Help AFA raise $250,000 by December 31st – we’re over halfway there!
Support the protection of old-growth forests in BC through Indigenous-led conservation, science, and public action. Donate to help safeguard ancient forests.
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TJ Watt2025-12-15 15:20:282025-12-15 17:55:17Help AFA raise $250,000 by December 31st – we’re over halfway there!
Chek News: Document reveals approval to harvest remnant old-growth in B.C.’s northwest
BC Timber Sales has ended a policy protecting remnant old-growth in northwest B.C., citing First Nations’ positions, sparking concerns from ecologists and residents.
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TJ Watt2025-12-08 13:49:362025-12-08 13:49:36Chek News: Document reveals approval to harvest remnant old-growth in B.C.’s northwest
Thank You to Our Silent Auction business Donors!
Thank you to these local businesses for generously donating items and experiences to our first-ever online Silent Auction!
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TJ Watt2025-12-08 13:17:322025-12-08 13:50:51Thank You to Our Silent Auction business Donors!
Statement on the Provincial Forest Advisory Council’s Interim Report – AFA & EEA
The Provincial Forest Advisory Council’s (PFAC) interim report falls short of addressing the root causes of BC’s forestry crisis or outlining the bold, decisive actions needed to reverse it, warn the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) and Endangered Ecosystem Alliance (EEA).
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TJ Watt2025-11-21 10:13:452025-11-21 10:15:43Statement on the Provincial Forest Advisory Council’s Interim Report – AFA & EEA
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TWO YEAR Anniversary of the Ancient Forest Alliance – Mon., Feb 27th!
/in AnnouncementsPlease Donate! https://staging.ancientforestalliance.org/donations.php
Mon., Feb.27: 100 MILE DINNER ((SOLD OUT)) and CELEBRATION! ((TICKETS LEFT)) (Victoria) *info further down page*
The AFA is almost two years old!! February 24, 2010, was our official incorporation date as a registered not-for-profit society in British Columbia.
It has been an intense two years! With nothing more than a gmail account when we started, and with almost no funding, we quickly ramped up the scale of our campaigns to include tens of thousands of supporters in BC and major media coverage around the world.
Now, in 2012, with just over one year left before a BC election, the ruling BC Liberals and the opposition NDP who will likely form the next government are highly sensitive to public pressure. We need YOUR support during this MOST critical year.
Can you support us with a donation of any amount? We are limited by a lack of funding at this point, but have just about the lowest overhead of any major environmental organization. To donate go to: https://staging.ancientforestalliance.org/donations.php
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Mon., Feb.27: 100 MILE DINNER & CELEBRATION – 2 YEAR ANNIVERARY of the ANCIENT FOREST ALLIANCE!
To celebrate the Ancient Forest Alliance’s 2 year anniversary, Social Coast is organizing a 100 Mile Dinner for the AFA with locally-produced, delicious gourmet foods prepared by renowned Vancouver Island chefs Landon Crawford and Andrew Bisson! The dinner features a “Mossy Maple” theme, in reference to the AFA’s new campaign to protect BC’s ancient bigleaf maple groves and with BC bigleaf maple syrup used with several delicious course items. Afterwards, there will be a celebration with music, drinks, speakers, a silent auction, and hob-nobbing with fellow tree-huggers!
The Ancient Forest Alliance will be two years old at the end of this month! In that time the organization has hugely grown in size and influence. Recently the BC government protected the famed Avatar Grove from logging as a result of the AFA’s campaign! See: Times Colonist article and AFA press release
DATE: MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27
LOCATION: Norway House, 1110 Hillside Avenue (near Graham St.), Victoria
TIMES:
6:00-7:30 pm: 100 MILE DINNER ((SOLD OUT)) *** SEE FULL DINNER DETAILS and MENU BELOW***
Includes BC Bigleaf Maple-Glazed Wild Salmon, Ancient Forest Lichen Crisps (unique and new!), homemade BC Bigleaf Maple-Drizzled Ice Cream, and more!!
Music by renowned Victoria musician Mike Edel!
7:30—9:30 pm: CELEBRATION ((TICKETS LEFT))
AFA’s 2 year overview presentation with Ken Wu, TJ Watt, and Joan Varley!
Words from renowned forest activists Valerie Langer (tentative) and Vicky Husband!
Music by renowned Victoria musician Mike Edel!
Drinks!
Silent auction of donated goods and services from local businesses!
Door prizes!
Hob-nob with fellow tree-huggers!
***100 Mile Dinner tickets are SOLD OUT***
$10 Celebration only tickets are still available for the 7:30-9:30pm portion of the night!
BUY TICKETS:
100 MILE DINNER DETAILS from SOCIAL COAST
This dinner will be created using all ingredients that are sourced no farther than 100 miles from Victoria.
The dinner will feature the professional cooking skills of Landon Crawford (Nourish Bistro and Cafe), and Andrew Bissoon (chef and owner of Fat Daddy’s BBQ and Catering). They will be dishing up a 3 course meal that will include at least a couple of ingredients you have never tried before. Along with vegetarian options for all three courses, the menu includes Wild Sockeye Salmon glazed with BC Bigleaf Maple Syrup from the Cowichan Valley, ancient forest lichen crisps (lobaria or “lettuce” lichens) foraged by the Ancient Forest Alliance’s own TJ Watt, handmade goats cheese, homemade ice cream and a couple of more surprises. You can be assured that even the salt will be sourced from within 100 miles and the flavours will make you re-think the possibilities of local cuisine.
Bartender Eric Nordal (Bard and Banker) will be creating a locally inspired cocktail as well as other pairings to compliment the evening’s cuisine.
Mike Edel, a local artist who played at this year’s Rifflandia Festival will be performing and there are a number of captivating short presentations lined up for the night, including the Ancient Forest Alliance who will give an overview of its 2 year history and its recently successful campaign to protect the Avatar Grove from logging. Bed bath and beyond promo code
100 MILE DINNER MENU
APPETIZER
Meat option: 3- spot prawns
-Herb garlic puree
-Greens
Veggie option: Roasted beet salad
-On top of mesculine greens
MAIN
Meat option: Baked or poached salmon ($2.75/piece extra)
Veggie option: Amazing mushrooms of some kind, and ancient forest lichen crisps. Upside down portabella with kale. Goats cheese in the center.
The Starch: Mashed Potatoes (en croute perhaps)
The Green: Roasted Fennel or Collard greens or both
The Sauce: BC Bigleaf Maple Verjus Gastrique (Sweet and sour sauce)
-Put it around the plate and on the salmon
The colour: Kale, fennel, arugula puree
DESSERT
Maple ice cream
-Crushed roasted hazelnuts on top
-BC Bigleaf Maple Syrup drizzle
***Note:
– Menu subject to possible revision
– Drinks are extra
For more info about the 100 Mile Dinner and menu contact Social Coast’s Lliam Hildebrand at lliam@hotmail.com, Eric Nordal at eric@socialcoast.org
For information about the celebration afterwards or about the Ancient Forest Alliance contact Joan Varley at info@ancientforestalliance.org or 250-896-4007
B.C. Auditor-General faults government for failing to protect forests
/in News CoverageA Vancouver Island environmental organization is praising the B.C. government for protecting a unique old-growth forest known as Avatar Grove, but the Auditor-General has slammed the province for losing track of the forest resource.
Government management of B.C.’s timber supply is insufficient and has reached the point at the Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations Ministry where the province isn’t properly monitoring its programs, said John Doyle’s ministry audit.
Avatar Grove, so named by environmentalists inspired by the Hollywood eco-fable Avatar, has become a tourism attraction due to its fantastically shaped western red cedars, including one tree nicknamed “Canada’s Gnarliest Tree” for its massive burls.
The Victoria-based Ancient Forests Alliance applauded the government’s decision to protect from logging almost 60 hectares of the old-growth cedar forest near Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island.
“We commend the B.C. government for protecting this key tract of rare, valley-bottom, old-growth forest because virtually all the valley bottoms on southern Vancouver Island are gone now,” forests alliance spokesman Ken Wu said on Thursday. – College Grants For Minorities [Original article no longer available]
“But at the same time thousands of hectares of old-growth forests are logged every year on Vancouver Island and millions of hectares are endangered across B.C.”
Forests Minister Steve Thomson said the protected area covers just under 60 hectares. B.C. forest company Teal-Jones Group, which held the licence to cut trees in the grove, will be compensated for losing its cutting rights there, Thompson said.
He said the government was persuaded to protect the grove after a public consultation process last fall that received 236 comments, only four of them against saving the unique region.
He said businesses in the Port Renfrew area see the grove as a potential tourism draw.
But Mr. Doyle’s report found that elsewhere in B.C., the government hasn’t been as diligent in protecting the future for forests.
“Industry is legally obligated to reforest the areas it harvests, and it does so,” said Mr. Doyle in a statement after the release of his 23-page audit.
“But government, which is responsible for over 90 per cent of British Columbia’s forests, and whose reforestation decisions have a significant impact on our future forests, is not clear about its own commitments.”
Mr. Doyle’s audit found the ministry has not clearly defined its timber objectives and, as a result, cannot ensure that its management practices are effective.
The report said existing management practices are insufficient to offset a trend toward future forests having a lower timber supply, and the audit found the ministry is not properly monitoring and reporting its timber results against its timber objectives.
Mr. Doyle’s report makes six recommendations, including developing performance measures that can be used to evaluate progress in achieving long-term timber objectives.
The ministry responded with a statement saying it was already meeting Mr. Doyle’s recommendations and “will strive to develop a publicly reported performance measure that shows progress in achieving timber objectives.”
Mr. Thomson said he’s confident the ministry will have an updated inventory of lands that require reforestation within the next six months.
He said he disagreed with the Mr. Doyle’s assessment that the ministry is falling behind on its management of the timber resource.
Mr. Doyle’s audit said that of the 95 million hectares of forested land in British Columbia, 22 million hectares are available for harvesting.
Industry is legally obligated to reforest 10 per cent of that land – about 2.2 million hectares – while the government is responsible for the management of the rest.
Mr. Thomson said the ministry has identified 733,000 hectares of land that is “non-sufficiently stocked.”
He suggested that amount could change once the ministry completes a review.
“I’m confident we have the resources and the staff available, and the technology available, to do the analytical work that will identify and clarify the lands that need to be restocked,” Mr. Thomson said.
Opposition New Democrat forests critic Norm Macdonald said Mr. Doyle’s audit is a condemnation of the government’s management of its timber supply over the past 11 years.
“The first place you start is you get the inventory right,” he said.
“Seventy-five per cent of the inventory is decades out of date. They just do not know what’s going on on the land base.”
Click here to view the Globe and Mail article.
Island version of Avatar Grove given provincial protection
/in News CoverageA grove of giant, old-growth trees that has drawn thousands of tourists to Port Renfrew over the past two years will be protected by the province.
Avatar Grove, a unique stand of centuries-old Douglas firs and red cedars, will be at the heart of an expanded, 59-hectare old-growth management area, Forests Minister Steve Thomson said Thursday.
“A lot of the requests that came in recognized the importance of the grove to the community,” Thomson said in an interview.
“It’s very good news for Vancouver Island.”
Logging and mining are not permitted in old-growth management areas, but the designation is one step short of legislated protection given to parks.
The decision follows a public review period, with 232 out of 236 comments favouring protection.
The grove, with massive gnarled trees and an abundance of wildlife, gained public attention after being discovered by members of the Ancient Forest Alliance who gave it the Avatar nickname. Shortly after the initial visit in February 2010, the area was flagged for logging and a public campaign to save Avatar Grove gained steam. At that time only 24 per cent of the grove was in an old-growth management area.
To the amazement of many residents of Port Renfrew, a community formerly based on logging, the big trees drew a steady stream of sightseers.
“I was shocked at the amount of people,” said Rosie Betsworth, Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce president.
Through last summer, at least a dozen people stopped daily at the Chamber of Commerce information booth asking about Avatar Grove. Tours run by the AFA drew up to 80 people each time. “We owe the Ancient Forest Alliance a big thank you for bringing Avatar into the public focus,” Betsworth said.
Ken Wu, AFA co-founder, said the success of Avatar Grove as a tourist attraction will be watched in communities across the province.
“It is important that environmentalism has a component on how people can make revenues and have jobs,” he said.
Wu and co-founder TJ Watt applauded the provincial protection, but would have preferred the stronger park designation. They want the government to stop all old-growth logging on Vancouver Island.
“Virtually all of the valley bottoms on southern Vancouver Island, where the biggest trees grow, have been logged,” Watt said. “Our main goal is to see a new provincial plan to protect all of B.C’s endangered old-growth forests and to ensure a sustainable second-growth industry instead.”
Surrey-based Teal-Jones Group, which holds logging rights for Avatar Grove, will be compensated with 57 hectares removed from other old-growth management areas. That is a legal obligation to license holders, Thomson said.
But the AFA questions why compensation should be paid on publicly-owned Crown forests.
“The company does not own the land or the trees, all they have are access rights to the resource through their licence,” Wu said.
View the Times Colonist article here: https://www.timescolonist.com/