WestJet Magazine's “Up!” includes a photo and write-up of the Avatar Grove on Page 27 in their “Going Coastal” article of Southern Vancouver Island destinations.
Check it out here:
https://cdn1.upmagazine.com/up-digital-issues/upapril-2013/index.html
Proposal for UN World Heritage Site for the Giant Cedars in BC’s Inland Rainforest Gains Momentum
Cooperation between conservationists across BC is ramping up a public awareness campaign to protect BC’s globally rare Inland Temperate Rainforest and to have one of its finest natural areas, highlighted by giant redcedars, designated as a UN World Heritage Site east of Prince George.
Conservationists in BC’s interior will join coastal activists to expand the awareness-raising campaign, including a presentation this Thursday, May 2 in Victoria (7-9 pm, Ambrosia Centre, 638 Fisgard St.) by Dr. Darwyn Coxson, Ecosystem Science & Management professor at the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC), and Ancient Forest Alliance campaigners Ken Wu and TJ Watt of Victoria.
The “Ancient Forest Trail,” readily accessible from Highway 16, is located in B.C.’s Inland Temperate Rainforest, about 130 kilometers east of Prince George. It features massive western red cedars, some estimated to be over 1000 years old, and an internationally significant lichen flora. The area, known for generations to First Nations and other local communities, was flagged for harvesting in 2006 but subsequently declared off-limits to logging through an Old-Growth Management Area after a major public outcry. Surrounding and nearby old-growth and mature forests remain unprotected.
New research led by the University of Northern British Columbia shows that these old-growth cedar stands have been reduced to less than 4% of the 130,000 hectare forest type in which they are found (the “Interior Cedar Hemlock slim very wet cool” bioegeoclimatic zone or ICHvk2) – while only 96 hectares, or less than 0.1%, are currently protected in BC’s provincial parks. To help secure better representation of such forests, the report recommends the BC government extend the boundary of nearby Slim Creek Provincial Park to include the area surrounding the Ancient Forest Trail in the region around Dome Creek.
In effect this step is seen as preparatory to a bid for World Heritage Site status under the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
See: [Original UNBC.ca article no longer available]
“Becoming a Provincial Park or Conservancy and then a World Heritage Site will ensure the long-term protection of the ancient cedar stands, which to date, have been cared for by local community groups,” says the article’s lead author, UNBC Ecosystem Science and Management Professor Darwyn Coxson, who co-wrote the study with UNBC Environmental Planning professor David Connell, and Trevor Goward of the University of British Columbia. The study, which was published in the BC Journal of Ecosystems and Management, went through extensive peer review. It emphasizes that protected designation for this area would help to diversify the regional economy by building upon a regional tourist attraction, which has already developed at the area.
See the report at: https://jem.forrex.org/index.php/jem/article/view/206
B.C.’s temperate rainforests are best known on the coast, in such places as Clayoquot Sound, the Walbran and Carmanah Valleys, Avatar Grove, and the Great Bear Rainforest. However, another major tract of temperate rainforest, the Inland Temperate Rainforest, occurs in southeastern B.C ., stretching roughly from the Revelstoke area north to near Prince George. About 800,000 hectares of rainforest ecosystem exists in B.C.’s Interior within the wettest portions of the Interior Cedar Hemlock zone, with huge redcedars and diverse wildlife including grizzlies, wolverine, and the endangered mountain caribou. The ecosystem is also well known for for its exceptional lichen diversity, specifically linked to old-growth forests. Unfortunately, a quarter century of logging has eliminated the vast majority of old-growth stands within this ecosystem.
“While BC has many incredibly diverse forest types, there’s no doubt that one of the most charismatic – and heavily hit by the logging industry – has been the old-growth Inland Temperate Rainforests with its thousand year old cedars. These are among Earth’s most spectacular forests, and the BC government needs to protect them for wildlife, tourism, the climate, and First Nations cultures,” stated Ken Wu, Ancient Forest Alliance executive director. “Not only do specific areas like the 16,000 hectares around the Ancient Forest Trail need strong legislated protection, but we also need a more comprehensive Provincial Old-Growth Plan to protect endangered old-growth forests across BC, including our remaining old-growth Inland Temperate Rainforests.”
“Temperate rainforests are limited to about a half dozen widely scattered regions in both hemispheres. Of these the inland temperate rainforest formation occurs in only two: western Canada and southern Europe. B.C. has the only such tracts on the planet that can in any sense be called pristine. This must be seen as a globally-significant conservation priority,” stated lichenologist Trevor Goward, co-author of the report and contributor to the award-winning book, Temperate and Boreal Rainforests of the World, published in 2011.
The Ancient Forest Alliance is calling on the BC government to establish a comprehensive, science-based Provincial Old-Growth Plan. The plan would entail protection targets and timelines to ban or quickly phase-out old-growth logging in regions where scientific assessments deem it necessary to sustain ecosystem integrity, while at the same time the government is encouraged to ensure a value-added second-growth forest industry with a reduced, sustainable rate of cut.
Authorized by the Ancient Forest Alliance, registered sponsor under the Election Act
Ancient Forest, Alliance, Victoria Main PO, PO Box 8459, Victoria, BC, V8W 3S1 Canada
When provincial NDP leader Adrian Dix announced his party’s green policy last Monday, Ken Wu of the Ancient Forest Alliance was less than impressed: “The NDP’s environment platform is like a blurry moving sasquatch video in regards to potential old-growth forest protections and park creations. You can’t discern if it’s real and significant, or if it’s just Dix in a fake gorilla costume.”
That’s scarcely a ringing endorsement from a group Dix must be hoping to recruit. If the NDP are to win next month’s election, they’ll need support from environmentalists.
Remember what happened last time. In the 2009 election, the NDP lost the popular vote by a fairly narrow margin, trailing the Liberals 42.2 per cent to 45.8.
Yet the Green party garnered eight per cent of the ballots that year. If the NDP had done better among this group of voters, they might have won. The same was true of the 2005 election. Vote-splitting on the left has cost dearly in the past.
But there’s a problem. Dix can’t match the Greens promise for promise. That would take him too far from the political centre where most of the votes lie.
The environmental platform he laid out testifies to that reality. It’s more remarkable for what it doesn’t contain than for what it does.
The only significant new commitment is a plan to dissolve the Pacific Carbon Trust. More on that in a moment.
Dix reiterated his party’s opposition to a proposed pipeline that would move crude oil from Alberta to Kitimat. He also promised a ban on cosmetic pesticides, and money for park infrastructure.
These are either measures the party must adopt to retain its core vote (opposing the pipeline), or they’re minimalist gestures (the ban on pesticides) calculated to appeal outside the green community. Rather than a streaking sasquatch, the picture they bring to mind is Dix tiptoeing through a minefield.
No mention was made about B.C. Hydro’s proposal to build the Site C hydroelectric dam on the Peace River. Likewise, nothing about old-growth logging, or iron-dumping at sea to improve salmon habitat.
Fish farming or genetically modified crops weren’t mentioned. There was no discussion of grizzly bear hunting, although grizzlies are already “blue-listed,” meaning the species is vulnerable to further predation.
Of course, it’s possible the NDP is keeping quiet about such controversial topics until after the election. Parties often campaign in the centre, then govern closer to their base.
But Dix, like his mentor, former premier Glen Clark, comes from the blue-collar side of the party. Environmental restrictions that put jobs at risk in forestry or the fishery might be a bridge too far for him.
There is, however, a huge area of uncertainty. As noted, the New Democrats are planning to dissolve the Pacific Carbon Trust, a Crown corporation that helps public- and private-sector agencies reduce their carbon “footprint” by selling them “offsets” that reduce greenhouse gas emissions elsewhere.
Last month, provincial auditor general John Doyle published a scathing review. Doyle found that some of the alleged offsets were far less effective than claimed. Dix used this report as justification for killing the trust.
There are indeed very real problems with carbon trading. The same difficulties have cropped up in other countries. But does that mean cap-and-trade is now dead in B.C.?
Who knows? Dix said only that some of the trust’s functions would be assumed by the Climate Action Secretariat. That is hardy a full or convincing answer.
It appears, on this central issue, that the NDP are unwilling to take a clear stance for now.
Perhaps the blurry sasquatch isn’t such a bad metaphor after all.
Read More: https://www.timescolonist.com/editorial-ndp-unclear-on-environment-1.140177
When: Thursday April 25, 2013
Time: 7:00-8:30 pm
Where: NANAIMO, Beban Park Social Centre, 2300 Bowen Rd., Meeting Room 3
Join the Ancient Forest Alliance’s Ken Wu and TJ Watt for a slideshow presentation on the current status, ecology, wildlife, and related policies that affect BC’s old-growth forests and how we can work to ensure a sustainable, value-added, second-growth forest industry. Updated photos and maps from BC’s coastal old-growth forests. Also hear from VIU Ecology Students about the importance of second-growth Coastal Douglas Fir ecosystems and from NALT. Discussion afterwards.
Sponsored by the Nanaimo & Area Land Trust (NALT)
The Ancient Forest Alliance would like to extend a great thank you and congratulations to Francis Litman and all the organizers and volunteers that made Creatively United for the Planet such a success this past Earth Day weekend! The family-friendly event drew out thousands of folks who were able to visit the more than 70 vendor booths and learn more about sustainability and creative ways to help the planet. It’s through building a broad-based, large-scale movement that we will bring about real powerful social and environmental change. Creatively United was a great example of this! Here’s to 2014!
Creatively United website: https://creativelyunitedfortheplanet.com/
Facebook page: www.facebook.com/creativelyunited
Twitter: @creativelyunite
NDP Full Platform Released Today – Old-Growth Protection Mentioned and $1 million/year allocated to Protect Endangered Species and Habitat
Today BC NDP leader Adrian Dix announced the party’s full platform – see: www.bcndp.ca/files/BCNDP-Platform-2013-Web.pdf
The platform includes a brief mention of protecting old-growth forests, and allocating $1 million/year to protect endangered species habitats.
“On old-growth forests, the NDP may be starting to move forward, but their position is still mysterious like the Ogopogo. There appears to be a head popping above the surface, and there could be something huge and substantive underneath – or it could be a fleeting illusion. We encourage the party to make it substantive and not ‘more of the same’. The crucial details are how much, where, and when they’ll protect old-growth forests – and if it’s above and beyond the unsustainable status quo. There’s a large scale ecological crisis underway in BC’s old-growth forests as we lose biodiversity and as ecosystems collapse, and continuing the status quo is simply untenable. We encourage the NDP to come forward with a detailed, stronger commitment on protecting old-growth forests,” stated Ken Wu, Ancient Forest Alliance’s executive director.
“The $1 million/year for endangered species habitat for three years is better than nothing, but it’s small. We need a much more comprehensive land acquisition fund to purchase and protect endangered ecosystems on private lands on a much larger scale before they’re gobbled up by development,” Wu continued.
The Environment Platform (page 42) states the party will “Protect significant ecological areas like wetlands, estuaries and valuable old-growth forests.” The recognition of the importance of protecting old-growth forests is a step forward for the party, which made no mention of old-growth or the environment in their previously released Forestry Platform, to the chagrin of conservationists. However, the critical details of “how much”, “where”, and “when” are not mentioned in today’s platform.
Tracts of old-growth forests are regularly protected in BC each year through the implementation of regional land use plans that designate new Old-Growth Management Areas (OGMA’s), often in marginal old-growth stands with stunted trees – while at the same time larger areas of ancient forests are logged. The crucial question on old-growth policy is if the NDP’s old-growth plan will exceed the inadequate protection levels of the status quo under the BC Liberals and restrict or end the logging of endangered old-growth forests in any region of the province.
The Ancient Forest Alliance is calling for BC’s politicians to commit to the protection of BC’s endangered old-growth forests, to ensure a sustainable, value-added second-growth forest industry, and to end the export of raw, unprocessed logs to foreign mills. Old-growth forests are vital to support endangered species, tourism, the climate, clean water, wild salmon, and many First Nations cultures. About 75% of the original, productive old-growth forests have been logged on BC’s southern coast, including 90% of the valley bottoms with the largest trees and richest biodiversity.
In the party’s Fiscal Plan (page 54), under the “Protecting our Environment” budget, the party allocates $1 million/year to “protect endangered species and habitats”. This may be similar to limited version of a BC park acquisition fund that the Ancient Forest Alliance has been calling on the NDP to reinstate. The Ancient Forest Alliance is calling for a $40 million/year BC park acquisition fund – equivalent to about 1/1000th of the provincial budget – in a provincial fund similar to the park acquisition funds of many Regional Districts like the Capital Regional District around Victoria. The fund would be used to help purchase significant tracts of endangered private lands of high conservation, scenic, and recreation value to add to BC’s protected areas system. Private lands constitute about 5% of BC’s land base, or about 4 million hectares, and include some of the rarest and most endangered ecosystems in the province, including the drier Douglas-fir dominated old-growth forests, Garry Oak meadows, wetlands, deciduous riparian forests, sage-filled grasslands, and the semi-arid “pocket desert” in the South Okanagan. The BC Liberals nixed the province’s park acquisition fund after the 2008 budget.
“Studies have shown that for every $1 spent by the BC government on our protected areas system, another $9 in tourism revenues is generated in the provincial economy,” stated TJ Watt, campaigner and photographer with the AFA. “What better investment can we make than to spend a modest sum each year to protect Beautiful British Columbia?”
The BC Green Party has committed to a science-based plan to protect BC’s endangered old-growth forests. See: [Original article no longer available]
The BC Liberals still hold their unscientific, anti-environmental stance that “old-growth forests are not disappearing” and that they’ve managed them well, and are leaving a legacy of old-growth forest liquidation and environmental deregulation across most of BC. Over 30,000 BC forestry jobs lost were lost under their reign, while tens of millions of raw logs were exported.
NDP Leader Adrian Dix, during his 2011 campaign to become party leader, promised to: “Develop a long term strategy for old growth forests in the province, including protection of specific areas that are facing immediate logging plans.” (see point #4 in “Ecosystem Management” [Original article no longer available]. While several NDP MLA’s have championed protecting specific old-growth forests while in Opposition, which the Ancient Forest Alliance has given kudos for, at this time Dix and the NDP party as a whole have not followed up by developing any comprehensive plan with specifics on old-growth protection.
See spectacular photos of our old-growth forests at: https://16.52.162.165/photos-media/ (NOTE: Media are free to reprint any photos, credit to “TJ Watt” if possible. Let us know if you need higher res shots too)
See a recent ancient forest campaign video at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6YTizBF-jE
The Ancient Forest Alliance is taking provincial political parties to task this election in terms of committing to preserve B.C.’s remaining old growth forests.
The Victoria-based environmental organization that caught international attention with its advocacy for old growth near Port Renfrew coined “Avatar Grove,” says the province is running out of its oldest forests, and has little legislation in place to protect what’s left.
“Industry still logs thousands of hectares of old growth every year,” said Ken Wu, executive directior of the AFA. “We can and must develop a sustainable second growth industry.
“Without handcuffs on industry, this is going to be the end of this resource. It’s up to government, be it the Liberals or the NDP, to make a commitment.”
Last week, the AFA and the University of Victoria Environmental Law Centre issued proposed legislation to protect old growth forests. Part of that plan involves engaging an independent scientific council to assess the ecological risk associated with varying levels of remaining old growth forests.
“While some legal mechanisms are available today under various statutes, we feel there is a need for new legislation and planning that is based on science, governed by timelines, and plugs existing loopholes or inconsistencies,” said Calvin Sandborn, legal director of the UVic Environmental Law Centre.
This week, the AFA criticized the B.C. NDP’s platform as continuing the “unsustainable status quo of old-growth forest liquidation and over-cutting.” It said the B.C. Liberals remain convinced the forests aren’t endangered, and the party has left a legacy of forestry job losses, raw log exports and unsustainable harvests.
Wu noted the B.C. Green party has committed to key parts of the proposed legislation.
VANCOUVER – British Columbia’s political leaders made Earth Day the backdrop to their campaigning Monday, using environmentally-themed events that said as much about their approaches as the substance of their announcements.
NDP Leader Adrian Dix was in Environment Minister Terry Lake’s Kamloops riding to broadly imply a government led by him would likely put a stop to the proposed twinning of the Kinder Morgan pipeline through Burnaby, B.C., to the Burrard Inlet off Vancouver.
Dix said he would await the results of the necessary reviews held into the project that would triple the capacity of the Trans Mountain pipeline, but he added: “We do not expect Vancouver to become a major oil export port as appears to be suggested in what Kinder Morgan is proposing.”
In the past, Dix has taken a similar stance on the development of the Northern Gateway pipeline, saying an NDP government would opt out of a joint federal review already underway for more than a year and conduct its own environmental probe. Dix has also said in the past he is opposed to the project.
Liberal Leader Christy Clark took her campaign to two Vancouver-based environmental tech companies to talk about jobs the green economy can provide.
Solegear Bioplastics makes plastics from plants instead of oil. The company says in its promotional material that its products, which can be used in everything from packaging to office furniture and toys, are compostable and non-toxic.
The second company, Saltworks Technologies Inc., has developed desalination technologies that have been used by customers as diverse as NASA and the Alberta oil patch.
“Clean tech is creating the jobs of tomorrow,” Clark said after touring Saltworks, which employs 40 people and last year, was named to the Global Cleantech 100, a list produced by a global research and advisory firm.
“The NDP would stifle this kind of innovation. We know they don’t understand the economy, and we know that they would move backward on the environment, too. They have opposed policy after policy that we have brought in to protect B.C.’s environment and spur innovation.”
In a rare glimmer of agreement, both leaders expressed doubts about the Pacific Carbon Trust, the agency that was created with the goal of turning B.C. into one of the world’s leading carbon-neutral economies.
Critics, including the B.C. auditor general’s office, say the agency is almost 99 per cent taxpayer funded — $14 million — and forces schools, hospitals and other public entities to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on carbon credits, while private businesses sell their credits for cash.
Dix said Monday he would eliminate the carbon trust. He said public institutions have paid millions of dollars into the program, while private companies get money in turn for simply listing an inventory of uncut forests or unused gas projects.
“The government’s view on carbon-neutral government is to take money from cash-starved hospitals and give it to big polluters,” Dix said. “We think that money should be kept to support public institutions.”
He said an NDP government would have public institutions pay to offset their carbon emissions, but the money would be used to fund green projects.
The NDP also proposes to take $30 million in accrued earnings in the current Pacific Carbon Trust account and use the money for energy efficiency projects in the public sector.
Clark agreed the Pacific Carbon Trust hasn’t worked the way it was supposed to and said if she wins the election, her government would review the program.
“It hasn’t worked that well,” she said.
But she said the NDP has repeatedly opposed efforts by the Liberals to confront environmental problems.
Dix said Monday, though, that a government led by him would seek to meet the Liberals’ legislated greenhouse gas emissions targets. The Liberals under former premier Gordon Campbell pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by one-third by 2020.
In a news conference near the banks of the North Thompson River in Kamloops, Dix said an NDP government would invest $120 million over the next three years to fight climate change in urban and rural communities.
Much of that money would come from the NDP’s earlier announcement to shift revenues from the carbon tax, which currently go to tax cuts, to transit projects and green initiatives.
For their part, B.C. Conservatives issued a news release saying any talk of ending the Pacific Carbon Trust is thievery from their own long-held position.
“I’m pleased that Adrian Dix and the NDP continue to steal our policies,” leader John Cummins said in a news release.
But he slammed Dix’s commitment to expanding the carbon tax, saying the Conservatives would end that too.
The Ancient Forest Alliance, too, used Earth Day to take aim at the NDP’s environmental stance on forestry, which was outlined last week.
Ken Wu, the group’s executive director, said it’s hard to tell what Dix’s announcement last week on protecting old-growth means.
“The NDP’s environment platform is like a blurry moving sasquatch video in regards to potential old-growth forest protections and park creation — you can’t discern if it’s real and significant, or if it’s just Dix in a fake gorilla costume running to get attention,” said Wu.
“We need the NDP to commit to a science-based plan to fully protect BC’s endangered old-growth forests on Crown lands, to ensure sustainable second-growth forestry, and to commit to a B.C. park acquisition fund to purchase and protect endangered ecosystems on private lands.”
Earlier in the day, Clark appeared on a Vancouver talk show and sparred with the host about her government’s latest budget.
The Liberal party has staked its political fortunes on a balanced budget by the end of this fiscal year, but the NDP claimed the budget is actually at least $800 million in deficit. The NDP has said it would not balance B.C.’s books until the end of their four-year mandate if they were to be elected.
“Whether or not the budget is balanced isn’t based on what people believe or what municipal managers believe,” the premier said. “Go ask Moody’s. … they said it was balanced. These are the world’s experts. Dominion Bond Rating said the budget was balanced, again, the world experts in this.”
A few hours later, Clark dialed back her claim.
“What they say is we have a superior record of fiscal management and they say that our revenue targets are absolutely on,” Clark said. “In contrast, the NDP say our budget isn’t balanced because they say our revenue targets are all out, well, the NDP isn’t telling the truth about that.”
In a report issued April 12, Standard & Poor’s affirmed the province’s AAA rating but did not proclaim the budget balanced.
Company analyst Paul Judson said the incumbent Liberal government introduced a budget with a plan to bring the province’s operating budget “back into balance” in fiscal 2014.
Rating agencies are “agnostic,” he said.
But Helmut Pastrick, chief economist for the Central 1 Credit Union, said while the reports are not an endorsement of any political party or government, they could be considered a warning about economic direction.
“Perhaps its just a cautionary note, if you will,” Pastrick said.
In its March 26 report, Toronto-based Dominion Bond Rating Service confirmed the province’s high rating on long- and short-term debt, but also noted that the budget measures may not be implemented before the May 14 vote.
“Nevertheless, the fiscal progress made to date and a relatively low debt burden in relation to peers provide British Columbia with sufficient flexibility within its current ratings, be it to withstand further economic malaise or a potential relaxation in fiscal discipline,” said the report by Travis Shaw, vice-president of public finance.
Moody’s Investors Service affirmed an AAA rating in its April 4 report, citing the province’s “strong fiscal flexibility and track record of prudent fiscal management.”
Neither Moody’s nor DBRS declared B.C.’s latest budget to be balanced.
Link to Maclean’s online article: www2.macleans.ca/2013/04/22/earth-day-forms-backdrop-to-b-c-election-campaign/
1. TJ Watt, Victoria, British Columbia
Avatar Grove on Vancouver Island is a protected forest of towering trees that have survived on the planet for centuries, and in some cases millennia. TJ Watt of the Ancient Forest Alliance has been integral in promoting sustainable practices that will ensure Avatar Grove’s existence. An activist and photographer, Watt has so far managed to help preserve 59 hectares of forest near Port Renfrew from logging.
2. Marc Kielburger, Toronto, Ontario
Along with his younger brother, Craig, and his wife, Roxanne Joyal, Kielburger has launched Me to We Trips, promoting volunteer tourism vacations that help improve the lives of children in the developing world. The Me to We Trips are eco-travel journeys that have less impact on the environment than similar excursions by other companies to Africa, Asia and Latin America. Half of the profits of the company go to Free the Children, the charitable organization founded by the Kielburgers and Joyal that has done tremendous work fighting against the exploitation of children around the world.
3. Katie Hayes, Bonavista, Newfoundland & Labrador
The owner of the Bonavista Social Club, a bakery and pizzeria overlooking the gorgeous northern coast of Newfoundland, Hayes has opted for an entirely organic menu. She relies on ingredients from the Bonavista Social Club’s garden, makes her own bread and pizzas in a wood-fired oven, and hopes to one day produce cheese from the goats on the restaurant’s grounds.
4. Hugo Germain, Montreal, Quebec
As the director of development of ALT Hotels, Germain has overseen the implementation of industry-leading green initiatives, including a geothermal heating system in the Toronto Pearson Airport franchise location that reduces its energy usage dramatically, says Germain, who is also the nephew of acclaimed hotelier Christiane Germain.
5. Cliff Speer, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
One of the most well-regarded tour operators in Saskatchewan, Speer is devoted to exploring Canada’s natural wonders with his clients. With his company, CanoeSki Discovery, Speer educates visitors on how to see his part of Canada in ways that have little impact on the environment. Whether it’s canoeing through Saskatoon on the South Saskatchewan River or cross-country skiing in one of the province’s parks, Speer gives you a thorough understanding of the ecology in the region and how urbanization threatens it.
Link to VayCay.ca online article: https://vacay.ca/2013/04/5-canadians-to-salute-on-earth-day/
