VIDEO: Cave Protection

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Check out the new ShawTV piece by videographer Lorraine Scollan on Vancouver Island’s magnificent system of caves and MLA Scott Fraser’s private members bill to afford them greater protection! The Ancient Forest Alliance’s Ken Wu and TJ Watt were lucky to poke their heads into the entrance of a beautiful cave near Port Renfrew but could not enter without the proper gear and know how.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI6iY7u65mQ

Scarves for Sustainability Fundraiser – NOW until August 31st!

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From now until August 31st, you can support the AFA by purchasing a scarf through the Scarves for Sustainability initiative at https://scarvesforsustainability.com! Scarves for Sustainability is a project that emerged from the Royal Roads University BCom program with the mission of helping to protect old-growth forests in BC. Scarves for Sustainability sells light, high quality custom silk scarves printed with images of BC’s protected old-growth forests, visible on both sides of the scarf. Through this initiative, they will be donating 100% of the profit from the sale of the scarves to the Ancient Forest Alliance to support our work to protect BC’s endangered old-growth forests!

Thank you to Angeline Arsenault, Darren Chan, Maria Fadda, Myles Cook and Nicole Melanson, the creators of the Scarves for Sustainability initiative, for your generous vision and creative support!
 

Photo Gallery: Avatar Boardwalk Construction – August 13/14 2016

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Here are some PHOTOS of this past weekend’s boardwalk construction at Avatar Grove! [view photogallery here]

Thanks to the hard work of many volunteers and the generous support from Sitka (who've raised the funds for the last 2 rounds of wood – amazing!!) we've managed to finish a few more key pieces in our push to launch the trail by the end of September! These improvements include a new 30ft walkway over exposed roots in the Upper Grove, finishing the stairs and railings at the new viewing platform, adding steps at two drop-offs in the Lower Grove, landscaping around the main entrance and trail, adding mesh traction to much of the boardwalk, and many other tasks! The popularity of Avatar Grove continues to grow exponentially (at times there were 30 cars there over the weekend!) making the boardwalk even more necessary to help protect the area's ecological integrity and improve visitor access and safety. There are still some key areas to finish before the launch but we’re making great headway thanks to YOUR support! We’d like to send our greatest thanks to all the incredible volunteers that came out and made the weekend possible: Matthew, Ben, Alex, Erin, Andrew, Olivia, Sherrie, Shiraz, Jordan, Tiara, Stu, Robyn, Roland, Kevin, Ian. Thanks again as well to Sitka for hosting events to raise money for the boardwalk!

If you'd like to help out, please contact AFA boardwalk coordinator TJ Watt: tj@15.222.255.145 Construction or trail building experience is an asset but not required.

To donate to the boardwalk construction, please visit: https://16.52.162.165/avatar-grove-boardwalk-now-completed-and-open/

Thank You to Awaken Apparel!

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Thank you to Awaken Apparel, www.awakenapparel.ca, a new company designing and producing organic cotton and bamboo clothing in Canada with a mission to protect the Earth and empower people to live a more fulfilling life. They will be donating 10% of all their market and online sales to non-profit groups including the Ancient Forest Alliance.

A screenshot from the new Climbing Big Lonely Doug: Round 2 drone video filmed by the Ancient Forest Alliance.

New Spectacular Drone Video of Tree Climbers Scaling Canada’s 2nd Largest Douglas-fir Tree, “Big Lonely Doug”

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For Immediate Release
August 11, 2016
 
New Spectacular Drone Video of Tree Climbers Scaling Canada’s 2nd Largest Douglas-fir Tree, “Big Lonely Doug”
 
Port Renfrew, British Columbia – Today the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) is releasing a spectacular new HD drone video of tree climbers scaling the second largest known Douglas-fir tree in Canada, “Big Lonely Doug”, in a clearcut on Vancouver Island.
 
Watch the Video “Climbing Big Lonely Doug: Round 2” here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGbiW_Q2lCU
 
• The new video follows up on the AFA’s previous “Climbing Big Lonely Doug” video (no drone used) released last year, which has gone viral with over 130,000 views so far: www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxPlKVK8RLM
 
• It also follows up on the organization’s first drone video released last year, “Save the Central Walbran Valley – Canada’s Grandest Ancient Forest at Risk”: www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyMPXHOjlK0
 
• The original Big Lonely Doug video is at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7LFM9EFKLc
 
Remotely-piloted drones equipped with high definition video cameras are a new tool being used by conservationists like the Ancient Forest Alliance to monitor and document endangered ecosystems such as Vancouver Island’s old-growth temperate rainforests.
 
“Drones not only allow us to get spectacular footage of our ancient forests to help raise public awareness, but they enable us to see what’s going on with remote logging operations that are normally out of the public spotlight due to barriers imposed by the mountains and rugged terrain. Normally it can take hours to hike into these sites where companies, often using helicopters, believe they can log with little scrutiny. However, with our drone, we can now see and film what’s going on in such areas”, stated TJ Watt, Ancient Forest Alliance photographer and campaigner. 
 
Watt filmed tree climbers Matthew Beatty, Aaron Kinvig, and Elliot Wright of the Arboreal Collective, a group of arborists working to help document and protect old-growth forests in BC, in March of 2016 using the DJI Phantom 3 Pro. Two photographers, Martin Gregus Sr & Jr, from the One 50 Canada Society were also present to document the climb for a cross-Canada book project that will include Big Lonely Doug.
 
“Big Lonely Doug has become the educational mascot of BC’s endangered old-growth forests. His massive size highlights the grandeur of BC’s old-growth forests, while the dramatic contrast of the surrounding clearcut highlights the threat to them posed by industrial logging. The drone footage of tree climbers in this sobering setting will help us raise the public awareness needed to pressure the BC government to save what remains of the adjacent Eden Grove and endangered old-growth forests across British Columbia, and to ensure a sustainable second-growth forest industry instead”, stated Ken Wu, Ancient Forest Alliance executive director.
 
“Of all trees in Canada, Big Lonely Doug is the most deserving to be climbed and filmed with a drone, due to his impressive nature and educational role for our endangered old-growth forests,” stated TJ Watt. 
 
Big Lonely Doug was nicknamed and first recognized as the 2nd largest Douglas-fir in Canada in 2014 by the Ancient Forest Alliance. It is measured to be 66 metres (216 feet) in height and 3.8 metres (12.4 feet) in diameter. It was once part of the Eden Grove (ie. a new nickname for the Lower Edinburgh Grove), until its surrounding old-growth forests was clearcut by Teal-Jones in 2012. Big Lonely Doug was left behind, along with 2 other trees in the clearcut as wildlife trees but was also used as an anchor for the giant steel cables to yard the rest of the old-growth logs through the clearcut, which has damaged some of the tree's bark. Conservationists are working to protect the rest of the Eden Grove, which has been surveyed for further potential future logging by Teal-Jones. See photos of the area at: www.ancientforestalliance.org/photos.php?gID=16
 
More Background Info
 
Port Renfrew, formerly a logging town, has been transformed in recent years into a big tree tourism destination as hundreds of thousands of tourists have come from around the world to visit some of Canada’s largest trees in the nearby Avatar Grove, Big Lonely Doug (Canada’s 2nd largest Douglas-fir tree), the Red Creek Fir (the world’s largest Douglas-fir tree), San Juan Spruce (until recently Canada’s largest Sitka spruce tree – its top broke off in a recent storm unfortunately), the Harris Creek spruce (one of the largest Sitka spruce trees in Canada), and the endangered Central Walbran Valley. Recently, the province’s premier business lobby, the BC Chamber of Commerce, passed a resolution calling on the BC government to expand protection for the province’s old-growth forests – see: www.ancientforestalliance.org/news-item.php?ID=1010
 
Similarly, the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities (AVICC) representing 51 municipal, town, and regional district councils, passed a resolution recently calling on the province to amend the outdated Vancouver Island Land Use Plan of 1994 to protect the remaining old-growth forests.
 
Big Lonely Doug and Eden Grove are just a few kilometers from the now-protected Avatar Grove and the world-famous West Coast Trail of Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. Eden Grove is one of Canada’s most magnificent old-growth temperate rainforests, consisting of giant western redcedar, Douglas-fir, and hemlock trees. Species at risk include northern goshawks, marbled murrelets, and red-legged frogs in the forest, while coho salmon and steelhead trout spawn in the adjacent Gordon River. It is part of the Edinburgh Mountain Ancient Forest (roughly 1500 hectares of contiguous old-growth forest) located on public (Crown) land in Tree Farm Licence 46 near Port Renfrew in Pacheedaht territory.
 
The Ancient Forest Alliance is calling on the BC government to protect the Eden Grove from logging through an expanded Old-Growth Management Area (OGMA), a new Land Use Order (LUO), and/or through a proposed new “legal tool” to protect BC’s biggest trees and grandest groves, which the Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations is currently developing. 
 
The organization is also calling on the BC government to implement a comprehensive science-based plan to protect all of BC’s remaining endangered old-growth forests, and to also ensure a sustainable, value-added second-growth forest industry.
 
Old-growth forests are vital to sustain endangered species, climate stability, tourism, clean water, wild salmon, and the cultures of many First Nations. On BC’s southern coast, satellite photos show that at least 75% of the original, productive old-growth forests have been logged, including well over 90% of the valley bottoms where the largest trees grow. See maps and stats on the remaining old-growth forests on BC’s southern coast at:  www.ancientforestalliance.org/old-growth-maps.php
 
In order to placate public fears about the loss of BC’s endangered old-growth forests, the BC government’s PR-spin typically over-inflates the amount of remaining old-growth forests by including hundreds of thousands of hectares of marginal, low productivity forests growing in bogs and at high elevations with smaller, stunted trees, lumped in with the productive old-growth forests, where the large trees grow (and where most logging takes place). “It’s like including your Monopoly money with your real money and then claiming to be a millionaire, so why curtail spending?” stated the Ancient Forest Alliance’s Ken Wu. 

Spectacular video released of three climbers scaling one of the largest and most famous trees in Canada

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The video shows three arborists from the Arboreal Collective climbing the massive tree which is 66 metres or 216 feet tall and 3.8 metres, 12.4 feet in diametre. It was once part of the Eden Grove which was clear cut by Teal-Jones in 2012.

The Ancient Forest Alliance has released this and other videos in an effort to protect the rest of the Eden Grove from future logging.

[Original article and video clip no longer available]

Drone video captures epic climb up Canada’s second-largest Douglas-fir

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Tree climbing might just be a fun past-time for adventurous children, but for these British Columbians, their passion for old-growth forests has taken them to new heights.

A drone video shot in Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island captured the risky ascent three tree climbers made up the second largest known Douglas-fir tree in Canada.

But the climb wasn’t just for fun. For Matthew Beatty, Aaron Kinvig, and Elliot Wright of the Arboreal Collective, it was part of their work to document and protect the still-standing old-growth forests of B.C.

“Drones not only allow us to get spectacular footage of our ancient forests to help raise public awareness, but they enable us to see what’s going on with remote logging operations that are normally out of the public spotlight due to barriers imposed by the mountains and rugged terrain,” said TJ Watt, a photographer and campaigner for the Ancient Forest Alliance.

The tree, aptly named ‘Big Lonely Doug’ for its position in the middle of a clear cut area, is 66 metres in height and 3.8 metres in diameter. It was one of three old-growth trees left behind after the forest surrounding them was cut down in 2012.

It is now used as an anchor for large steel cables to carry the rest of the fallen logs through the area. The Ancient Forest Alliance says this has damaged some of the tree’s bark.

Because of trees like Big Lonely Doug, the Ancient Forest Alliance says Port Renfrew has become a tourist destination, bringing thousands from around the world to visit some of Canada’s largest trees. Other notable timbers in the area include the world’s largest Douglas-fir, the Red Creek Fir, Canada’s former largest Sitka spruce tree, and the Harris Creek spruce.

The trees are just a few kilometres from the protected Avatar Grove and the West Coast Trail.

See VIDEO and read more at: https://globalnews.ca/news/2877958/drone-video-captures-epic-climb-up-canadas-second-largest-douglas-fir/

Calgary Slideshow: Exploring and Protecting the Old-Growth Forests of Coastal BC (Aug.22)

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If you're in Calgary, come out on Aug 22 to see a spectacular and informative slideshow by the Ancient Forest Alliance's executive director Ken Wu at the Patagonia store (downtown Calgary at Stephen Avenue) about “Exploring and Protecting the Old-Growth Forests of Coastal BC”. https://www.facebook.com/events/1058597564218224/

Rare cougar sighting in endangered forest on Vancouver Island

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A conservation photographer has captured a rare photo and video of cougars in the Walbran Valley.

According to a B.C. organization that works to protect endangered forests, cougars on the island tend to avoid clear cut areas.

The Ancient Forest Alliance photographer documented the two cougars, likely a mother with her juvenile offspring, from his car.

“I’ve spent over a decade exploring the old-growth forests of Vancouver Island several times a week, and I grew up here, but I never saw a cougar until this past weekend,” TJ Watt said.

In the brief sighting the large cougar casually bounded across the road and paused momentarily, which is when Watt captured the photo.

The video, which was captured moments later, shows the smaller cougar meandering on the road.

Watt said seeing the carnivores was a “dream come true.”

According to the alliance, old-growth forests provide cover for cougars and wintering habitats for their main prey, black-tailed deer.

It’s estimated that there are between 300 and 800 cougars on Vancouver Island, the alliance says.

The Walbran and adjacent Carmanah Valley’s forests are also home to wolves, black bears, Roosevelt elk, spawning coho, steelhead in the river and marbled murrelet.

You can watch the video of the cougar here: https://ctv.news/qz16JuQ

Read more: https://vancouverisland.ctvnews.ca/rare-cougar-sighting-in-endangered-forest-on-vancouver-island-1.3016840

A rare photo of a cougar captured in the endangered Walbran Valley through the front window of AFA photographer TJ Watt's car.

Rare cougar sighting – Mother and juvenile filmed and photographed in the Walbran Valley’s endangered old-growth forest

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For Immediate Release
August 4, 2016
 
Rare cougar sighting – Mother and juvenile filmed and photographed in the Walbran Valley’s endangered old-growth forest
 
At a rare encounter earlier this week, Ancient Forest Alliance photographer TJ Watt filmed and photographed two cougars, a mother and a juvenile, in the endangered old-growth forest of the Walbran Valley on southwestern Vancouver Island. Activists continue to push for the valley’s full protection.
 
See the photograph of the large cougar here: https://16.52.162.165/pic.php?pID=122
 
See the video of the juvenile cougar here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7QbQHE6Nv0
 
 
Port Renfrew, Vancouver Island – This past weekend in the Walbran Valley’s endangered old-growth forest, conservation photographer TJ Watt of the Ancient Forest Alliance captured a photograph and video of a rare cougar encounter – two cougars in fact, a large and smaller one, likely a mother with her juvenile offspring. In the brief encounter, the large adult cougar casually bounded across the road, pausing in one instant long enough for Watt to get a somewhat blurry photo through his front window, while the juvenile meandered for about 20 seconds along the road, allowing Watt to capture several seconds of shaky video. Watt had been returning in his van with a group of volunteers after giving a workshop at the Walbran Valley Convergence, a celebration organized by the Friends of Carmanah-Walbran of the 1991 environmental protests in the valley. He was driving through a section of old-growth forest near a steep canyon in the endangered “Special Management Zone”, an area that is still being logged by licensee Teal-Jones.
 
“I’ve always dreamed of seeing a cougar, let alone photograph and film one! I’ve spent over a decade exploring the old-growth forests of Vancouver Island several times a week, and I grew up here – but I never saw a cougar until this past weekend. It was a very brief encounter, which explains the shaky photo and video – but certainly breathtaking and magnificent all the same! To see these elusive large carnivores is rare – few people, including those who spend a lifetime working in or exploring the woods on Vancouver Island, get to see them, let alone photograph or film them! I feel lucky, but the sighting underscores the great need for the BC government to protect the remaining old-growth forests of the Walbran Valley – and across the province – before it is turned into a sea of stumps,” stated TJ Watt, Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner and photographer.
 
Research of cougars on Vancouver Island show they tend to avoid clearcuts, while old-growth forests provide cover for them and wintering habitat for their main prey, black-tailed deer.  Estimates for cougars on Vancouver Island have ranged from roughly 300 to 800 individuals. The Walbran and adjacent Carmanah Valley’s old-growth forests are also home to wolves, black bears, Roosevelt elk, and spawning coho, chum and steelhead in the river, as well as species at risk that are associated with old-growth forests, like the marbled murrelet, northern goshawk, Vaux’s swift, long-eared bats, and hundreds of new species of arthropods (insects, spiders, mites) found in the mossy old-growth canopy.
 
“The old-growth forests in the endangered Central Walbran Valley are the grandest in the country, akin to being the ‘Redwoods of Canada’! Not only are they home to gargantuan red cedars, Sitka spruce, and Douglas-fir trees 500 to a thousand years old, they sustain charismatic large carnivores, herbivores, and many old-growth dependent species. Industrial encroachment into Vancouver Island’s last old-growth forests like the Walbran Valley is jeopardizing the wildlife,” stated Ken Wu, Ancient Forest Alliance executive director. “It’s time the BC Liberal government update the 22 year old Vancouver Island Land Use Plan to protect the remaining old-growth forests, and to ensure a sustainable second-growth forest industry instead.”
 
More Background Info:
 
40% of the Walbran, the Lower Valley, was protected in 1994 in the Carmanah-Walbran Provincial Park, while the other 60% in the Central and Upper Valley was left outside of the park and is the centre of much environmental concern and controversy about the old-growth logging taking place there. The total Walbran watershed is 13,000 hectares, while the protected Lower Walbran Valley is about 5500 hectares, the Central Valley is 500 hectares and the Upper Valley is 7000 hectares. 2600 hectares including the Central Valley and part of the Upper Valley is a “Special Management Zone” – which still allows for major old-growth logging and fragmentation through smaller but more numerous clearcuts. The cougar was spotted in the Special Management Zone, an area which has seen environmental protests and blockades over the past year. The most intact portion of the Special Management Zone is the 500 hectare Central Walbran, which includes the largest tracts of contiguous old-growth forests and many of the largest trees and groves, including the Castle Grove, Castle Giant, Tolkien Giant, and Karst Giant.
 
Logging licensee Teal-Jones has 8 cutblocks planned for the Central Walbran Valley, of which one, Cutblock 4424, has been granted a cutting permit by the Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations. The company has stated that they are not pursuing logging plans in the Central Walbran Valley for now, a positive step forward at this time. The company has been logging in other parts of the Special Management Zone, an activity condemned by the conservationists. The Walbran Valley is in the unceded territory of the Pacheedaht band in Tree Farm Licences 44 and 46 on Crown lands.
 
Over the past few months, resolutions for the protection of the Walbran Valley and/or the old-growth forests of Vancouver Island have been passed or supported by major business associations and local governments, including the BC Chamber of Commerce, representing 36,000 BC businesses; local Chambers of Commerce in Port Renfrew, Sooke, and the WestShore (Langford, Colwood, Metchosin, Highlands, View Royal); the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities (AVICC), representing 53 municipal, town, and regional district councils; the district councils of Victoria, Metchosin, and Tofino; and by Federation of BC Naturalists (BC Nature), representing 53 naturalist clubs with over 6000 members.  See a media release: www.ancientforestalliance.org/news-item.php?ID=1010   and an article: www.timescolonist.com/news/local/b-c-chamber-of-commerce-hugs-old-growth-trees-1.2267701
 
Port Renfrew, formerly a logging town, has been transformed in recent years into a big tree tourism destination as hundreds of thousands of tourists have come from around the world to visit some of Canada’s largest trees in the nearby Avatar Grove, the Red Creek Fir (the world’s largest Douglas-fir tree), Big Lonely Doug (Canada’s 2nd largest Douglas-fir tree), San Juan Spruce (until recently Canada’s largest Sitka spruce tree – its top broke off in a recent storm unfortunately), the Harris Creek spruce (one of the largest Sitka spruce trees in Canada), and the Central Walbran Valley.
 
On BC’s southern coast (Vancouver Island and the southwest mainland), 75% of the original, productive old-growth forests have already been logged, including over 90% of the valley bottoms where the largest trees grow. 3.3 million hectares of productive old-growth forests once stood on the southern coast, and today 860,000 hectares remain, while only 260,000 hectares are protected in parks and Old-Growth Management Areas. Second-growth forests now dominate 75% of Vancouver Island's productive forest lands, including 90% of southern Vancouver Island, and can be sustainably logged to support the forest industry. See maps and stats at: www.ancientforestalliance.org/old-growth-maps.php