Call to write letters

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Hello friends, there is an urgent need for your voice on numerous endangered ancient forests in BC right now! Please take a moment to assist with each area – if you commit just 30 minutes, you could help each area listed below right now: Avatar Grove, Cortes Island, the Great Bear Rainforest, Flores Island, McLaughlin Ridge, and Mossy Maple Grove:

AVATAR GROVE

GOOD NEWS! The BC government this morning declared the Avatar Grove legally off-limits to logging through a new, 59 hectare Old-Growth Management Area! We’re aiming that eventually the Avatar Grove will be protected through legislation as a park or conservancy, but this keeps out the chainsaws now! The Avatar Grove campaign has been an “old-growth campaign on steroids”. Thousands of people have visited this incredible monumental stand of extremely rare valley-bottom ancient redcedars and Douglas firs near Port Renfrew in a campaign spearheaded by the Ancient Forest Alliance. The Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce played a pivotal role by joining our call for the area’s protection. Unfortunately the logging company, Teal-Jones will be compensated with 30 hectares of second-growth and 27 hectares of old-growth (57 hectares) in the area – the AFA opposes compensation since the company does not own the land nor the trees, these are public forests. Lets remember too that THOUSANDS of hectares of old-growth forests are logged

EVERY year on Vancouver Island, tens of thousands of hectares are logged across BC, and millions of hectares remain unprotected and endangered in the province – this is a campaign to end logging of ALL endangered forests and to ensure sustainable second-growth forestry in BC.

CORTES ISLAND

Over 1000 hectares of endangered “dry maritime” forests are threatened with logging by Island Timberlands. Determined local residents on this northern Gulf Island have built different teams to undertake petition and letter-writing drives, fundraising, negotiations, mapping, and potentially blockades – which may happen shortly. BC’s Ministry of Environment has responded to our first round of letters calling on them to help protect these lands that it has “no funds available”.

Let’s ramp-up the call by targeting Premier Christy Clark now at premier@gov.bc.ca (include your full name and mailing address so they know you are a real person). Write her a quick letter to let her know it is the province’s responsibility to help purchase the endangered forests, sensitive ecosystems, and rare old-growth groves on Island Timberland’s private lands on Cortes Island. Only 1% of BC’s old-growth coastal Douglas firs remain!

GREAT BEAR RAINFOREST

The central and northern mainland coast of BC is massive, twice the size of Vancouver Island and bigger than many European countries. It is home to numerous First Nations communities and the towns of Prince Rupert, Kitimat, Bella Bella, and Bella Coola. It is also home to hundreds of ancient forest valleys with grizzlies, spirit bears, wolves, cougars, and salmon. BC made headlines six years ago when the province promised to save the largest intact temperate rainforest left on Earth. Today 50% of its forests are off-limits to logging while the rest remains at risk.

  • Please SIGN ONLINE to help the campaigners to “Take it Taller” to reach their goal of 5000 supporters at: www.TakeItTaller.ca [Original article no longer available]

FLORES ISLAND

Flores Island in Clayoquot Sound is Heaven on Earth. It is one of the most extensive intact ancient rainforests left in southern BC. Located near Tofino in Nuu-cha-nulth territory, it is home to wolves, cougars, deer, and black bears on the land, and gray whales, humpback whales, orcas, sea lions, and sea otters in its marine waters. Unfortunately it is under threat from logging.

MCLAUGHLIN RIDGE

Near Port Alberni on Vancouver Island, this 400 hectare tract of extremely rare old-growth Douglas firs and hemlocks is considered to be the finest deer wintering range on southern Vancouver Island and is critical habitat for the endangered Queen Charlotte goshawk. Island Timberlands is still intransigent and won’t commit to not logging the ridge.

MOSSY MAPLE GROVE, a.k.a. “Fangorn Forest”

This unique, newly located stand of magnificent, massive mossy maple trees near Cowichan Lake on Vancouver Island is just about the most beautiful forest you could imagine – straight out of a fairy tale!

  • See NEW HD video of the grove here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzOefJnAENI
  • Watch for calls to action to ensure this forest’s protection!
  • Directions will be made available to visit the Grove in the not distant future, for all those who are asking! Please be patient.

MOST of ALL please SIGN and FORWARD our online petition to protect BC’s endangered old-growth forests and forestry jobs at: ancientforestalliance.org/ways-to-take-action-for-forests/petition/

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Support the Ancient Forest Alliance!

We are a new organization and greatly need your support.

Please DONATE securely online at https://donate.ancientforestalliance.org

Visit the Ancient Forest Alliance online at:
Web: www.ancientforestalliance.org
Email: info@16.52.162.165
Petition: https://16.52.162.165/ways-to-take-action-for-forests/petition/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ancientforestalliance
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ancient_forest
YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/BCAncientForest

Ancient Forest Alliance

Canada’s Mossiest Rainforest aka Fangorn Forest

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Direct link to YouTube clip: https://youtu.be/FzOefJnAENI

Please SIGN our PETITION at ancientforestalliance.org/ways-to-take-action-for-forests/petition/

This is the unprotected “Mossy Maple Grove”, Canada’s mossiest rainforest, a stand of enormous old-growth Bigleaf maple trees — some as much as 2 meters (7 feet) wide in trunk diameter — completely draped in hanging gardens of mosses and ferns found just south of Cowichan Lake on southern Vancouver Island, BC. This is in the traditional territory of Cowichan Tribes who are part of the Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group.

Unlike other spotlighted old-growth forests in BC that have all been “coniferous” or needle-leaf trees (Douglas firs, Sitka spruce, western redcedars, etc.), this is an old-growth “deciduous” or broad-leaf rainforest. This area has also been nicknamed “Fangorn Forest” after the forest in The Lord of the Rings.

Filmed and edited by TJ Watt.
Music – “Razorback Sucker” by Tom Fahy – https://www.facebook.com/tomfahymusic/

Jane Morden by an Ancient Douglas-fir in the McLaughlin Ridge

Join the Friends of McLaughlin Ridge on Facebook!

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Port Alberni residents led by local activist Jane Morden are standing up to protect the endangered McLaughlin Ridge, a 500 hectare tract of ancient Douglas-fir forest near the town that biologists have classified as both critical habitat for wintering deer and endangered Queen Charlotte goshawks. The Ancient Forest Alliance is calling on the BC government to purchase the land from Island Timberlands.

‘Like’ the Protect McLaughlin Ridge page on Facebook and “share” with friends here: www.facebook.com/pages/Protect-McLaughlin-Ridge/171349489633596
Help us reach 100+ ‘likes’ by inviting your friends to the page too!

‘Write a Letter’ guide for McLaughlin Ridge: www.ancientforestalliance.org/news-item.php?ID=370
 

Concerned local citizen Oliver H. stands near large old-growth Douglas-fir trees in the endangered forests of Cortes Island.

Save Cortes Island’s Endangered Forests!

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URGENT! Cortes Island’s Threatened Forests Need Your Help! Please write to BC’s Minister of Environment Terry Lake below.

Cortes Island, a northern Gulf Island between Vancouver Island and the BC mainland, is home to some of the last 1% of old-growth Douglas-fir groves within the endangered “Dry Maritime” forests along BC’s southern coast. These are some of the most extensive remaining stands and are owned by corporate logging giant Island Timberlands.

See the beautiful NEW PHOTO GALLERY of Cortes Island’s endangered old-growth and mature forests here: www.ancientforestalliance.org/photos.php?gID=12

Local residents are staunchly opposed to the planned industrial logging of these ancient and mature forests and other sensitive ecosystems. The protection of these forests will take a willingness of Island Timberlands to sell their lands at a fair market value – not at an overinflated price – and for various levels of government (particularly the provincial government) and other organizations and individuals to provide the funds. For lands not purchased for protection, the company must conduct its forestry operation in line with community eco-forestry values and standards. Ultimately stronger private managed forest land regulations are needed in BC.

Please WRITE A QUICK EMAIL as soon as possible to BC’s Minister of Environment, Hon. Terry Lake at: terry.lake.mla@leg.bc.ca . Ask that the BC government help fund the purchase of endangered old-growth stands, sensitive ecosystems, and other high priority lands for conservation currently owned by Island Timberlands. ***BE SURE to include your FULL NAME and ADDRESS so they know you are a real person!

To keep up-to-date with the local activists campaign to protect Cortes Island’s forests and see photos, videos, and more, visit the Wildstands website! https://wildstands.wordpress.com/

Also, please sign and circulate our petition to protect BC’s remaining endangered old-growth forests here: ancientforestalliance.org/ways-to-take-action-for-forests/petition/

 

 

 

The McLaughlin Giant - Old-growth Douglas-fir measuring 23.5ft in circumference or 7.5ft in diameter

Protect McLaughlin Ridge! Please take 5 minutes to write a quick email!

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Protect McLaughlin Ridge!
Please take 5 minutes to write a quick email!
Old-Growth Logging of Forest Lands Intended for Protection on Vancouver Island Threatens Deer Winter Range and Endangered Goshawk Habitat
* See a new YOUTUBE clip (1 minute) about McLaughlin Ridge at:

* See a SPECTACULAR new photogallery of the endangered McLaughlin Ridge at: https://www.ancientforestalliance.org/photos.php?gID=10

Conservationists are calling on the BC government to protect a 500 hectare tract of ancient Douglas fir 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 old-growth forest on private land on McLaughlin Ridge from Island Timberlands.
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 on those lands and exempting the area from other planned protections.   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.
***Note: We don’t want to get any “bah humbug” complaints about how deer eat your garden veggies and are common in Victoria! On Vancouver Island as a whole, deer populations have plummeted from over 200,000 in the 1970’s to less than 60,000 animals today. These are not urban deer that live by the coast without snow – these are deer that live in the interior mountains of Vancouver Island at higher elevations where there is over 10 feet of snow and no garden veggies! The old-growth forests in such regions provide both shelter and food (in the form of lichens) – but most of their wintering habitat at such elevations have been logged now.
See more details on the Ancient Forest Alliance’s press release at:

See the Alberni Valley Times article “Critics Insist Logging Harms Wildlife” at:

PLEASE take 5 minutes and WRITE a Letter to Minister of Forests Steve Thomson at: steve.thomson.mla@leg.bc.ca
and Minister of the Environment Terry Lake at: terry.lake.mla@leg.bc.ca
telling them:
– McLaughlin Ridge has the largest and highest quality wintering range for black-tailed deer on southern Vancouver Island
– It is vital habitat for the endangered Queen Charlotte goshawk on southern Vancouver Island
– It is part of the last 1% of old-growth Douglas firs on BC’s coast
– The old-growth forests there were formerly intended for protection from logging as an Ungulate Winter Range and Wildlife Habitat Area until the BC government removed the Tree Farm License (TFL 44) from these lands in 2004, thereby exempting the area from these planned environmental protections.
– Therefore the BC government must remedy this situation by protecting these areas that were formerly intended to become off-limits to logging by buying them – with a high priority going to McLaughlin Ridge.
***Be sure to include your name and your home mailing address so that they know you are a real person!
Thank you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Old-growth logging near the Avatar Grove on Vancouver Island.

Deadline to Submit Avatar Grove Protection Comments this Wednesday, Nov. 9th!

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Please WRITE a QUICK EMAIL to PROTECT the AVATAR GROVE and ALL of BC’s Endangered Old-Growth Forests.
 
After almost two years of intense public pressure led by the Ancient Forest Alliance and the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce, the BC government is looking to officially declare Avatar Grove off-limits to logging. They are proposing to include the Avatar Grove within 59 hectares of new Old-Growth Management Areas (OGMA’s), pending the completion of public input that closes this Wednesday, November 9.
 
This is a great step forward for the most spectacular, easily accessible stand of unprotected old-growth cedars and Douglas-firs on southern Vancouver Island. The Avatar Grove is extremely rare, valley-bottom ancient forest, about 95% of which has been logged on the South Island.
 
However, the logging company will be compensated with 57 hectares of forest (27 hectares of old-growth, 30 hectares of second-growth), while thousands of hectares of old-growth forests are logged each year across Vancouver Island, tens of thousands of hectares across BC, and millions of hectares of BC’s old-growth forests remain in jeopardy. Already 75% of the original, productive old-growth forests have been logged on Vancouver Island.
 
PLEASE TAKE 3 minutes to WRITE a quick EMAIL by this Wednesday, November 9 to the BC government at:
 
Ministry of Forests: RenfrewOGMA@gov.bc.ca
BC Forest Minister Steve Thomson: steve.thomson.mla@leg.bc.ca 
Premier Christy Clark: premier@gov.bc.ca 
 
***BE SURE to include your FULL NAME and ADDRESS so they know you are a real person!
***Please reference: Renfrew Amendments 2011
 
 
TELL THEM that you:
 
– Support the protection of Avatar Grove as an Old-Growth Management Area (OGMA) in the Renfrew 2011 Amendment and ultimately as a conservancy or park.
 
– Want ALL of BC’s endangered old-growth forests protected through a Provincial Old-Growth Strategy.
 
– Want the BC government to ensure the sustainable logging of second-growth forests and to ban the export of raw logs to foreign mills.

RALLY for ANCIENT FORESTS and BC FORESTRY JOBS! Thursday, Oct. 20th

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YOUR participation will send an undeniable message to Christy Clark’s BC Liberal government that they MUST act during the next 18 months before a BC election to protect British Columbia’s ancient forests and ensure sustainable forestry jobs!

Date:          Thursday, October 20, 2011
Time:          7:00-8:30 pm
Location:     Alix Goolden Hall, 907 Pandora St., Victoria

Join a diverse range of speakers on the need to protect British Columbia’s ancient forests and ensure sustainable forestry jobs.

Speakers include:

Ken Wu & TJ Watt– Ancient Forest Alliance co-founders

Robert Morales – Hul’qumi’num Chief Treaty Negotiator

Gisele Martin – Tlaoquiaht cultural educator and tourism operator

Judith Sayers – Hupacasath member and UVic adjunct professor

Jens Wieting – Sierra Club of BC campaigner

Arnold Bercov – Pulp, Paper, and Woodworkers of Canada president (local 8)

Annette Tanner – WCWC Mid-Island Chair

British Columbia’s old-growth forests are highly endangered by industrial logging, with tens of thousands of hectares being clearcut each year. See “before” and “after” maps of Vancouver Island at:
https://16.52.162.165/ancient-forests/before-after-old-growth-maps/

The decline in coastal forestry employment has been fundamentally driven in recent decades by the depletion of the biggest, best old-growth stands in the valley bottoms and lower elevations, resulting in diminishing returns as trees get smaller and more expensive to reach.

Meanwhile the BC government has done nothing to ensure that forest companies retool coastal sawmills to handle smaller second-growth logs, let alone invest in value-added manufacturing facilities. Instead, while mills close, the BC government has been allowing a mass exodus of raw logs to leave for foreign mills – including over 1.1 million cubic meters of raw logs to China last year despite earlier assurances that “lumber, not logs” would be exported.

The unsustainable depletion of old-growth forests has not only resulted in the loss of forestry jobs, but also increasing numbers of endangered species, collapsing wild salmon stocks, the massive release of carbon into the atmosphere, and the steady erosion of many First Nations cultures which evolved in and are supported by old-growth forests.

Support the call for protection of old-growth forests, sustainable second-growth forestry, an end to raw log exports, and the implementation of First Nations land use plans.

YOUR participation is VITAL!

Please forward far and wide!
Also please confirm how many people you’re bringing to help us get a sense of our numbers by emailing us at info@16.52.162.165

Or visit our Facebook Event page and click attend:
https://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=288068437869909

For more info contact: info@16.52.162.165

 

*** NOTE: If you haven’t recently, PLEASE WRITE a LETTER to the BC government and your local BC Liberal or NDP Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) calling on the BC government to devise a plan to:

– Immediately protect BC’s most endangered forests, such as valley bottom ancient rainforests like the Avatar Grove, our Coastal Douglas fir forests, and Inland Old-Growth Rainforests.
-Undertake a comprehensive Provincial Old-Growth Strategy that will inventory and ban and quickly phase-out logging of endangered old-growth forests through the province.
– Ensure the sustainable logging of second-growth forests.
– Ban the export of raw logs to foreign mills.
– Implement new land use plans to expand protected areas based on First Nations land use plans, conservation biology-based scientific assessments, and climate change mitigation strategies.

Write to:
Premier Christy Clark (premier@gov.bc.ca)
Steve Thomson, Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations (for.minister@gov.bc.ca)

Find your local MLA’s address at [Original article no longer available]

Or use our online Letter-Writing Form at:
https://16.52.162.165/write-letter.php

And please sign and forward our online petition at: ancientforestalliance.org/ways-to-take-action-for-forests/petition/

Ban Raw Log Exports March and Rally

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Stop the Export of Our Future, Our Jobs
Sponsored by the Pulp, Paper and Woodworkers of Canada, supported by the Ancient Forest Alliance.

Ken Wu of the Ancient Forest Alliance will be among the speakers.

Date:  Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Time: 12:30
Location: PPWC Union Hall, 596 Albert Street, Nanaimo
Contact: 250-753-8721

June 14th – Rally to support Hul’quimi’num people’s fight against takeover of TimberWest

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TimberWest is holding their AGM tomorrow at the Sutton Place Hotel in Vancouver, BC starting at 10:00 am. People will start gathering at 9:00 am and the rally will begin at 9:30 am.

TimberWest’s holdings in British Columbia include 113,208 hectares of forest lands within the Hul’qumi’num Territory.  The takeover is being undertaken without full consultation of the Indigenous people of that territory, which is a direction violation under Canada’s International Human Rights treaty obligations.”   Kat Norris Indigenous Action Movement

“The Hul’qumi’num people continue to assert their fundamental human rights to these lands and resources on Vancouver Island. To protect their rights in their lands and resources involved in this billion dollar transaction, HTG has today filed a request for immediate assistance in the form of precautionary measures (the equivalent of an injunction) from the Inter American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), the human rights monitoring organ of the Organization of American States, which Canada joined in 1990.”   https://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/May2011/12/c4226.html

“In the 1880s Canada seized—without agreement or compensation—over 385,000 hectares of lands and resources owned and occupied by the Hul’qumi’num, on the basis that the Hul’qumi’num as ‘indians’, were inferior and not entitled to the same rights as others.” Lawyers Rights Watch.  Gail Davidson, Executive Director

Clear cutting in Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group traditional territory on southeastern Vancouver Island:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEpuciCDCcw&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

Forests for the Future: Community Gathering & Letter-Writing Evening at the Rhizome Cafe

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Join in on a grassroots community gathering to celebrate the legacy of BC’s endangered ancient forests and to voice support for their protection.  Featuring forest trivia, letter-writing, and a slideshow of images of BC’s ancient temperate rainforests.  Bring friends and family! 

Come early for dinner–Rhizome’s kitchen will be open throughout the event, and the cafe is fully licensed. 

Hosted by the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA). 

Donations will be gratefully accepted and will go to support the AFA’s work to protect endangered ancient forests in BC.  

Time: 7pm

Date: Thursday, May 5th

Location: Rhizome Cafe – 317 E Broadway, Vancouver, BC.

For more info: hannah@15.222.255.145
https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=173206586064716