered species of BC lichens as part of a conservation fundraiser.  MacKinnon has bid $3000 while Davis has bid $3200 for each of two new species of lichens found in BC’s inland rainforests:  an old-growth forest dependent “horsehair” lichen and a small “crottle” lichen.

 

Naming rights to the two species will be auctioned-off as fundraisers for two B.C. environmental groups:  the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) (www.ancientforestalliance.org) working to protect B.C.’s old-growth forests and The Land Conservancy (TLC) of British Columbia (www.conservancy.bc.ca), working to purchase private lands in the Clearwater River Valley adjacent to Wells Gray Provincial Park. Bidding will end on October 2, 2011.

 

“We’re lucky to have BC’s Rock Star botanists, Wade Davis and Andy MacKinnon, support this ground-breaking conservation fundraiser,” stated Ken Wu, co-founder of the Ancient Forest Alliance. “Wade has a long history as a great conservationist and ethnobotanist, working for decades to protect BC’s wilderness as well as tropical ecosystems and cultures.  Andy co-authored ‘Plants of Coastal BC’, which many think of as the ‘Bible of BC Botany’. He is also the foremost authority on old-growth forest ecology in this province.”

“Besides being an important initiative for BC forest conservation, our naming auction could provide a model for similar ‘taxonomic tithing’ fundraisers elsewhere:  a wonderful way to raise millions of dollars for conservation around the world as new species are discovered,” stated Barry Booth, TLC Northern Regional Manager. “Wade and Andy’s credibility help to show this is a serious and important initiative.”

 

Wade Davis is one of the best known and widely read ethnobotanists on Earth, authoring numerous  books including the international best-seller, “The Serpent and the Rainbow”, and countless articles for “National Geographic’, “Outside”, ”Conde Naste”, and “Fortune” magazines.  He is an Explorer-in-Residence for National Geographic, writing about various regions of the planet while spending much of his time at his Stikine Valley cabin in the Sacred Headwaters region in northern BC.

 

Andy MacKinnon co-authored the “Plants of Coastal BC” which as has sold more than 300,000 copies since coming out in 1994, making it the highest selling botany field guide in Canadian history. Dog-eared copies can be found in the homes of hundreds of thousands of nature enthusiasts.  MacKinnon works as a forest ecologist for the BC government and resides in Metchosin on Vancouver Island.

 

The two lichen species were discovered in B.C. in recent years by botanical researcher Trevor Goward, who also contributed to “The Plants of Coastal BC”. Since then their identity as undescribed species has been supported by two teams of molecular researchers working in Finland and Spain. According to scientific protocol, the right to give a new species its scientific name goes to the person who describes it. However, an online auction running on each organization’s website into the fall will earn the highest bidders the right to name these lichens – whether after loved ones, themselves, or whomever they choose.

 

“Having your name linked to a living species is a legacy that lasts,” said Goward. “It has been almost three centuries since the modern system of biological classification was developed by Carolus Linnaeus; and even now the names of people after whom he christened various plants and animals are still with us. With any luck your name will endure as long as our civilization does. Not even Shakespeare could hope for more than that.”

 

Lichens are small, stationary organisms often mistaken for plants, but better thought of as cooperative (symbiotic) unions of fungi and algae. Instead of invading or scavenging like other fungi, lichen fungi live off sugars from tiny photosynthetic algal cells maintained within the body of the lichen. Lichens are sometimes thought of as fungi that have discovered agriculture: https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/lichens-fungi-that-have-discovered-agriculture

 

Many lichens are sensitive to pollution and disturbance and become rare in urbanized and industrialized landscapes. The conversion of old-growth forests to tree plantations is taking a particularly heavy toll on the abundance and diversity of lichens in British Columbia. Some lichens provide critical winter food for animals like mountain caribou in B.C.’s inland rainforests and black-tailed deer in B.C.’s coastal rainforests.

 

Lichens come in many shapes and sizes. The lichen on loan to the Ancient Forest Alliance is a Bryoria or “Horsehair Lichen”, which forms elegant black tresses on the branches of trees in oldgrowth forests. The Land Conservancy’s lichen is a Parmelia or “Crottle Lichen”, consisting of strap-like lobes pale greyish above and black below. It too inhabits the branches of trees, and grows in the Clearwater Valley, where TLC is working with Goward to create a critical wildlife corridor for southern Wells Gray Park:

https://www.waysofenlichenment.net/wells/corridor

See more fascinating details about the lichens and taxonomic tithing from Trevor Goward at: https://waysofenlichenment.net/tithe/introduction

 

“We’re extremely grateful to Trevor for his innovative fundraising and awareness raising contribution to help us protect B.C.’s last endangered old-growth forests which sustain endangered species, the climate, tourism, and many First Nations cultures. As a new organization with limited funds, we need all the help we can get,” said Ken Wu, co-founder of the Ancient Forest Alliance.

 

“In partnership with Trevor, TLC is raising funds to create a permanent wildlife corridor that connects two separate portions of southern Wells Gray Provincial Park. The acquisition will include two significant donations of land by Trevor and his neighbours and the purchase of three further parcels. This naming auction will help support our campaign and we would like to thank Trevor for choosing TLC. Trevor’s passion and commitment to protecting B.C.’s special places is commendable,” said Barry Booth, TLC Northern Regional Manager.

 

Those who want to make a bid to have one of the new species named after themselves or a loved one should visit the Ancient Forest Alliance’s website www.ancientforestalliance.org or phone 250-896-4007 or contact The Land Conservancy at www.conservancy.bc.ca/ or phone 1-877-485-2422.