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AFA Executive Director Ken Wu stands alongside a row of Sitka spruce and western hemlock trees growing in a line out of a nurse log in the unprotected FernGully Grove near Port Renfrew.

Forest advocacy group discovers grove of giant Sitka spruce trees on Vancouver Island

Dec 19 2017/in News Coverage

A B.C.-based forest advocacy group has recently found an ancient grove, home to one of the biggest Sitka spruce trees in the country, on Vancouver Island.

A member of the Ancient Forest Alliance discovered the unprotected grove of giant Sitka spruce trees in the territory of the Pacheedaht First Nation that is near Port Renfrew, a town with the reputation of being the “tall tree capital of Canada.”

Ken Wu, the group's executive director, said he has had his eyes on the forest for many years, but it wasn't until Dec. 4 on a hike that he found the 11-foot-diameter Sitka spruce tree, which is wider than the 10 widest spruce listed on the B.C. big tree registry.

“[The grove] is one of the rarest types of old growth [and the] most beautiful forest,” Mr. Wu said on Sunday.

He said that finding a forest of unprotected giant Sitka spruce is highly significant because the vast majority of them on Vancouver Island have been logged.

The forest has been nicknamed FernGully Grove because of its dense and extensive understorey of ferns and is located on lands owned by TimberWest Forest Corp., but the advocacy group is encouraging the company to sell the land to the province for better protection.

According to a statement sent to The Globe and Mail, TimberWest said it has protected the Sitka spruce tree and the surrounding stand for many years, and it isn't planning to change its operation.

“We are committed to the responsible stewardship of our working forest, and actively solicit the input of interested stakeholders to strike the appropriate balance between ecological, social and economic interests. There are no plans to deviate from the conservation status of this grove in our inventory management,” TimberWest's spokeswoman Monica Bailey said in an e-mail.

The Ancient Forest Alliance is calling on the new BC NDP government to reimplement the provincial land acquisition fund, which was cancelled by the then-Liberal government in 2008, in order to purchase and protect private lands that have high conservation or recreation value.

“The B.C. government needs to implement a comprehensive, science-based plan to protect the remaining old-growth forests, while also supporting First Nations land-use plans and financing sustainable economic development and diversification in those communities in lieu of old-growth logging,” said Andrea Inness, a campaigner from the Ancient Forest Alliance.

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She added that the FernGully Grove area is another key reason why the new provincial government needs to take action soon.

Mr. Wu said the forest has some of the most amazing wildlife population on Vancouver Island such as elk, deer, bear and cougar, and he hopes it can be kept as an ecological reserve rather than a provincial park.

“We don't want lots of people to hike here because there is so much wildlife; they will be driven away if it becomes a tourist area.”

Sun shines through the moss and ferns in the unprotected FernGully Grove near Port Renfrew.

Towering near-record Sitka spruce located near Port Renfrew

Dec 17 2017/in News Coverage

Port Renfrew is billed as Canada’s Tall Tree Capital, and the latest find is helping to enforce the nickname.

The Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) says they located an 11-foot diameter Sitka spruce tree that is the tenth widest Sitka spruce in Canada, according to the BC Big Tree Registry.

AFA says they found the massive tree in one of the last unprotected stands of old-growth Sitka spruce groves on Vancouver Island, nicknamed FernGully Grove, near Port Renfrew.

Read the original article.

From left: Ancient Forest Alliance volunteer Nathaniel Glickman

Massive near-record Sitka spruce tree found on Vancouver Island

Dec 16 2017/in News Coverage

A forest advocacy group says it has discovered an unprotected old-growth forest that is home to a near-record sized Sitka spruce tree on Vancouver Island.

The Ancient Forest Alliance says the 3.3-metre wide tree was found on lands owned by TimberWest Corporation, near the town of Port Renfrew, also known as Canada’s tall tree capital.

According to the Big Tree Registry, the tree is the tenth widest Sitka spruce in Canada.

Now the group, which lobbies to keep old-growth forests from being logged, is petitioning B.C.’s New Democrat government to buy the land from TimberWest.

AFA executive director Ken Wu says finding a grove of unprotected giant Sitka spruce trees is significant given that the vast majority have been logged in the valley where they grow.

Wu says the area, which they have nicknamed FernGully Grove, is also home to dozens of one to two metre wide trees, giant sword ferns, and is the habitat for elk, deer, wolves, cougars and black bears. He says the grove “needs to be bought and protected by the province.”

Wu says in the past, TimberWest has held back from logging some contentious sites while negotiations for their purchase or protection have been underway.

He is hoping the company will do the same in FernGully Grove.

TimberWest and B.C.’s Ministry of Forests have been contacted with a request for information about potential plans for the area

Read the original article here.