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Avatar Grove’s popularity creates need for trail

Jun 10 2012/in News Coverage

Thousands of pairs of feet have tromped through Avatar Grove over the last two years, and now the old-growth forest needs some protection from too much love.

The Ancient Forest Alliance, which brought Avatar Grove into the public eye and lobbied for its protection, has asked the Forests Ministry for permission to build a trail and boardwalk.

“We want to improve accessibility and it’s vital to protect the ecology and make sure the tree roots don’t get worn down,” said TJ Watt, the Alliance campaigner who discovered the grove.

The group, supported by the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce, is prepared to fundraise and use volunteer labour to build the trail, Watt said.

However, it is looking for an engineer to help with design and safety issues, he said.

A heavily used but unofficial trail has been created through the trees by the many tree-loving tourists and a boardwalk and steps are particularly needed in wet areas and steep slopes, Watt said.

“People visit year-round, even in rain and snow,” he said. “I would guess tens of thousands of people have been there now.”

Platforms will be created beside the much-photographed gnarly tree and other areas of particular significance.

Access from the logging road is currently hit-and-miss, so signs are needed to direct people to the one-kilometre trail and to ask them to stay on the trail and pack out litter, Watt said.

Rosie Betsworth, Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce president, said the public passion for tall trees has put the community – which previously relied largely on logging – back on the map.

“I am surprised how many people love big, old trees,” she said.

“People are coming to Port Renfrew, not just for camping and fishing, they are coming in herds to see tall trees. – One of the most often asked questions in Port Renfrew is ‘How do you get to Avatar Grove?’ ”

The grove was discovered by Watt in February 2010. Shortly afterward, much of it was flagged for logging, as only 24 per cent was protected through an old-growth management area.

The Ancient Forest Alliance spearheaded a campaign to protect the grove and, earlier this year, the provincial government expanded the old-growth management area to 59 hectares.

The environmental group is now fighting to protect another stand of old-growth trees it has nicknamed Christy Clark Grove.

Watt said that even though he immediately saw the magic of the gnarly trees, ferns and massive Douglas firs, he is surprised the area has become such a tourism driver.

“But it is the most fantastic place for people to come and experience B.C.’s coastal rain forest,” he said.

Times Colonist article: https://www.timescolonist.com

HIKE – SUNDAY, JUNE 10: Avatar Grove Biodiversity Hike and Boardwalk Fundraiser!

Jun 5 2012/in Announcements

Summer is almost here and this is your chance to hike the Avatar Grove with three of BC’s finest naturalists! University of Victoria entomologist and old-growth biodiversity specialist Dr. Neville Winchester, president of the Victoria Natural History Society Darren Copley (and former Goldstream Nature Centre chief interpreter) and the Royal BC Museum’s senior collections manager of entomology Claudia Copley will be along for the hike to talk about the tremendous diversity of creatures living in our incredible ancient forests!

Join these special guests as well as Ancient Forest Alliance organizers Ken Wu, TJ Watt, and Joan Varley on the hike through Avatar and learn how you can help in the campaign to protect BC’s endangered old-growth forests!

TIME & PLACE: Meet 2:00 pm in Port Renfrew at the Coastal Kitchen Cafe after which time we’ll drive in a convoy to the Avatar Grove.
*NOTE – Please park alongside the side road opposite the cafe parking lot. Sundays are a very busy time and we must leave room for the regular customer parking. Thank you!
HIKE: 2:30 – 4:30 pm
COST: SLIDING SCALE – $20 to $200 per individual (children are free)
MAP: Printable Tall Tree Tour map of Port Renfrew

Funds from this hike will go towards the Ancient Forest Alliance’s exciting new project to build a boardwalk in the Avatar Grove! A boardwalk is essential to help protect the forests’ ecological integrity and enhance visitor access and safety. For $100 you can sponsor a 1 metre section of the trail.

Donations can be made securely online at: https://staging.ancientforestalliance.org/boardwalk-donation.php

By credit card over the phone at: 250.896.4007

Or by mailing a cheque to the address listed here.

What can you expect from the trip?

– To see some of the largest and strangest looking trees in BC, including “Canada’s Gnarliest Tree”!
– To learn to identify some of the common rainforest trees, plants, lichens and fungi.
– To learn about the wildlife – the wolves, cougars, elk, bears, Sasquatch (**sightings not guaranteed), birds, amphibians, and other creatures that inhabit the Avatar Grove.
– To meet great new people and have an AWESOME TIME!

THINGS TO KNOW:

* Only those with moderate hiking abilities and who are comfortable on semi-rugged terrain, with a firm sense of balance, can attend this hike.
* All participants will be required to sign a waiver form.
* Participants must bring their own water, rain gear, hiking boots and wonderful attitude!
* Dogs must remain on a leash at all times – they can disturb wildlife including bears, elk, deer, cougars, wolves, raccoons, mink, and Sasquatch in the area.
* Be sure to support the local community by spending your dollars in Port Renfrew and Sooke!
* This event is a fundraiser for the Ancient Forest Alliance which is in need of funding to build an Avatar Grove boardwalk and to continue its vital campaigns to protect BC’s ancient forests and forestry jobs.

If you can, please email us at info@ancientforestalliance.org to let us know how many of you are coming so we can get a sense of our numbers.

It’s a land of giants in Port Renfrew’s ancient Avatar Grove

May 31 2012/in News Coverage

Link to original article: www.straight.com/article-697301/vancouver/its-land-giants-ancient-avatar-grove

The grey, weathered sticks poking out the top of the thick forest canopy near Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island’s southwest tip look like so much deadwood to an untrained eye.

But for a man whose aim is to draw visitors to the Island’s western shore to experience the awesomeness of old-growth forests, they are a reason to get excited. Very excited.

“Those candelabra tops are a sign of ancient red cedars,” explains T J Watt, cofounder of the Ancient Forest Alliance, a nonprofit organization that seeks to protect old-growth forests and ensure sustainable forestry jobs in B.C. “When I first saw those tops, I knew instantly we’d found a treasure trove of big trees.”

The year was 2009 and Watt was searching for an accessible, iconic stand of trees that could serve as a rallying point in a marketing campaign for the Alliance. He found the tract—dubbed Avatar Grove by the group after the James Cameron blockbuster film (brilliant marketing move or majorly lame, you decide)—just a 10-minute walk/scramble from a logging road and a 20-minute drive from the logging town of Port Renfrew. Single Mothers College Grants

Thanks to the Alliance’s efforts, this extraordinary collection of giant western red cedars, Douglas firs, and Sitka spruces—which is estimated to be between 500 and 1,000 years old—has been mapped and is now protected from logging.

Finding the grove takes a bit of pre-trip planning. There are no location markers, just paper signs in plastic sleeves and flagging tape hanging from trees to mark the starting point of the primitive trail. Visitors will need a map (available for free on the Alliance’s website) or, better yet, a guide to find the giants. Watt is happy to lead groups to the most impressive trees, including, in his words, “Canada’s gnarliest”: a massive cedar with a four-metre-wide trunk that’s distorted with lumpy, bumpy fungus growth.

These days, the Alliance is busy fundraising to build a boardwalk to the grove. “We’ve had thousands of people visit in the last two years,” Watt says. “Steps on the trail’s steeper sections and boardwalks around the most popular trees will protect the forest floor and make it easier for people of all abilities to see the incredible trees.”

Keen for more? The Alliance’s website also provides directions to the Red Creek Fir (the world’s largest Douglas fir) and the San Juan Sitka spruce (Canada’s largest spruce), both located near Port Renfrew and accessible via poorly maintained gravel roads.

Access: To reach Avatar Grove, take Highway 14 to Port Renfrew (just over a two-hour drive west of Victoria) and follow the directions at the Ancient Forest Alliance website