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Avatar Grove Boardwalk Now Completed and Open

Aug 10 2017/in News Coverage

After 4 years of work involving hundreds of volunteers, Avatar Grove now has a kilometre-long trail and boardwalk that includes extensive stairs, steps, walkways, bridges, and viewing platforms.

In 2013, the Ancient Forest Alliance began constructing the boardwalk on both sides of the Gordon River Main logging road in the Upper and Lower Avatar Groves.

Now it's open the Ancient Forest Alliance's Ken Wu says it's been great for eco-tourism. “That is a message for other rural communities to stand up for the ancient forest in your area. Maybe take a page out of Costa Rica's book and take a step towards a sustainable economy and instead log second growth forest sustainably instead of logging the last of our ancient forests as well.”

The Grove is located on the Gordon River Main logging road, about 20 minutes from Port Renfrew.

It is home to one of the most spectacular and easily accessible stands of monumental old-growth trees in BC and has become among BC's most popular old-growth forest tourism destinations, bolstering and transforming the economy of the local region and allowing Port Renfrew to rebrand itself as the “Tall Trees Capital of Canada”.

CFAX article: https://www.iheartradio.ca/cfax-1070/news/avatar-grove-boardwalk-now-completed-and-open-1.3063436

AFA Boardwalk Co-odinator TJ Watt carries materials along the new trail.

Volunteer-built boardwalk showcases protected old-growth near Port Renfrew

Aug 9 2017/in News Coverage

Volunteers on Vancouver Island hope the completion of a boardwalk through a section of old-growth forest near Port Renfrew will help prove that B.C.'s giant trees are more valuable standing.

The ancient trees in Avatar Grove have been protected from logging since 2012.

But the trails and boardwalk to make them accessible to tourists for viewing, led by the Ancient Forest Alliance, has taken four years to complete.

“Hundreds of people have come out to help, to carry buckets of gravel up through the trail, to carry heavy boardwalk planks, hammering thousands of nails and swatting a million mosquitos,” said T.J. Watt, boardwalk coordinator for the group.

Port Renfrew has long relied on forestry and commercial fishing as main industries. But outdoor recreation and eco-tourism are a growing part of the economy.

In recent years, the town has even rebranded as Canada's tall tree capital, thanks in part to the thousands of visitors per year who now come to see the big trees in Avatar Grove, Watt said.

“Avatar Grove really is a case study in showing how protecting old-growth forest can be a huge boom to the economy rather than hindering it,” he said.

Materials for the project were paid for through public donations and grants from companies such as MEC and Patagonia, Watt said.

Avatar Grove is located on Crown land within the traditional territory of the Pacheedaht First Nation. It received protection from logging following a two-year awareness campaign by the Ancient Forest Alliance.

Now that the boardwalk is complete, Watt says attention will now turn to protecting other old-growth areas in B.C.

One such area was discovered this spring between Port Renfrew and Jordan River. It has been dubbed Jurassic Grove for the size of the trees.

“We feel that other communities around British Columbia can look to Port Renfrew as an example of how they can protect old growth forest in their own community and stand to benefit from that,” he said.

“We are not saying end all logging across the province. We just need to do it in a smarter, more sustainable way.”

See original CBC article: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/avatar-grove-boardwalk-1.4239171

Avatar Grove boardwalk construction to be finished this weekend

Aug 4 2017/in News Coverage

This weekend the boardwalk in the Avatar Grove will finally be finished construction after four years.

For the finishing touches, volunteers with the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) will be building a new platform, stairs, steps, and walkways, and install signage, on the major project.

“The Avatar Grove’s real significance is that it serves as an example to other communities that protecting old-growth forests benefits the economy by hugely bolstering local businesses and jobs,” said Ken Wu, executive director of the Ancient Forest Alliance.“In helping to revitalize Port Renfrew’s economy, it has clearly counteracted the old, false narrative that saving old-growth forests harms the local economy. The Avatar Grove and its boardwalk have been the most important catalyst for B.C.’s ancient forest movement in recent times and have helped to shape the fate of endangered forests across the province.”

See full article in the Sooke News Mirror: https://www.sookenewsmirror.com/news/avatar-grove-boardwalk-construction-to-be-finished-this-weekend/