Backing against a giant Douglas fir in Francis King Regional Park

Old-growth forest activists launch new group

/in /by

Prolific environmental activists have formed a fledgling old-growth forest watchdog group after parting ways with the Western Canada Wilderness Committee.

Amid the towering Douglas firs of Francis King Regional Park on Tuesday, Ken Wu announced the formation of the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) with former WCWC colleague Tara Sawatsky and photographer TJ Watt.

Wu, the long-standing public face of WCWC environmental campaigns in Greater Victoria, said the emerging group will seek to document intact and clear-cut old-growth forests on Vancouver Island and the southern Mainland.

Wu said the AFA also plans to advocate for B.C.-based value-added milling of second growth timber to preserve jobs while discouraging raw log exports.

“We’ll find in 10 to 15 years our ancient forests will be liquidated,” Wu said. “All that makes us special will be lost.”

Watt said he’s explored more than 100 different forest areas on Vancouver Island and has witnessed logging practices the group is trying to target.

“Our ancient forests hold some of the largest trees on Earth,” Watt said. “The most amazing places are lost before the public knows anything about them.”

Unlike the WCWC, the AFA will not seek charitable status, allowing the group to take partisan political stands. Registered Canadian charities are banned from political activity.

As of Tuesday, the AFA admittedly has little more than its name and a “G-mail account,” Wu said, but he expects online social networking to help build local awareness and support.

“Victoria stands out in the world as a stronghold of environmentally conscious people,” he said. “We don’t expect to get huge donations, but we can be honest and direct. I like the idea of not having charitable status.”

Wu announced his departure from WCWC last November, but launched the splinter group this month in response to wilderness committee plans to ramp down operations in Victoria. Wu said the WCWC is ending it’s old-growth campaign, “leaving a void that needed to be filled.”

“It’s a huge waste of time bickering back and forth,” Wu said. “You can fight for the organization or you can fight for the environment.”

Joe Foy, WCWC national campaign director in Vancouver, said when it comes to environmental activism, the more the merrier. By avoiding charitable status, Foy agreed the AFA has opened the door to blending political and environmental activism.

“Charitable status helps with fundraising, but restricts the kind of activities you can engage in,” Foy said. “(The AFA) helps create diversity of environmental groups in B.C. with a diversity of tactics. Both are good things.”

Foy described the state of old-growth on the Island as “absolutely grim.” Ancient trees outside of parks and other managed forest areas are subject to few protections, he said.

“We view ourselves as having large, intact ecosystems, but Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland are long past that point,” Foy said. “We need to protect every fragment that’s left.”

Foy suggested Wu is overstating upheaval within the WCWC. Two people are being hired to manage campaigns and public outreach in Victoria. The old-growth campaign isn’t over, he said, but is being tied with the effort on the Mainland.

The WCWC Rainforest store in downtown Victoria is losing money will likely be closed by March, Foy said, but a Victoria WCWC office will be staffed and maintained.

“There’s a saying that with many people, you have to go slow. But if you want to go fast, go by yourself,” Foy said. “Ken wants to go fast. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

For more on the AFA, see www.ancientforestalliance.org.

Ancient Forest Alliance

Old Forests, New Twist

/in /by

Tis the season, it would seem, for turmoil in the environmental movement. With run-of-the-river power projects testing the solidarity of green-minded British Columbians, and last summer’s high-profile battle for the leadership of The Land Conservancy, we now have the Western Canada Wilderness Committee announcing the closure of its Victoria storefront and shifting the focus of its Island campaigner to marine issues from old-growth forest protection.

Puzzled – and more than a little incensed – by the decision from the Wilderness Committee’s Vancouver-based executive and board is longtime WCWC forest campaign director Ken Wu, who this week announced the formation of his own old-growth preservation group to be known as the Ancient Forest Alliance. The AFA intends to plug what Wu sees as a gap left by WCWC’s planned changes to its Island initiatives.

In late 2009, Wu resigned his WCWC post, planning to embark on some long-deferred European backpacking, and set about training Tara Sawatsky to take over the job of galvanizing public support to save Island old-growth. But the Wilderness Committee head office in Vancouver has since decided the primary focus of its Victoria campaigner will be ocean-oriented, and Sawatsky was not offered the job.

“The central duty of the Victoria campaigner will be to be responsible for the marine campaigns for the whole organization, so that will include oil and gas, fish farms and the like,” says WCWC’s national campaign director Joe Foy.

“What we’re trying to do is integrate ending old-growth logging on Vancouver Island with our objectives to end old-growth logging around the Lower Mainland,” Foy continues. “So, our Victoria campaigner will be working closely with campaigners in this office in a broader strategy to end old-growth logging in the South Coast rainforest.”

Wu is struggling to find the logic in the WCWC executive’s decision to refocus its Vancouver Island efforts, especially when WCWC projects around old-growth logging had been gaining momentum over the past few years.

“If you look at all the indicators of success for an environmental organization, in terms of membership, fundraising, grassroots support, media coverage, influence – the Wilderness Committee of Victoria excelled, and that’s a simple fact,” says Wu. “So I’m not speculating on anyone’s motives, but what this decision does do, is that it eliminates the strongest part of the Wilderness Committee, which is its Victoria office, and centralizes the control and power in the Vancouver office.”

Wu says victories from the Victoria office have been plentiful.

“We killed the working forest proposal,” Wu told Monday. “We stopped coastal oil and gas development for almost a decade. We stopped the Malahat highway expansion through the old-growth forests at Goldstream provincial park, and when I first came we pushed the CRD to implement a parks levy and we’ve taken the old growth campaign to unprecedented heights.”

A rally for ancient forests in October 2008 saw more than 2,500 people, from loggers to environmentalists, come together on the legislature lawns to protest old-growth forest mismanagement.

Joe Foy says the decision to shut down the organization’s Johnson Street storefront is intended to save WCWC approximately $1,000 a month. Wu’s former position will be split in two, with the marine campaigner, as well as an outreach co-ordinator to build public engagement for WCWC’s projects.

“It’s a change in how we do our business, it’s a change calculated to put more dollars into campaigning by getting a savings on the higher rent that a store requires, and it’s a change calculated to build better teamwork between the various offices of the Wilderness Committee,” he says.

Wu has decided to put his travel plans on hold to continue his public relations battle against current logging practices on Vancouver Island.

He says a key difference between the efforts of the Ancient Forest Alliance and the Wilderness Committee is that his group will not be constrained by rules that prevent organizations with charitable status from taking overtly political positions. This means elected officials who maintain that B.C.’s old growth forests are intact, or defend the export of raw logs, should be prepared for some salty commentary from the AFA.

“I think people have to face consequences for doing bad things, and there should be corresponding consequences for doing good things, and this is how our world becomes a better place,” Wu says. “The main thing around this is that we need a positive alternative that mobilizes the grassroots and pushes hard in terms of punishment and rewards for issues that involve the people of Vancouver Island.”

WCWC’s Foy says he doesn’t anticipate an exodus of donors and supporters from WCWC to the Ancient Forests Alliance.

“There is a room, and a need for 20 Ken Wu’s on Vancouver Island, and it would be sad if the movement lost him, but it looks like that’s not what’s going to happen and that’s great,” says Foy.

Ancient Forest Alliance

Island forest group strikes out on its own

/in /by

Veteran activists with the Victoria branch of the Western Canada Wilderness Committee are splitting from the group’s Vancouver headquarters and forming a new organization dedicated to fighting for old-growth forests.

The break follows a WCWC decision to centralize its old-growth campaign in Vancouver, reduce staff in Victoria, dismantle the website and close the Johnson Street store.

Campaign director Ken Wu — who had already announced he was leaving WCWC — forest and marine campaigner Tara Sawatsky and photographer TJ Watt launched the non-profit Ancient Forest Alliance at a news conference in Francis King Regional Park yesterday.

The new group will plug the gap the WCWC move would have left on southern Vancouver Island, said Wu, who does not believe the planned changes will benefit the environment but says he doesn’t want to waste time bickering.

“The important thing is to move on and do good things. I don’t want to spend time mired in mud-slinging, but people must know there’s a void which needs to be filled,” he said.

Wu was planning to travel and work for Green Party Leader Elizabeth May when he left WCWC, rather than start a new organization. “But Victoria stands out as a real stronghold of people who have a connection with ancient forests,” said Wu, who worried momentum would be lost.

The Ancient Forest Alliance will campaign for legislative changes and build on local grassroots support.

Watt will lead expeditions into less accessible areas as he documents endangered ancient forests, heritage trees and clearcuts.

The biggest change is the Alliance will not apply for charitable status, giving it more political freedom.

“We will be able to call it as we see it because we will no longer have the handcuffs of charitable status,” Wu said.

The group is calling on the province to conduct an inventory and protect old-growth forests, ensure sustainable logging of second-growth, end the export of raw logs and assist in the retooling of sawmills to handle second-growth.

At first, campaigners will volunteer their time and use Facebook and Twitter to mobilize supporters.

“We have a skeletal structure of an organization. We have a name, we have a G-mail account and we have a knowledge base and relationships we have developed,” Wu said.

Joe Foy, WCWC national campaign director, said the decision to close the Johnson Street store was made because it was not making money and about $1,000 a month could be saved by moving the office to a second-storey location.

The new WCWC set-up in Victoria will consist of an outreach co-ordinator, who will organize rallies and slideshows, and a coastal campaigner, working on issues such as ending salmon farming and keeping oil off the coast, Foy said.

Staff will also work with the Vancouver forestry campaigner on old-growth issues, as problems with too much old-growth logging and “biodiversity meltdowns” are similar throughout the province.

“We had noticed Victoria was becoming a little bit cut off from the rest of the organization,” Foy said.

There is room for both the WCWC and the Alliance in Victoria, he said, adding forest companies that insist on logging old-growth should be “quaking in their boots.”

“We are certainly working for the same goals and, down the road, I think it will become clear there are areas where we can help each other out,” Foy said.

“I think Vancouver Island is very lucky that Ken has decided to stay and fight this battle.”

Ancient Forest Alliance

Wu in the Wild

/in /by

When last we heard from Ken Wu, the Western Canada Wilderness Committee’s Victoria campaign director had announced he would be stepping aside to travel the world. But those plans have been put on hold, with Mr. Wu launching a new environmental group in response to a wilderness committee decision he says will downsize the campaign against old growth logging on Vancouver Island. But Joe Foy, a senior staffer with committee, has rejected Mr. Wu’s interpretation of that decision.

Speaking to reporters at Saanich’s Francis/King Regional Park, Mr. Wu said the Ancient Forest Alliance – whose founders include the committee’s former junior campaigner Tara Sawatsky and Metchosin photographer T.J. Watt – “will fill a void.”

“The Western Canada Wilderness Committee’s office, its old growth campaign, it’s three old growth campaigners, its storefront and its Website will be closed shortly – not my decision,” he explained. “And I believe it’s important we continue to educate and mobilize the people of Victoria.”

In an interview with Public Eye, Mr. Foy confirmed the committee’s store in Victoria is being replaced with an office because the store “wasn’t a money-making venture for us.”

But he said no jobs are being eliminated, although some of their responsibilities are being changed. As a result, the committee’s old growth campaign on the island will be directed from Vancouver as part of a province-wide effort against such logging.

“It’s perfectly legitimate for Ken to be concerned. It’s a really important campaign. But I think he’s got it wrong,” said Mr. Foy.

Still, the committee’s national campaign director described Mr. Wu’s decision to continue his environmental work as “awesome.”

“The campaign and the movement in the general can very much use Ken Wu,” he said.

Ancient Forest Alliance

Local Environmental Activist Takes New Role in Protecting Old Growth Forests

/in /by

Ken Wu — The former campaign director for the Western Canada Wilderness Committee — and the new head of the Ancient Forest Alliance says there are a million hectares of unprotected old growth forests at risk on BC’s south coast.

“We need to continue putting pressure on government through hundreds of thousands of people, and so the Ancient Forest Alliance, the new organization today, will help us fill that void, but it will also have an added bonus. It may not sound like a bonus at first but it actually is, for our effectiveness is that we won’t have charitable status. That means we can say and do as we need when it comes to criticizing politicians or supporting politicians.”

“Charitable status handcuffs you in terms of what you can and can’t say about politicians. For example, you’re not allowed to say that this particular politician in BC, this little politician’s stance is that old growth forests are not endangered on Vancouver Island, raw log exports will continue and it’s fine to log off the rest of the unprotected old growth, therefore you should not vote for him if you care about old growth forests. You can’t say that. But it’s the truth when it comes to these issues.”

Wu was a guest on CFAX 1070 with Dave Dickson this afternoon.

Ancient Forest Alliance

New BC Organization "Ancient Forest Alliance" Launched to Protect BC’s Old-Growth Forests and Forestry Jobs

/in /by

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

11:00 am – Meet in Parking Lot (off Munn Road) of Francis King Regional Park (20 minutes from downtown Victoria), then 3 minute walk to Victoria’s largest Douglas Fir tree for media conference with Ken Wu, Tara Sawatsky, and TJ Watt

***NOTE: Photographers and camera people may want to bring a flash or lighting in case it is dark in the forest

A new organization working to protect BC’s old-growth forests and forestry jobs, the “Ancient Forest Alliance” (AFA), is being launched today by Victoria environmentalist and former Western Canada Wilderness Committee (WCWC) campaign director Ken Wu, former WCWC forest and marine campaigner Tara Sawatsky, and Metchosin photographer TJ Watt.

The new organization will undertake expeditions to document the endangered ancient forests, heritage trees, and clearcuts destroying the remaining old-growth forests on Vancouver Island and in southern BC, and work to undertake public education and mobilization campaigns to ensure their protection. The AFA would not be constrained by charitable status that forbids organizations from rejecting or endorsing politicians and parties due to their stances on important issues.

“We’ll be able to hit much harder – and also give stronger rewards – to politicians and political parties based on their stances regarding the fate of ancient forests and BC forestry jobs,” states Wu.

The organization is calling on the BC Liberal government to:

  • Undertake a Provincial Old-Growth Strategy that will inventory the old-growth forests in BC and protect them where they are scarce (ie. Vancouver Island, southern Mainland coast, southern Interior, etc.)
  • Ensure the sustainable logging of second-growth forests, which now constitute the majority of forest lands in southern BC.
  • End the export of BC raw logs to foreign mills in order to ensure a guaranteed log supply for BC mills and value-added processing facilities.
  • Assist in the retooling and development of BC coastal sawmills and value-added facilities to handle second-growth logs.
  • 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 change mitigation strategies through forest protection.

See the new website at www.ancientforestalliance.org

“With the closure of most of the Wilderness Committee chapter in Victoria, including the local old-growth campaign and its campaigners, there is a void that needs to be quickly filled. We need a positive alternative that will continue the campaign – but more effectively this time without the handcuffs of charitable status that limits what one can say and do about politicians and the government,” states Ken Wu, Ancient Forest Alliance spokesperson. “We’re talking about half a million hectares of old-growth forest at risk on Vancouver Island alone. There’s too much at stake, and there’s no way we’re going to let this campaign slip away in Victoria and let government and industry go unchallenged here. We need local campaigners who know the local areas and the local citizens who are determined to save our ancient forests and to ban raw log exports.”

Currently the BC Liberal government contends that old-growth forests are not endangered on Vancouver Island, while the NDP supports an old-growth strategy to inventory and further conserve old-growth forests, and the BC Green Party supports an end to old-growth logging and raw log exports on the Island.