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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Lichen: the new immortalization
/in AnnouncementsA rolling stone may gather no moss, but two environmental groups are hoping their fungus initiative sticks. And for those looking for that special gift this year, nothing says “I care” quite like eternalizing someone’s name in a species of lichen.
In an effort to raise funds, the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) has partnered with the Land Conservancy (TLC) of B.C. this week to auction off two different species of lichen. The fungus, which forms those haunting “elegant black tresses” on the branches in old-growth forests, is going to come at a pretty price: the highest bid for the AFA lichen is sitting at $1,000 right now, and the one for the TLC is at $3,000. Don’t give up hope yet, though. The auction doesn’t close until Oct. 2 — just in time for Christmas planning.
The undiscovered species was found in B.C. by botanical researcher and taxonomist Trevor Goward, and has been supported by two teams of molecular researchers working in Finland and Spain. According to scientific protocol, the right to give a new species its scientific name goes to the person who describes it, but Goward has donated those rights to whoever scores highest bidder. For the TLC, that money will wind up serving a land conservation project in the Clear Water Valley, and the AFA will put it toward old-growth environmental education.
“Many people want to be immortalized, and this is one way to do this — your name, or the name of someone or something you care about will be there for all of eternity,” says Barry Booth, TLC’s northern regional manager. “It starts by honouring someone’s contribution to the world, but the end result is conservation action, which is a wonderful way to be remembered.”
TLC is hoping the bid is able to cover the cost of the entire Clear Water Valley acquisition project, or $350,000. While it may be steep, bidders could even join the ranks of President Barack Obama, who has the “Obamae” lichen named after him.
For information on how to throw in your bid, visit ancientforestalliance.org, or conservancy.bc.ca.
Naming rights for new species up for auction online
/in News CoverageEver wanted your name permanently associated with a stationary life form that is part algae and part fungi and wholly underappreciated?
Now is your chance. The naming rights to two new species of lichen are being auctioned online, with the proceeds going to the Ancient Forest Alliance and The Land Conservancy of B.C.
Trevor Goward, curator of lichens at the University of British Columbia and author of several books, said in an interview Friday he discovered a new species of horsehair lichen in the mid-1990s in the Hazelton-Kispiox area and a new species of crottle lichen in the Clearwater Valley two years ago, both of them in old-growth B.C. forests.
With help from molecular lichenologists at the University of Helsinki in Finland and the University of Madrid in Spain, both species have been recently confirmed as unique, he said.
Goward has been studying lichens since the late 1970s and has already found about 20 new species.
“It’s like working in the Amazonian rainforest,” he said.
“So few people have looked at these things. What we don’t know is overwhelming.”
Scientific protocol dictates that the rights to name a new species go to the person who describes it, and in this case Goward is allowing those rights to be sold to the highest bidder.
The genus would remain unchanged, and the species name would have to be put into Latin form, he said.
For example, if the crottle lichen was named after someone named Smith, it would be formally Parmelia smithii.
“It’s like being present at a irth,” Goward said.
“We know the surname. What we’re deciding is what this baby will be called. The point is that the baby will last 70 or 80 years whereas this name will last for as long as civilization.”
Goward doesn’t care whether an individual or a multinational corporation wins, saying it’s all about raising money for conservation.
“Call it a gimmick or whatever. We’re a species that likes to name things. Very little money is going into conservation.”
To make a bid on naming the new species of horsehair lichen, visit www.ancient forestalliance.org The deadline is Oct. 2.
If you’d prefer to name the crottle lichen, visit conservancy.bc.ca
That deadline is Sept. 10.
Your name could go on a lichen
/in News CoverageIf you’re liking lichen, you’ve got a chance to put your – or a loved one’s – name to one.
A botanist from the University of B.C. has donated the naming rights to two species of lichen he’s discovered to two environmental groups. The Ancient Forest Alliance and The Land Conservancy are auctioning off the right to name the species to the highest bidders.
Neither lichen can be found on Vancouver Island but the campaign raises awareness of the role these sybiotic union of fungi and algae play in the ecosystem.
“My idea was to try to help people set aside biologically critical land,” said Trevor Goward, a lichenologist with the UBC department of botany.
“I see old-growth forests as a biological archive.
They’ve been capturing the history, like a library. Yet we cut down these nodes of vast biological knowledge – these things have been accumulating for centuries, for millennia – and I just don’t think that’s right.”
Lichens are sensitive to pollution and disturbance and become rare in urban and industrial landscapes. Some lichens provide critical winter food for mountain caribou in B.C.’s inland rainforests and black-tailed deer in B.C.’s coastal rainforests.
The lichen on loan to the Ancient Forest Alliance is a bryoria or horsehair lichen, which forms elegant black tresses on branches of old-growth trees. The TLC’s lichen is a parmelia or crottle lichen which consists of strap-like lobes that are pale grey above and black below.
“We got our first bid [Friday] of $100,” said Ken Wu, executive director for the Ancient Forest Alliance.
“I hope people get it, that this is part of a bigger campaign to protect old growth.”
Those who want to make a bid to have one of the new species named after themselves or a loved one can visit the Ancient Forest Alliance’s website at www.ancientforestalliance. org or phone 250-896-4007.
The Land Conservancy can be reached at www.conservancy.bc.ca or by calling 1-877-485-2422.