Photo Gallery: Old-Growth Logging on Edinburgh Mt. Near Port Renfrew

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New logging has commenced on Edinburgh Mountain, an exceptional old-growth forest “hotspot” near Port Renfrew in Pacheedaht territory on  Vancouver Island and the location of Big Lonely Doug (Canada’s second largest Douglas-fir tree) and the spectacular Eden Grove.

AFA campaigners visited the cutblock December 15th and were dismayed to find scores of giant trees cut down, including two-meter-wide cedars and an extremely rare, two-meter-wide, old-growth Douglas-fir. Over 15 hectares is being logged by Teal Jones, which adds to the over 75 ha of old-growth forest the company has logged on the mountain since 2016.

Just 50 meters away from the active cutblock stands a Douglas-fir tree that is the 6th widest Douglas-fir tree on record, according to the BC Big Tree Registry, and the 7th widest when including the Alberni Giant in the Nahmint Valley. While the near record-sized tree is located within a Wildlife Habitat Area, it remains vulnerable to future logging.

Old-growth hotspots of high conservation and recreational value, like Edinburgh Mountain, are disappearing before our eyes and will be reduced to tattered fragments if action isn’t taken soon. The BC government MUST place an immediate halt on logging in hotspots to ensure the largest and best stands of remaining ancient forests are kept intact and develop a science-based plan to protect endangered old-growth forests across BC!

TAKE ACTION NOW and send a message to the BC government, calling for an immediate halt to logging in old-growth ‘hotspots’ and sweeping new policies to protect BC’s endangered ancient forests! www.ancientforestalliance.org/send-a-message

Read our press release on the recent logging here

Photos: TJ Watt

New Logging Operations Underway on Edinburgh Mountain, an Old-Growth Forest Environmental “Hotspot” near Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island

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Conservationists with the Ancient Forest Alliance are dismayed that new logging has commenced on Edinburgh Mountain, an old-growth “hotspot” of high conservation value near Port Renfrew in Pacheedaht territory on western Vancouver Island. A 15.6 hectare cutblock, featuring old-growth forest with monumental redcedars and Douglas-firs, is being logged by Teal Jones Group and adds to the over 75 hectares of old-growth forest the company has logged on Edinburgh Mountain since 2016.

Ancient Forest Alliance’s Rachel Ablack (left) and Endangered Ecosystems Alliance’s Ken Wu (right) sit atop the 2 metre (7 foot) wide stump of a freshly cut western redcedar tree on Edinburgh Mt. near Port Renfrew

Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) campaigners visited the cutblock over the weekend and found scores of giant trees cut down, including two-meter (seven-foot) wide cedars and an extremely rare, two-meter-wide, old-growth Douglas-fir, which had previously been photographed by AFA campaigner TJ Watt while still standing.

“The Ancient Forest Alliance is highly concerned about the future of this magnificent area, which includes almost 1,500 hectares of intact old-growth forest,” stated AFA Campaigner and Photographer TJ Watt. “Edinburgh Mountain is one of the largest contiguous tracts of unprotected ancient rainforest on southern Vancouver Island south of Barkley Sound and, without legislated protection, this spectacular forest is being whittled away, clearcut by clearcut.”

The Edinburgh Mountain Ancient Forest, as it’s known by conservationists, is the location of Big Lonely Doug, Canada’s second largest Douglas-fir tree, which stands alone in a clearcut at the base of the mountain, and is important habitat for endangered northern goshawks and marbled murrelets. It also contains one of the finest and most endangered lowland, valley-bottom, old-growth forests left on Vancouver Island: the spectacular Eden Grove.

60 percent of Edinburgh Mountain is available for logging, with the remaining 40 percent in tenuous forest reserves such as Old Growth Management Areas, whose boundaries can be adjusted to allow logging companies access to commercially valuable forests as they run out of timber elsewhere. The government contends that the removal of such protections requires the protection of other, similar forests, but often it results in the protection of lower quality stands with smaller trees than the original stand.

Just 50 meters away from the active cutblock stands a Douglas-fir tree that is the 6th widest Douglas-fir tree on record, according to the BC Big Tree Registry, and the 7th widest when including the Alberni Giant in the Nahmint Valley. While the near record-sized tree is located within a Wildlife Habitat Area, it remains vulnerable to future logging, as the designation legally allows clearcut logging in almost 75% of the reserve. In fact, in 2010 and 2012, some of the largest trees in Canada were logged within this Wildlife Habitat Area.

“The logging of Edinburgh Mountain not only threatens the ecological integrity of the area, it also extinguishes future tourism opportunities for Port Renfrew, a former logging town that has rebranded itself as the Tall Tree Capital of Canada,” stated Watt. “Hundreds of thousands of tourists have come from around the world in recent years to visit ancient forest groves, such as Avatar Grove, and some of Canada’s largest trees near the town. These visitors expect to see ancient forests, not clearcuts. If kept intact, Edinburgh Mountain could offer spectacular and long-term tourism and recreation opportunities for those visitors. Once it’s logged, those economic opportunities disappear too.”

The new logging on Edinburgh Mountain comes at a time when conservationists are still waiting on the BC NDP government to formulate a plan to implement its 2017 election platform commitment to use the ecosystem-based management approach of the Great Bear Rainforest to sustainably manage old-growth forests across the rest of the province.

“Old-growth ‘hotspot’ areas of high conservation and recreational value, like Edinburgh Mountain, will be reduced to tattered fragments if immediate action isn’t taken,” stated AFA Campaigner Andrea Inness. “The government needs to place an interim halt on logging in hotspots to ensure the largest and best stands of remaining old-growth forests are kept intact, while developing comprehensive science-based legislation to protect BC’s endangered old-growth forests. The province’s long overdue Big Tree Protection Order must also be implemented to protect BC’s biggest trees with buffer zones and the province’s grandest groves. Finally, the government needs to create a provincial land acquisition fund to purchase and protect endangered ecosystems on private lands.”

 

Background Information:

Old growth forests are integral to British Columbia for ensuring the protection of endangered species, climate stability, tourism, clean water, wild salmon, and the cultures of many First Nations. At present, over 79% of the original productive old-growth forests on BC’s southern coast have been logged, including well over 90% of the valley bottoms where the largest trees grow. Only about 8% of Vancouver Island’s original old growth forests are protected in parks and Old Growth Management Areas.

See maps and stats on the remaining old-growth forests on BC’s southern coast at: www.ancientforestalliance.org/old-growth-maps.php

The AFA is calling on the BC NDP government to protect the ecological integrity of BC’s old-growth forests while maintaining jobs and supporting communities by: implementing a science-based plan to protect endangered old-growth forests; providing financial support for First Nations’ sustainable economic development as an alternative to old-growth logging and formally recognizing First Nations’ land use plans, tribal parks, and protected areas; and curbing raw log exports and providing incentives for the development of value-added, second-growth wood manufacturing facilities to sustain and enhance forestry jobs.

In 2016, The Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce signed a resolution calling on the BC government to increase protection for old-growth forests to benefit the economy. The total flow of dollars spent in Port Renfrew in rental accommodations, restaurants, grocery stores, and businesses in general has increased with Big Tree Tourism. The Sooke and WestShore Chambers of Commerce have also spoken up for the protection of the old-growth forests in the Walbran Valley, while the BC Chamber of Commerce has passed a resolution calling for the increased protection of old-growth forests in BC to support the economy. The Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM), the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities (AVICC), the Wilderness Tourism Association of BC (WTABC) and the councils of Victoria, Metchosin, and Tofino have all passed resolutions for the protection of remaining old-growth forests on Vancouver Island or across BC.

Ancient Giant Logged in the Nahmint Valley

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Thousands of ancient giants, like the enormous redcedar in this film, are being logged in Vancouver Island’s spectacular Nahmint Valley and many more are at risk. Speak up TODAY and send an instant message to the BC government demanding protection for BC’s endangered old-growth forests at: www.ancientforestalliance.org/send-a-message

[su_youtube url=”https://youtu.be/SiXDgM93IjY” width=”360″ height=”280″]

Conservationists call for halt on old-growth logging in Nahmint Valley near Port Alberni

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Watch this Global News piece about the logging of magnificent ancient forests in the Nahmint Valley near Port Alberni, featuring AFA Campaigner Andrea Inness.

The AFA is calling on the BC government to immediately place a halt on the logging of old-growth forest “hotspots” of high ecological and recreational value – like the Nahmint Valley – and to use its control of BC Timber Sales to discontinue issuance timber sales in old-growth forests. Urgent action must be taken, particularly given the Nahmint is under investigation for potentially violating BC’s existing inadequate laws, which must be strengthened to protect ancient, endangered forests across the province.

Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner Andrea Inness walks beside an enormous

Eco-group files complaint over old-growth cuts

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Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner Andrea Inness walks beside an enormous

Photo by TJ Watt

Times Colonist: An environmental group has filed a complaint over logging in the Nahmint Valley, alleging trees were cut, including one of Canada’s biggest, without regard to values such as conservation or recreation.

The Ancient Forest Alliance, an eight-year-old conservation group founded to highlight the need to protect forests as natural habitat, objects to the B.C. government decision to auction 300 hectares in various-sized cutblocks in the Nahmint Valley, southwest of Port Alberni.

Some of the resulting cutblocks logged last spring were 30 hectares. One contained a Douglas fir whose measurements, three metres in diameter, would have placed it ninth on the B.C. Big Tree Registry, a list maintained by the forest faculty at the University of British Columbia.

“Elsewhere in the valley, we found cedar stumps over 10 feet in diameter,” said TJ Watt, Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner in an interview. “There are a fair number of trees there that we feel should still be standing.”

Watt’s group filed a complaint in June with the B.C. government, contending the logging failed to take into account aspects such as the protection of sensitive or endangered plant communities. The big Douglas fir, about 800 years old, should have been left standing because it qualified as what is known as a legacy tree. The group has not heard any response to its complaint.

The Nahmint Valley is about 194 square kilometres, about 20 km southwest of Port Alberni. The area includes the Nahmint River, which widens into the 13-kilometre-long Nahmint Lake, both known for good fishing.

As far back as 1975, when the area was the responsibility MacMillan Bloedel, a B.C. forestry corporate giant at the time, the provincial government identified the Nahmint Valley as an area whose resources include more than just timber. They also include fishing, hiking, camping and wildlife habitat.

“The Nahmint is just a spectacular valley for anyone who visits the area,” said Watt.

The B.C. Ministry of Forests said in an emailed statement it reviews the timber blocks to be auctioned in the Nahmint Valley to ensure no legacy trees are at risk.

The ministry statement said B.C. Timber Sales, an agency responsible for about 20 per cent of annual tree harvest in the province by auctioning cutblocks, has conducted an inventory of old-growth cedar trees in Nahmint. It has identified more than 200 with a diameter greater than one metre and worthy of being considered for retention.

Also, an area of about 2,700 hectares, six times the size of Stanley Park, has been protected as wildlife habitat within the Nahmint Valley or identified as winter foraging range for deer and elk.

“We recognize the value of old-growth forests for their biodiversity and are currently working on an old-growth strategy,” said the statement.

See article here: https://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/eco-group-files-complaint-over-old-growth-cuts-1.23543570

Conservationists call for halt on old-growth logging in Vancouver Island’s spectacular Nahmint Valley in light of forestry watchdog investigation

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Arborist-conservationist Matthew Beatty stands atop a massive redcedar log in the Nahmint Valley

Conservationists with the Ancient Forest Alliance are concerned that old-growth logging in the Nahmint Valley is continuing and that future logging is being planned for the area by the BC government, despite the fact a Forest Practices Board investigation is underway into whether the logging by BC Timber Sales fails to comply with legal orders.

Victoria, BC – The Ancient Forest Alliance is calling on the BC NDP government to halt further logging in the Nahmint Valley near Port Alberni while investigations into potential non-compliance by the BC’s government’s logging agency, BC Timber Sales (BCTS), are currently underway.

Nahmint Valley – BC’s 9th widest Douglas-fir tree – BC Timber Sales

In May 2018, the Ancient Forest Alliance exposed the logging of some of the world’s largest trees by BCTS in Hupacasath and Tseshaht First Nations territory in the Nahmint Valley. Over 300 hectares were auctioned off for logging with some cutblocks being 30 hectares – or about 30 football fields – in size. Thousands of old-growth trees have since been cut, including a Douglas-fir tree measuring 3 metres (9.9 feet) in diameter, which ranked 9th on the BC Big Tree Registry’s list of the widest Douglas-firs in the province.

“After exploring and documenting various old-growth cutblocks planned by BCTS throughout the Nahmint Valley, we submitted a natural resource violation complaint to the Ministry of Forests in June, alleging that BC Timber Sales’ Forest Stewardship Plan fails to meet the results and strategies set out in the Vancouver Island Land Use Plan Higher Level Plan Order that rare and underrepresented plant communities be represented and protected,” stated Ancient Forest Alliance Campaigner and Photographer TJ Watt.

“We also pointed out that one of the primary land use objectives for the Nahmint Valley in the Vancouver Island Summary Land Use Plan includes the retention of a ‘high proportion’ of old forest, including large, old-growth Douglas-fir trees. In addition, the three-metre-wide Douglas-fir that was felled in May, which we estimated to be at least 800 years old, was in violation of BCTS’ “Best Management Practices for Coastal Legacy Trees” policy, which states that the minimum size for retention of Douglas-firs is 2.1 meters. We believe other western redcedars and Douglas-firs in the BCTS-issued cutblocks also exceeded the minimum threshold size for protection.”

An investigation by the Ministry of Forests ensued as a result of the AFA’s complaint, but the results of that investigation have not been made public. The AFA has also yet to receive any information in response to a freedom of information (FOI) request submitted in September, seeking information on the ministry’s investigation, despite the investigation having been completed and the due date for response to the FOI having passed in late November. The Forest Practices Board also recently launched an investigation into the logging in the Nahmint Valley. Meanwhile, BC Timber Sales released its 2018 West Coast Operating Plan in October, outlining additional old-growth timber sales in the Nahmint Valley that have yet to be auctioned off.

“We are deeply concerned about the potential violation, given the abundant ecological, tourism and recreational, and cultural values of the Nahmint Valley and possible negative and long-term impacts on these values,” stated Ancient Forest Alliance Campaigner Andrea Inness. “We are also concerned that BCTS is continuing to engineer future logging cutblocks for the Nahmint Valley despite the results of the ministry’s investigation not having been released and the Forest Practices Board now conducting their own investigation. Given there’s a possibility that the BC government’s logging agency is in violation of its own land use regulations, these future logging plans should be placed on hold until it is determined the law isn’t being broken.”

“Ultimately, however, what’s needed is for the BC government to use its control over BC Timber Sales to discontinue issuance of old-growth timber sales altogether. The ongoing logging of some of Canada’s largest trees and most spectacular ancient forests in the Nahmint Valley is proof that BCTS cannot be trusted to sustainably manage BC’s endangered old-growth forests.”

 

Background Information:
The Nahmint Valley is considered a “hotspot” of high-conservation value old-growth forest by conservation groups and is home to Roosevelt elk, black-tailed deer, cougars, wolves, and black bears, as well as old-growth associated species like the marbled murrelet and northern goshawk. The area also supports significant salmon and steelhead spawning runs. The Nahmint is considered by many people to be one of the most scenic areas in BC, with its ancient forests, rugged peaks, gorgeous turquoise canyons and swimming holes, and large and small lakes, and is heavily used by hikers, campers, anglers, and hunters.

The Ancient Forest Alliance is calling on the BC government to implement a series of policy changes to protect endangered old-growth forests, including an interim halt to logging in old-growth “hotspots” – areas of high conservation value, such as the Nahmint Valley – to ensure the largest and best stands of remaining old-growth forests are kept intact. It also includes the implementation of the province’s long-overdue Big Tree Protection Order, meant to protect the country’s largest trees with buffer zones; a provincial land acquisition fund to purchase and protect endangered ecosystems on private lands; a comprehensive, science-based plan to protect endangered old-growth forests across the province; and conservation financing support for First Nations communities in lieu of old-growth logging.

AFA Holiday Booths – Dates & Locations

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It’s that time of year again! Drop by an AFA booth in Victoria or Vancouver this holiday season to pick up gifts such as our 2019 calendar featuring beautiful images from AFA Photographer & Campaigner, TJ Watt, as well as our popular greeting cards, stickers, posters, buttons, and adoption certificates (adopt-a-tree or grove)!

Victoria:

Booth Location: MEC Victoria (1450 Government St, Victoria, BC V8W 1Z2)
Date & Time: Friday, Dec. 14 from 10 am to 5 pm

Booth Location: Hudson Public Market (1701 Douglas St #6, Victoria, BC V8W 0C1)
Dates & Times:
Wednesday, Dec. 12 from 11 am to 4 pm
Saturday, Dec. 15,  from 10 am to 5 pm
Wednesday, Dec. 19, from 11 am to 4pm
Friday, Dec. 21, from 4pm to 8pm

Booth Location: Patagonia Victoria (616 Yates St)
Date & Time: Saturday, Dec 15, from 1 pm to 5 pm

Vancouver: 

Booth Location: Patagonia Vancouver (1994 W 4th Avenue, Vancouver V6J 1M5)
Dates: Dec 7, 8 & 9 (Friday, Saturday, Sunday)
Time: 11 am to 4 pm

Please make the AFA your priority organization to support this Holiday Season! We are BC’s lead organization working to ensure comprehensive provincial legislation to protect endangered old-growth forests and to ensure the sustainable, value-added logging of second-growth forests. Your contribution truly goes far with us, and we appreciate it!

Can’t make it to one of the booths? Here are some other ways to purchase gifts or donate:

  • ONLINE: Purchase gifts through our new online store or donate online
  • By PHONE at 250-896-4007 to specify your order or donation amount and to pay with your credit card. We will ship product orders you (with an additional shipping cost added).
  • By EMAIL (for product orders) at: info@16.52.162.165

Thank you for your dedicated support!

~The AFA Team

Year-End Celebration & Fundraiser – THANK YOU!

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Thank you so much to everyone who came out and supported the AFA at our Year-End Celebration & Fundraiser on Nov. 29! We were delighted to welcome nearly 100 people throughout the evening, all who brought great energy, socializing, food and silent auction donations to make the night a great success! Excitingly, we raised nearly $5000!!

Thank you to Joe Martin for presenting on the knowledge and teachings of the Tla-o-qui-aht people and culture, to Rachel Ablack for sharing her beautiful voice with us all, to the Victoria Event Centre staff, and to our amazing volunteers, supporters, and AFA staff whom without, we could not have pulled off such an enjoyable and successful evening. We’re also sending a special thank you to the many wonderful businesses, artists, and individuals who generously donated over $3,500 in items toward our silent auction as well as delicious food toward the event:

Patagonia Victoria, Robinson’s Outdoor Store, Mountain Equipment Co-op, Sitka, i.O.N Clothing Featuring Hemp & Company, Pelican Products, Zero Waste Emporium, Inspire Hair Salon, Butchart Gardens, Deadbeetz Food Truck, Il Terrazzo Ristorante, Bon Macaron, Garden Works Oak Bay, Harmony Belly Dance Co., Esquimalt Farmer’s Market, Windblossom Massage, Hummingbird Crafts, TJ Watt Photography, HoopSpin Lab, Market on Yates, Country Grocer, and Thrifty’s Food James Bay, artists Logan Ford and Kleque Method, and AFA supporters Lyn James, Nitya & Scott Harris, Kristin Grant, and Amanda Evans.

We are so grateful for your dedicated support. Thank you again!

The AFA Team
TJ Watt, Andrea Inness, Joan Varley, Tiara Dhenin, Amanda Evans, Morgan Wheeler, Rachel Ablack, and Jenny Tan

Conservationists applaud old-growth protection resolution signed by Wilderness Tourism Association of BC

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A grizzly bear walks a shoreline in BC’s iconic Great Bear Rainforest. A sailboat operated by wilderness tourism company Maple Leaf Adventures is anchored in the distance.

Conservationists with the Ancient Forest Alliance are celebrating a recent resolution by the Wilderness Tourism Association of BC (WTABC), representing 2,500 businesses across BC, calling on the BC NDP government to protect the province’s endangered old-growth forests, support First Nations sustainable economic development, and ensure a sustainable, value-added, second-growth forest industry.

Click here to read the resolution.

“Many of BC’s wilderness tourism businesses, including my own, rely on healthy, functioning old-growth forests to provide the extraordinary wilderness experiences that people are looking for when they visit BC,” stated Kevin Smith, President of WTABC’s Board of Directors and President of Maple Leaf Adventures, a Victoria-based eco-tourism company that runs expedition cruises along British Columbia’s coast. “The WTABC strongly supports provincial policies that ensure BC’s remaining endangered ancient forests stay intact.”

Ancient Forest Alliance Campaigner Andrea Inness welcomed the position taken by the WTABC. “BC’s appeal as an outdoor tourism destination is largely due to the many recreational activities that old-growth forests support like wildlife viewing and recreational fishing. Increasing numbers of people are also visiting BC specifically to see our old-growth forests, home to some of the biggest and oldest trees on Earth,” stated Inness. “We applaud the WTABC’s decision to stand up for old-growth forest protection for the sake of BC’s eco-tourism operators and the broader economy.”

The Wilderness Tourism Association joins thousands of businesses (BC Chamber of Commerce), mayors and city councils (Union of BC Municipalities), First Nations, unions (the Public and Private Workers of Canada forestry union) and conservation groups across BC in calling on the provincial government to increase protection for BC’s endangered old-growth forests.

“BC’s business community is starting to realize that, far from hampering development in rural economies, many of which are suffering from decades of decline in forestry jobs and revenues, protecting old-growth forests can be a boon for business,” stated AFA Campaigner and Photographer TJ Watt.

Port Renfrew on western Vancouver Island is a textbook example of the benefits of big trees to small businesses. Since Avatar Grove, an exceptional grove of ancient forest, was protected in 2012, the town has seen a major increase in revenue in rental accommodations, restaurants, grocery, stores, and other businesses, as visitors come from around the world to experience the grove and nearby record-sized trees.

Communities across the province stand to benefit from protecting nearby ancient forests. In fact, studies have shown that keeping old-growth forests standing can provide a greater overall economic benefit than cutting them down when factoring in their value in supporting tourism, recreation, carbon offsets, water conservation and filtration, recreational and commercial fisheries, and non-timber forest products (e.g. wild mushrooms and medicinal herbs).

“Nature-based tourism is one of the top three drivers of BC’s tourism and rural economy, supporting 26,000 direct full-time jobs and some 40,000 jobs in total,” stated Scott Benton, Executive Director of the WTABC. “Demand for wilderness tourism is increasing in the province, creating opportunities for new business ventures, so the provincial government needs to take swift action to protect the intact natural landscapes, such as old-growth forests, on which these businesses depend.”

 

Background Information:
Old growth forests are integral to British Columbia for ensuring the protection of endangered species, climate stability, tourism, clean water, wild salmon, and the cultures of many First Nations. At present, over 79% of the original productive old-growth forests on BC’s southern coast have been logged, including well over 90% of the valley bottoms where the largest trees grow. Only about 8% of Vancouver Island’s original old growth forests are protected in parks and Old Growth Management Areas.

The Ancient Forest Alliance is calling on the NDP provincial government to implement a science-based strategy to protect BC’s endangered old-growth forests; support First Nations land-use planning and sustainable economic development and diversification in lieu of old growth logging; ensure the sustainable logging of second growth forests (which now constitute the majority of forest lands in southern BC); and implement regulations and incentives for the retooling and development of BC mills and value-added facilities to handle second-growth logs.

See maps and stats on the remaining old-growth forests on BC’s southern coast at: www.ancientforestalliance.org/old-growth-maps.php

The BC Chamber of Commerce, BC’s premier business lobby, representing 36,000 businesses passed a resolution in 2016 calling on the BC government to increase protection for BC’s old-growth forests to benefit the economy after a series of similar resolutions passed by the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce, the Sooke Chamber of Commerce, and the WestShore Chamber of Commerce.
See: www.ancientforestalliance.org/news-item.php?ID=1010

The Public and Private Workers of Canada (PPWC), representing thousands of forestry workers across BC, passed a resolution in 2017 calling for an end to old-growth logging on Vancouver Island and an accelerated transition to a sustainable, value-added second-growth forest industry.
See: https://16.52.162.165/conservationists-applaud-old-growth-protection-resolution-by-major-bc-forestry-union/

Both the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM), representing the mayors, city and town councils, and regional district councils across BC and the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities (AVICC), representing Vancouver Island local governments, passed a resolution in 2016 calling on the province to protect Vancouver Island’s remaining old-growth forests by amending the 1994 land-use plan.
See: https://16.52.162.165/media-release-ubcm-passes-old-growth-protection-resolution/

AFA Year-End Celebration & Fundraiser, Thurs Nov. 29

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Join the Ancient Forest Alliance on Thursday, November 29, at the Victoria Event Centre (1415 Broad St, near Pandora Ave) from 6pm-9pm to honour our 9th year of operation and the amazing community that has helped us grow to where we are today!

The evening will feature a fun and informative presentation from AFA Campaigners Andrea Inness and TJ Watt, free finger food and refreshments, a silent auction featuring over $1500 in great items generously donated by local businesses and artists, as well as a chance to mingle with our campaign team and fellow AFA supporters. It’s also a great opportunity to pick up some AFA merchandise such as our greeting cards featuring photography by TJ Watt, our 2019 calendars, AFA t-shirts, stickers, and more!

Event Schedule:

  • Doors Open at 6 pm
  • 6 pm to 7 pm – meet and greet, appetizers and refreshments
  • 7 pm to 9 pm – slideshow, silent auction, music, and more mingling!

Tickets will be available at the door on a sliding scale between $10 and $20. All ages are welcome! 

We would appreciate if you could RSVP your attendance by emailing info@16.52.162.165 or by calling 250 896 4007. For more information, please email us at info@16.52.162.165.

Please visit our Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1920660948000145/ to share the event widely!

*Please note, The Victoria Event Centre currently does not have an operational elevator, and there is one long flight of stairs at the venue entrance. If you would like to attend the event but require assistance with accessing the space, please contact us at and we will do our best to accommodate.

We look forward to seeing you at the event on Nov. 29th!