Blog Archive Layout

A climber makes his way up the towering trunk of Big Lonely Doug

New Photo Gallery: Climbing Big Lonely Doug – Round 2!

Apr 12 2016/in Photo Gallery

The Ancient Forest Alliance has once again teamed up with members of the Arboreal Collective to ascend Big Lonely Doug, Canada’s second largest Douglas-fir tree near Port Renfrew!

See the photos here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1016073868487200.1073741898.823970554364200&type=3

Over the March long weekend, climbers Matthew Beatty, Aaron Kinvig, Elliot Wright, and James Frystak, worked with AFA photographer TJ Watt to capture some stunning images and incredible drone footage. Photographers Martin Gregus Jr & Sr from the One 50 Canada Society were also present to document the climb for a future book publication!

In order to get the first ropes in place, the climbers use a 12-foot slingshot to launch a weighted line precisely over one of the top branches. Then, using techniques that allow you to climb the actual ropes and not the tree, they're able to ascend to the top without impacting the tree.

Big Lonely Doug measures 66 m (216 ft) high, 4 m (13 ft) wide, and 12 m (39 ft) around. It stands alone in a 2012 clearcut on Crown lands in Tree Farm Licence 46 held by the logging company Teal-Jones, in the unceded traditional territory of the Pacheedaht First Nation band. Big Lonely Doug is a clear example of both the incredible granduer and terrible destruction of BC’s endangered old-growth forests. Photos by TJ Watt

Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities (AVICC) passes resolution for protection of Vancouver Island’s old-growth forests!

Apr 9 2016/in Announcements

Wow!! Some fantastic news: Today the resolution calling on the BC government to protect Vancouver Island's remaining old-growth forests was passed at the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities (AVICC) AGM, the umbrella organization of coastal municipalities! Thanks to Metchosin councillor and renowned forest ecologist Andy MacKinnon for drafting the resolution and for Moralea Milne and other councillors from Metchosin – and today councillors all over the coast – for supporting the resolution! This is a big leap forward in our campaign to end old-growth logging on Vancouver Island and beyond and to ensure a sustainable second-growth forest industry instead.

Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities (AVICC) passes resolution for Natural Land Acquisition Fund!

Apr 9 2016/in Announcements

The Ancient Forest Alliance’s and UVic Environmental Law Centre’s resolution calling on the province to establish a “Natural Land Acquisition Fund” to purchase and protect endangered ecosystems on private lands (using the ‘Pop for Parks’ mechanism) was also passed today at the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities (AVICC) AGM. If implemented by the province, this will make it easier to purchase and protect places like Mount Horne – the endangered mountainside above Cathedral Grove at risk from Island Timberlands – and endangered forests, grasslands, wetlands, and ecosystems throughout BC on private lands. THANKS to the thousands of you who wrote letters, and to the Highlands, Victoria, and Saanich councillors who pioneered the original support for this, and for all the councillors today who voted for the fund!