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The stump of a 14ft diameter old-growth redcedar freshly cut in 2010 found along the Gordon River near Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island.

Massive Port Renfrew tree stumps raise logging suspicions

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Massive stumps found on Crown land near Port Renfrew are arousing fears that logging companies are taking the biggest and best old-growth trees even though the local chamber of commerce wants to promote giant tree tourism.

The old-growth red cedar stumps were cut recently and measure between 3.7 and 4.6 metres. They were found in the Gordon River Valley, near a huge stand of old-growth trees nicknamed Avatar Grove by members of the Ancient Forest Alliance.

“People need to understand the urgency of the situation,” said Ken Wu, Alliance co-founder.

“Most of our remaining old-growth forests will not survive the B.C. Liberal government’s current policy of ancient forest liquidation. These globally rare ancient forests are being turned into a sea of giant stumps and tree plantations,” he said.

John Cash, Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce president, said it is disappointing that old-growth logging is accelerating just as the Pacific Marine Circle Route is being promoted as a scenic tourist attraction.

“Even on that road they didn’t allow a buffer, so it’s clearcut right up to the edge of the road. I get comments about it all the time,” he said.

Tourists want to see big trees and Port Renfrew has some of the biggest, Cash said.

“But it’s like open warfare here. They are sacrificing short-term monetary benefit for the logging companies to the long-term detriment of the community,” he said.

“If the forest companies had been responsible to begin with and had done their planting and management properly, there would be no need to cut down old-growth forests.”

The largest stumps found by the alliance were on land being logged by Surrey-based Teal-Jones Group.

Teal-Jones spokesman John Pichugin did not return calls Thursday.

Forests Minister Pat Bell said that on Vancouver Island 900,000 hectares of the 1.9 million hectares of Crown land is old-growth.

“There is no shortage of old-growth on Vancouver Island. It represents a significant part of the Island,” Bell said.

Vancouver Island also has 438,000 hectares in protected areas and parks, many of which include old-growth forests and, in the area around Port Renfrew, 19,000 hectares are protected in old-growth management areas, he said.

“I think there’s a good balance there already, but it is always worth looking at specific sites,” he said.

The alliance is asking government to inventory and protect old-growth forests where they are scarce and to ensure sustainable logging of second-growth forests.

However, Bell said forest companies are already shifting to second growth.

Meanwhile, the alliance is launching a new Facebook group, Canada’s biggest stumps, where members can compete to upload photos of the largest tree stumps they have found.

“With relatively few eyes and ears out there monitoring what is going on in our forests, photo expeditions and competitions like this will help to show the public what serious environmental destruction is happening just down the backroads of the land they call homes,” said AFA co-founder TJ Watt.

B.C.’s old-growth forests have support of the Na’vi

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Downtown Vancouver was visited by Na’vi from the extraterrestrial moon Pandora at a small rally for B.C.’s ancient rainforests Saturday afternoon.

Led by a carnival band in green costumes, about 100 supporters of the Ancient Forest Alliance borrowed from images from the blockbuster hit Avatar in their protest against the logging of old-growth forests and marched to the Vancouver Art Gallery with its message that the provincial government needs to take more action to protect those scarce landscapes.

“Avatar’s world under attack! What do we do? We fight back,” shouted one activist on a bullhorn.

Many of the activists wore face paint resembling the fictional Na’vi humanoids from Avatar, which has an environmental theme of humans wreaking havoc on the ancient forests of Pandora in the quest for the mineral unobtanium.

“We’re here to promote awareness and support to protect the last of our ancient forests because there aren’t many left, and we can support the forest industry with second growth,” said 28 year-old nursing student Jennifer Chow, who painted her entire body in blue.

“The theme of the movie was focused on protecting their forests so it’s a good way to promote awareness to the general public. I camp every year, I love using the forest – so I feel really connected to it,” explained Chow.

Playing more to the movie the alliance has recently dubbed an area near Port Renfrew as ‘Avatar grove’ because of its untouched, newly discovered old-growth forest within a tree-farm license.

According to the alliance old-growth forests need protection because they support biodiversity, counteract climate change, provide clean water for people and wildlife, are culturally significant, and are important for tourism.

“We want to phase out old-growth logging. We want a provincial old-growth strategy that inventories the remaining old-growth and protects it where it’s scarce,” alliance spokeswoman Michelle Connolly. “We want the [provincial government] to get a good understanding of where the last old-growth forests are.”

She said there is nothing wrong with logging, and one of her organization’s goals is to have sustainable jobs in forestry.

She said there are enough trees in the second-growth forests of B.C. to sustain the industry, however, the export of raw logs to foreign mills needs to end in order to ensure a guaranteed log supply for B.C. mills and value-added processing facilities.

Connolly’s group also believes there needs to be more tax incentives for mills to accommodate smaller diametre logs from second-growth forests.

“We don’t have enough mills to accommodate those logs. …There are a lot of jobs lost because of that,” said Connolly.

Connolly warns if nothing is done to identify and protect these forest they will be gone forever sooner than later.

The alliance also called on the government to “undertake new, democratic land-use planning processes to protect endangered forests based on new First Nations land-use plans, ecosystem-based scientific assessments, and climate mitigation strategies through forest protection.”

Rare stand of old-growth trees near Port Renfrew only partly protected says eco-group

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Logging is already prohibited in part of a stand of massive old-growth trees near Port Renfrew that the community and environmentalists want protected, but it’s not nearly enough, say members of the Ancient Forest Alliance.

A section of the stand, nicknamed Avatar Grove, is in an old-growth management area, meaning no cutting is allowed, Forests Ministry spokeswoman Vivian Thomas said yesterday.

However, TJ Watt, co-founder of the environmental group, said ministry maps show only a small ribbon along the Gordon River is protected, while most of the biggest trees are marked for cutting.

“The most valuable stands of cedars and firs are outside the old-growth management area,” he said. “The only way that area is going to function as a proper ecosystem is if the whole area is protected. Putting a ribbon down the creek fractures everything.”

The ministry map shows three small sections of old-growth management areas in the immediate vicinity of the stand of huge and twisted trees.

Ken Wu of the alliance said the government should consider expanding the management area, intended to protect biodiversity, to cover the entire stand.

Surrey-based Teal-Jones Group has cutting rights and has marked the area for logging, but did not respond to numerous calls yesterday. Thomas said the company is in the preliminary planning stages, and has not yet submitted a cutting-permit request.

John Cash, president of the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce, said protecting extraordinary stands of old-growth, such as Avatar Grove, is the best way forward for the struggling community.

A survey five years ago found the biggest tourist draw in Port Renfrew is Botanical Beach and the biggest money draw is fishing — although that industry is having difficulties — but most people also want to see the big trees, Cash said.

“Everyone wants to see the Red Creek Fir and it’s almost inaccessible,” said Cash, who recently put together a big-tree tour map so tourists wouldn’t get lost on the logging roads.

“Every attraction we can bring in is one more day we can keep people here.”

Cathedral Grove draws 1.5 million people a year, but shows only a small sliver of old-growth, while areas near Port Renfrew show the entire natural habitat, Cash said.

The Pacific Marine Circle Route is beginning to bring people into the community of 270 people, he said. “But we have to have something to show people, otherwise we are dying.”

Jessica Hicks, owner of the Coastal Kitchen Cafe, is hoping the grove and other spectacular stands of old-growth will be protected. “The trees are such a draw. People want any excuse to just get out there for the day and seeing the big trees is pretty amazing,” she said.

Nearby Carmanah-Walbran Provincial Park is difficult to reach, so a nearby attraction would provide the wow factor, she said. “This could be the future of Port Renfrew.”

Environmental group: Protect rare forest giants marked for logging near Port Renfrew

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Some of the giants stretch straight to the sky for 80 metres, while others are bulbous and misshapen, the knots and gnarls betraying their age.

The old-growth Douglas firs and red cedars have stood in the valley beside the Gordon River for centuries, but now, in the almost undisturbed grove, the end is spelled out in spray paint and logging tape.

The approximately 10-hectare stand of trees on Crown land, 15 minutes outside Port Renfrew, is marked for logging, although a Forests Ministry spokeswoman says no cutting permit has yet been issued.

If the newly formed environmental group Ancient Forest Alliance has its way, logging plans for the area would be scrapped.

“This area is just about the most accessible and finest stand of ancient trees left in a wilderness setting on the south Island,” said co-founder Ken Wu. “This is potentially a first-rate ecotourism gem and it’s so close to Port Renfrew.”

The stand, nicknamed Avatar Grove after the movie because of the twisted shapes, giant sword ferns and hanging mosses, was located by self-styled big-tree hunter TJ Watt in November. But when he and Wu returned this month, the biggest trees were surrounded by falling-boundary logging tape and marked with blue spray paint.

What make the grove different from other fragments of south Island old growth is the relatively flat terrain, nearby areas of protected old-growth such as the Carmanah-Walbran Provincial Park, and its proximity to Port Renfrew, a community attempting to attract eco-tourists.

“All other unprotected old-growth stands near Victoria are either on steep, rugged terrain, far along bumpy logging roads or are small isolated stands surrounded by clearcuts and second-growth and near human settlements,” Wu said. “This is one of the last of the old-growth valley bottoms.”

On Monday, the Ancient Forest Alliance will deliver a letter to Forests Minister Pat Bell asking that the stand be protected immediately by a Land Use Order, similar to the process being used to protect areas of Haida Gwaii and 1,600 hectares of coastal Douglas fir zones on the east side of Vancouver Island.

Watt is desperately hoping the province will step in.

“This is my passion. This is what gets me excited,” he said, staring at the crazily twisted trees. “You can’t help but develop a natural attachment to this area when you see it.”

Getting up close and personal with the Avatar Grove is not a walk in the park. There is no defined trail, massive rotting trees litter the ground and unexpected holes are covered by moss.

But it’s worth it, said Watt, hoisting himself up onto a giant burl.

“It would be a huge tragedy to lose something like this,” he said.

“Tourists come from all over the world to visit the ancient forests of B.C. and Avatar Grove stands out as a first-rate potential destination if the B.C. Liberals don’t let it fall.”

Bell could not be contacted yesterday afternoon and there is uncertainty about which company is planning to log the area.

Surrey-based Teal-Jones Group is cutting in the area and Forests Ministry spokeswoman Vivian Thomas said the Pacheedaht First Nation has a licence to remove wind-throw nearby.

“But we haven’t received a cutting-permit application in that area and you need an approved cutting permit before you can start logging,” she said.


T.J. Watt of the Ancient Forest Alliance stands by a stand of old growth forest just outside of Port Renfrew that is designated for logging
Photograph by: Debra Brash, Times Colonist

Ancient Forest Alliance

An exceptionally spectacular and accessible stand of newly located old growth redcedars and Douglas firs near Port Renfrew has recently been marked for logging.

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An exceptionally spectacular and accessible stand of newly located old growth redcedars and Douglas-firs near Port Renfrew has recently been marked for logging. The unprotected forest on Crown lands about 10 kilometers north of Port Renfrew, nicknamed the “Avatar Grove” after the hit movie for its awe-inspiring beauty and alien-shaped, enormous trees covered in burls, was located in early December last year by Vancouver Island photographer and “big tree hunter” TJ Watt and a friend. In a return visit made last week by Watt and environmentalist Ken Wu, both co-founders of the new Ancient Forest Alliance (www.ancientforestalliance.org), Avatar Grove was found to be slated for logging, with many of its trees spray painted and bearing falling-boundary flagging tape.

“This area is just about the most accessible and finest stand of ancient trees left in a wilderness setting on the South Island,” stated Ken Wu. “All other unprotected old growth stands near Victoria are either on steep, rugged terrain far along bumpy logging roads, or are small isolated stands surrounded by clearcuts and second-growth and near human settlements. This area is a wild region on vast Crown lands, in a complex of perhaps 1500 hectares of old-growth in the Gordon River Valley – only 5 minutes off the paved road, right beside the main logging road, and on relatively flat terrain. This could become a first rate eco-tourism gem if the BC government had the foresight to spare it. We’ll be putting in a formal request that they enact a Land Use Order to protect it quickly before it falls.”

Avatar Grove is in Tree Farm License (TFL) 46. TLF 46 is being logged by Surrey-based Teal Jones and through the BC government’s BC Timber Sales program involving smaller companies. The Grove is home to dozens of some of the South Island’s largest redcedars and Douglas firs, including several trees with trunks that are over 12 feet in diameter. Moreover, several of the cedars have incredible, alien shapes. With giant bulbous burls ballooning out from their trunks, winding, snake-like roots of hemlock trees growing up their sides, and giant limbs draped in mosses and hanging ferns, many of the trees seem to be from the rainforests of the fictional planet of “Pandora” in James Cameron’s hit movie, “Avatar”. Yet despite its magnificence and easy access, the Grove is slated for logging any day now.

Old-growth forests are important for sustaining species at risk, tourism, clean water, and First Nations traditional cultures. Avatar Grove is in close proximity to the Gordon River, home to steelhead and salmon runs, and evidence of cougars and elk were apparent in the Grove.

Based upon an analysis of satellite photographs, about 88% of the original, productive old-growth forests on southern Vancouver Island (south of Barkley Sound and Port Alberni) have already been logged, including 95% of the productive old-growth on low, flat terrain. Across the Island as a whole, about 75% of the original productive old-growth forests have been logged, including 90% of the valley bottoms where the largest trees grow. Avatar Grove is one of the very few flat, valley-bottom old-growth forests left on the entire South Island.

With so little of our ancient forests remaining, the Ancient Forest Alliance is calling on the BC Liberal government to:

  • Immediately protect the most at-risk old-growth forests – such as those on the South Island where only 12% remains and on eastern Vancouver Island where only 1% remains.
  • Undertake a Provincial Old-Growth Strategy that will inventory the old-growth forests across the province and protect them where they are scarce through legislated timelines to quickly phase-out old-growth logging in those regions (ie. Vancouver Island, Lower Mainland, southern Interior, etc.).
  • Ensure that second-growth forests are logged at a sustainable rate of cut
  • End the export of raw logs in order to create guaranteed log supplies for local milling and value-added industries.
  • Assist in the retooling and development of mills and value-added facilities to handle second-growth logs.
  • Undertake new land-use planning initiatives based on First Nations land-use plans, ecosystem-based scientific assessments, and climate mitigation strategies involving forest protection.

“Tourists come from all over the world to visit the ancient forests of BC and Avatar Grove stands out as a first rate potential destination if the BC Liberals don’t let it fall. But if the government chooses to allow this rare and impressive area to be logged, they will need to re-write the tourism business plan for the area to say ‘ideal location for world class Provincial Park … in 500 years time’,” stated TJ Watt.