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One of several monumental western redcedars located in Jurassic Grove.

Stunning Grove of Unprotected Old-Growth Trees Located near Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island – Conservationists Hope “Jurassic Grove” will become “Jurassic Park” one day!

May 6 2017/in Media Release

For Immediate Release

VICTORIA – The Ancient Forest Alliance has located an impressive grove of unprotected, monumental old-growth trees only a 90 minute drive west of Victoria between Jordan River and Port Renfrew.

Spanning a 3 kilometer stretch alongside a portion of the 48 kilometre Juan de Fuca Marine Trail Provincial Park, it lies mainly on Crown lands adjacent to the provincial park and its popular coastal hiking trail not far from Highway 14 in the traditional unceded territory of the Pacheedaht band. The Ancient Forest Alliance’s TJ Watt had explored and identified the area as an old-growth forest of high conservation significance in recent years but came across a particularly accessible grove of giant trees while bushwhacking a few weeks ago.

“Lowland old-growth groves on southern Vancouver Island with the classic giants like this are about as rare as finding a Sasquatch these days – over 95% of the forests like this have been logged on the South Island. This is one of the most magnificent unprotected groves in the world, and it’s even easier than the Avatar Grove to get to. It will help to bolster the public’s interest to see the BC government enact legislation to protect the remaining old-growth forests on Vancouver Island”, stated Ken Wu, Ancient Forest Alliance executive director. “For now we’ve nicknamed this tract of old-growth forest as the ‘Jurassic Grove’, which could become ‘Jurassic Park’ one day if it is protected. Of course there may be more traditional names for the area, which we’ll be happy to use”.

“This area is like another Avatar Grove – it’s easy to get to, it includes some parts with gentle terrain, and is filled with amazing trees – but it’s even closer to Victoria! When we are able to disclose the exact location when it’s appropriate for wider public access, the Jurassic Grove will undoubtedly become a major source of inspiration and environmental awareness for thousands of people”, stated TJ Watt, Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner and photographer. “It’s hard to fathom that at one time the highway between Victoria to Port Renfrew could’ve been lined with ancient forests like this. Now it remains in just a few patches, like the Jurassic Grove, underscoring the need to protect what’s left of our old-growth forests.”

The Ancient Forest Alliance has requested meetings with the Ministry of Forests, BC Parks, and Pacheedaht council to discuss conservation and access issues regarding the area. Until then, the organization is not yet encouraging the public to try visiting the grove, most of which has no trails, has an extremely dense understory, and which is punctuated with very steep ravines.

While most of Jurassic Grove’s 130 hectares of old-growth is protected within a Marbled Murelet Wildlife Habitat Area that is off-limits to logging, about 40 hectares is on unprotected Crown lands without any type of regulatory or legislated protection.

There are no approved or proposed logging plans on these lands, according to Ministry of Forests data on the BC government’s iMAPBC website.

As it abuts against a popular provincial park for hiking, it would be a natural addition to the park and as a buffer to the Juan de Fuca trail – and ultimately as a star attraction for visitors around the world.

“We should make it clear that we did not ‘discover’ this forest, in the sense of being the first humans to see it, of course. People have lived in the area for thousands of years, and hikers mushroom pickers, hunters, surfers, biologists, and loggers (who logged to the edge of this forest several decades ago…and of course who would’ve surveyed it as well) have all traversed the area. What we’ve done is located and identified the old-growth grove here for its high conservation and recreation value”, stated TJ Watt, AFA campaigner and photographer. “However, the days of identifying such unprotected monumental groves are coming to an end, because in a few short years these forests will either be in protected areas, or gone. This area needs legislated protection”.

Jurassic Grove’s easy to access location makes it a potential first rate ancient forest attraction that can help to raise the awareness of all endangered old-growth forests and bolster the regional eco-tourism industry. Port Renfrew, historically a logging town that now promotes eco-tourism and has been dubbed the “Tall Trees Capital of Canada” in recent years due to its proximity to the Avatar Grove, Central Walbran Valley, Big Lonely Doug (Canada’s 2^ndlargest Douglas-fir), Eden Grove, Red Creek Fir (the world’s largest Douglas-fir), Harris Creek Spruce (an enormous Sitka spruce), and San Juan Spruce (previously Canada’s largest spruce until the top broke off last year), now has the Jurassic Grove as another first rate addition to its roster of big tree attractions. Thousands of tourists from around the world now come to visit the old-growth trees around Port Renfrew, hugely bolstering the regional economy of southern Vancouver Island. The Ancient Forest Alliance is encouraging people who visit the area to stay in local accommodations, buy food and groceries in local stores, and camp in the Pacheedaht campground to help boost the local economy with eco-tourism dollars.

To the south the BC government has just bought up the 7 parcels of second-growth private forest lands, totalling 180 hectares, from a developer and intends to increase the width of the provincial park to buffer the trail along its first several kilometres, while lands outside the buffer will go to the Pacheedaht First Nation band in Port Renfrew as part of the treaty settlement process. To the north, the Crown land old-growth forests of the Jurassic Grove could also be a natural addition to buffer the trail, whether as an extension of the existing park or as a tribal park/conservancy.

More Information on Old-Growth Forests

Over the past year, the voices for old-growth protection have been quickly expanding, including numerous Chambers of Commerce, mayors and city councils, forestry unions, and conservation groups across BC who have have been calling on the provincial government to expand protection for BC’s remaining old-growth forests.

BC’s premier business lobby, the BC Chamber of Commerce, representing 36,000 businesses, passed a resolution last May calling on the province to expand protection for BC’s old-growth forests to support the economy, after a series of similar resolutions passed by the Port Renfrew, Sooke, and WestShore Chambers of Commerce. See: https://staging.ancientforestalliance.org/media-release-historic-leap-for-old-growth-forests-bc-chamber-of-commerce-passes-resolution-for-expanded-protection/

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

The Private and Public Workers of Canada (PPWC), formerly the Pulp, Paper, and Woodworkers of Canada, representing thousands of sawmill and pulp mill workers across BC, recently passed a resolution calling for an end to old-growth logging on Vancouver Island. See: https://staging.ancientforestalliance.org/conservationists-applaud-old-growth-protection-resolution-by-major-bc-forestry-union/

The Ahousaht First Nation band north of Tofino in Clayoquot Sound recently announced that 82% of their territory will be off-limits to commercial logging. They now need provincial legislation and funding to help make their vision a reality. See: (Link no longer available)

The Ancient Forest Alliance 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 unique 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. Only about 8% of Vancouver Island’s original, productive old-growth forests are protected in parks and Old-Growth Management Areas. Old-growth forests – with trees that can be 2,000 years old – are a non-renewable resource under BC’s system of forestry, where second-growth forests are re-logged every 50 to 100 years, never to become old-growth again.

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). See a rebuttal to some of the BC government’s PR-spin and stats about old-growth forests towards the bottom of the webpage: https://staging.ancientforestalliance.org/action-alert-speak-up-for-ancient-forests-to-the-union-of-bc-municipalities-ubcm/

2017 Provincial Election Summary – BC Party Platforms on Old-Growth Forests and Related Forestry Issues

May 5 2017/in Announcements

Old-Growth Logging

BC Liberal Party
The BC Liberals’ forestry platform is the unsustainable status quo: maintain business-as-usual logging practices (which includes clearcutting old-growth forests), market BC wood abroad, support BC construction projects that contain BC wood, and plant more trees. Their forestry platform makes no mention of protecting old-growth forests, outside the Great Bear Rainforest.

The BC Liberals significantly increased the rate of old-growth logging in BC’s interior during their time in power and have allowed Old-Growth Management Area boundaries in many parts of the province to be adjusted to allow for more logging. Using stumpage fees and taxpayers’ dollars, they have aggressively marketed BC old-growth wood abroad, particularly in China, and reduced old-growth forest retention targets in the Central Interior to prop-up ailing mills. They also deregulated vast areas of private, corporate forest lands that were once publicly regulated, opening up major tracts of protected old-growth forests for liquidation and allowing the rate of cut to skyrocket. The Liberals’ key areas of progress in reducing the rate of cut have been in the Great Bear Rainforest, where the AAC was reduced by 40%, and in Haida Gwaii, where the AAC was reduced by 50%.

BC NDP
The NDP’s forestry policy platform is similar to the BC Liberals’ status quo forestry platform: market BC wood abroad, support BC construction projects that contain BC wood, and plant more trees. They also make no mention of old-growth forest management in the forestry platform itself; however, their environment platform includes a somewhat vague but very important statement about using the ecosystem-based management approach of the Great Bear Rainforest as a model to sustainably manage BC’s old-growth.

The NDP had a poor track record when it came to curbing the total wood volume of destructive old-growth logging. Although they made a minor reduction in the Allowable Annual Cut (AAC) coming into power in 1991, and further minor reductions due to the addition of new parks and protected areas as land use plans were implemented, the NDP continued to allow overcutting in BC’s forests throughout the 1990s.

BC Green Party
The Green Party’s platform calls for inventorying and then protecting BC’s remaining old-growth forests, while improving the sustainable logging of second-growth stands instead. It also calls for application of the precautionary principle to timber supply reviews (which may refer to reducing the overcut) and the development of new forest practices regulations that address cumulative effects, wildlife, and First Nations interests.

Old-Growth Protection – Parks and Conservancies

BC Liberal Party
In their 16 years of power, the BC Liberals increased the province’s legislated protected areas by 3% (from 12% to 15%) – almost all within the Great Bear Rainforest, Haida Gwaii, and Squamish Nation lands in response to First Nations land use plans and environmental markets pressure. They halted the creation of new protected areas on Crown lands across most of the rest of the province, with a few minor exceptions (the Slim Creek Provincial Park near Prince George, for example).

BC NDP
During their 10 years in power, the NDP increased the amount of protected areas in the province by 6% (from 6% to 12%) and did so systematically across most of the province, including in many old-growth forests. They had a substantially better track record than the BC Liberals in this regard; however, they capped protection at 12% in most regions and across the province as a whole, letting the logging industry cut a vast number of contentious, high conservation value old-growth forests excluded from protection.

None of the major parties, including the Green Party, have made commitments to or set targets for the systematic creation of new, legislated protected areas across the province.

Old-Growth Protection – Forest Reserves

BC Liberal Party
The BC Liberals have generally dragged their heels in implementing the system of forest reserves first committed to by the NDP government of the 1990s as part of the “higher level” land use plans created in each region. This includes establishing Old-Growth Management Areas, Visual Quality Objectives for scenery, Ungulate Winter Ranges, and Wildlife Habitat Areas, such as for marbled murrelets, spotted owls, and northern goshawks. Not only has implementation been slow, allowing the logging industry to cut vast areas of old-growth forests over this time, but many forest reserves have been removed to accommodate logging interests – most recently on northern Vancouver Island in 2016. However, as an exception to their overall poor record on forest reserve establishment, the BC Liberals implemented the ground-breaking Great Bear Rainforest agreement, which protects most of that region’s old-growth forests in a combination of conservancies and forest reserves. This was done under threat of BC timber boycotts in Europe and due to the conservation interests of First Nations band councils.

BC NDP
The NDP implemented a system of forest reserves in the 1990s as part of the Biodiversity Guidelines of the Forest Practices Code. This was a significant step forward in forest conservation, although the government ensured their implementation had a limited impact on the timber supply available for logging. By the late 1990’s, the NDP was also watering down the forest reserve guidelines, removing the emphasis on connectivity and removing major old-growth protection reserves on southern Vancouver Island, known as Forest Ecosystem Networks.

In their 2017 environment platform, the NDP offers some hope: they refer to using the ecosystem-based management approach of the Great Bear Rainforest as a model in land-use planning and old-growth management. If interpreted as implementing the same model used in the Great Bear Rainforest in the rest of the province (it is a vague statement allowing for considerable wriggle room), it would establish an extensive system of forest reserves to protect and restore old-growth forests of all types across the province and greatly reduce the rate of overcutting – and in fact would likely end the logging of old-growth forests in many parts of BC, such as on Vancouver Island where old-growth forests are far more endangered than in the Great Bear Rainforest.

BC Green Party
The Greens’ platform includes protecting BC’s old-growth forests in reserves, as well as the implementation of a new BC Forest and Range Ecology Act that would emphasize wildlife habitat restoration and address First Nations rights, resilience planning and cumulative effects.

Raw Log Exports and Manufacturing

BC Liberal Party
The BC Liberals have dramatically increased the rate of raw log exports since coming to power, quadrupling average annual log exports to over 6 million cubic meters each year, resulting in the loss of thousands of potential forestry jobs in BC. They removed the local milling requirement, granted scores of log export permits from Crown lands, issued general exemptions against log export restrictions for the entire North Coast, and removed Tree Farm Licences on corporate private lands, opening the floodgates to log exports. They continue to justify log exports and propose no additional system of regulations or taxation to restrict them.

BC NDP
While the NDP began to increase log exports by the late 1990s towards the end of their term, export levels came nowhere near those seen under the BC Liberals today. The NDP has been highly vocal in their criticism of raw log exports and their potential impact on BC milling jobs, but are not proposing in their platform any increase in the log export tax or any regulations to restrict or ban log exports. Nor are they proposing any tax incentives or structural adjustments (such as creating regional log sorts) to support the value-added sector. Instead, they have stated an interest in creating more manufacturing jobs without stating concrete policies or mechanisms to facilitate this outcome.

BC Green Party
The Green Party’s platform includes a commitment to curb raw log exports but does not state how. They also propose tax relief (i.e. removing PST) on purchases of new manufacturing machinery to upgrade and build new sawmills and value-added facilities.

Ancient Forest Alliance Policy Infographic

See the Parties’ 2017 Election Policy Platforms:

BC Liberal Platform
Forestry: pages 23-26
Environment (Great Bear Rainforest): pages 118-122

NDP Platform
Forestry: pages 82-84
Also see “Taking Action for BC Forestry Jobs”
Environment/Old-Growth/Great Bear Rainforest reference: page 61

Green Party Platform
Forestry: pages 53-55

Avatar Grove, the sequel: Introducing Jurassic Grove

May 5 2017/in News Coverage

Towering more than 30 metres high, an ancient red cedar’s heavy branches fork skyward above massive burls dusted in moss.

The 500- to 1,000-year-old tree is at the centre of what the Ancient Forest Alliance says is an exciting find — an old-growth stand between Jordan River and Port Renfrew that could become the region’s next attraction.

“The whole area is a lowlands, spectacular ancient forest,” said Ken Wu, executive director of the Ancient Forest Alliance.

Jurassic Grove, as the group is calling it, covers an area of about 130 hectares near the mid-section of the Juan de Fuca Trail, between Lines Creek and Loss Creek. It’s about a 90-minute drive from Victoria and 20 minutes from Port Renfrew.

While most of the trees are protected as part of a marbled murrelet wildlife habitat area, about 40 hectares are vulnerable to logging on unprotected Crown lands.

There are no approved logging plans for the area, but that could change at any moment, Wu said.

“Virtually everywhere we find a grove like this, fairly soon it is flagged for logging,” he said.

Wu said the Ancient Forest Alliance isn’t the first to discover the area, which lies in the traditional Pacheedaht territory and has likely been a destination for mushroom hunters and other forest fans.

But it identified the area as a potential conservation zone by studying aerial maps and exploring off trails.

As a self-described “big-tree hunter,” co-founder T.J. Watt’s first clue was a large cedar along a path used by surfers between Jordan River and Port Renfrew.

“I figured if there was one big cedar, there would likely be more,” Watt said.

He made his way through thickening brush, passing ancient trees, one by one, “until this giant revealed itself.”

The Ancient Forest Alliance says its first priority is getting the vulnerable 40 hectares protected. If successful, Wu says, it could be the next Avatar Grove. The group won protection for the area in 2012, and it has become a destination for visitors to the Port Renfrew area.

Jon Cash, former president of the Port Renfrew chamber of commerce, said it wasn’t easy to win support for Avatar Grove’s protection.

“It was difficult to be in a very small town with one general store, where half the people are loggers,” he said.

But Cash said the economic benefits have proven real. As co-owner and operator of Soule Creek Lodge, Cash said his clients are happy to have an accessible destination to visit.

“The more things people can do while they’re there, the longer they stay. So getting people to stay from one night to two is like doubling your income,” he said.

Avatar Grove draws local and international visitors, he said, having been covered in more than 100 media stories, from the Times Colonist to Al Jazeera. It joins attractions such as Big Lonely Doug, a lone Douglas fir that stands in a clear-cut area.

Port Renfrew now bills itself as the Big Tree Capital of Canada and distributes a tall-tree map to visitors through the town brochure.

As of 2012, about nine per cent of high-productivity, old-growth trees remained on Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland.

Wu said about one-third of that is protected.

Vicky Husband, a spokeswoman for Commons B.C. who helped create an animated map showing the disappearance of Vancouver Island old-growth since 1900, said protecting ancient forests should be a priority.

“In my lifetime, we’ve pretty well lost this forest, and I think most people understand now that it’s not a renewable resource,” Husband said.

“Yes, we can make fibre farms and forests for logging, but we can’t recreate these hundreds — if not thousand-year-old — forests. What we’re saying, is protect what we have left.”

She said forestry policy should focus on sustainable second-growth forestry and creating jobs by keeping mills local.

Wu said high-productivity, old-growth stands such as Jurassic Grove store more carbon, support more species and take hundreds of years to restore, compared with young forests.

“This area should be a high priority for protection,” he said. “It has the classic hallmarks of what attracts tourists, of what houses a lot of biodiversity — marbled murrelets and endangered species live in these endangered forests — and we have a second-growth alternative.”

See the original article at: https://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/avatar-grove-the-sequel-introducing-jurassic-grove-1.18540489

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