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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A South Vancouver Island National Park Reserve
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A South Vancouver Island National Park Reserve
An idea whose time has come
by
Dr. Keith Martin, P.C., M.P.
Member of Parliament for Esquimalt – Juan de Fuca
VICTORIA, B.C. – South Vancouver Island in British Columbia is an extraordinarily beautiful part of our planet. It is a place of ecologically sensitive areas, some of which contain rare flora and fauna. However, population pressures threaten these areas and one day will, through urban sprawl, obliterate these important ecosystems. Once they are gone, they are gone forever.
However, we now have a precious opportunity to preserve these lands. The solution: that the lands of Mary Hill, Race Rocks, and the undeveloped portions of William Head and Rocky Point be designated a National Conservation Area. This should be part of a larger canvas— a South Vancouver Island National Park Reserve—which would include parks in East Sooke, Albert Head, and Fort Rodd Hill connected to the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail system and an expanded Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. This would also embrace the Upper Walbran Valley and sites around Port Renfrew that contain magnificent stands of old growth forests. These remarkable trees tower above all others and predate the birth of our county by centuries.
Linking these areas will create a contiguous area of parks. Uninterrupted protected spaces are crucial for the survival of both marine and terrestrial species. These lands can be managed in a sustainable way to create jobs and revenue from several untapped sources including from eco- and ethno-tourism ventures. Individuals from First Nations and other communities can educate people about the rich and fascinating natural and historical treasures in our backyard and earn sustainable monies from doing this. In other countries that still have wild spaces these activities generate millions of dollars.
Development can occur around existing towns in Jordon River, Port Renfrew, and Sooke. Building up and not out would mitigate urban sprawl, create the tax base needed for services, and provide the homes we all need to live in while preserving these priceless ecosystems.
We have but one opportunity to do this. The time to act is now. An expansion of the Pacific Rim National Reserve, linked to a chain of parks, would create the South Vancouver Island National Park Reserve. This would be an enduring legacy that generations to come will enjoy. We cannot let this moment pass.
Sooke fundraiser aims to raise awareness of Island’s ancient trees
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Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce and the Ancient Forest Alliance are jointly organizing a fundraiser Thursday evening to help raise awareness of the need to protect ancient trees.
The aim of the free-drink-and-free-appetizer event at Sooke Harbour House is to increase tourism to monumental trees around Port Renfrew.
The community is Canada’s big trees capital with Avatar Grove, the Red Creek fir — the largest Douglas fir in the world — and the San Juan spruce — the largest spruce tree in Canada — all in close proximity to town, said Ken Wu of the Ancient Forest Alliance.
This summer the Chamber of Commerce wants to hire someone to run its new information centre, Wu said.
“Thousands of visitors will be directed to visit Avatar Grove and ancient forests nearby,” he said.
“This will greatly help to raise the needed awareness about our endangered old-growth forests and will generate greater tourism to the region as friends tell friends to come and see the area’s incredible ancient trees.”
Avatar Grove profile on the rise
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The attraction hasn’t been promoted for long but the area near Port Renfrew dubbed “Avatar Grove” by the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) is being seen by growing numbers of visitors, many being guided there by Alliance members.
The environmental advocates with the AFA have worked steadily at publicizing the site of old growth trees they became aware of in late 2009. Some of the cedar and spruce trees located there are reportedly among the oldest and largest on the continent.
The alliance has gained support for its efforts to preserve the grove – first with a sympathetic report from the Forest Practices Board then comments from Forests, Lands and Mines Minister Pat Bell that measures to protect the grove are being considered.
“I’ve had the chief forester working with the Ancient Forest Alliance along with some other prominent NGOs (non-governmental organizations),” the Minister told the Sooke News Mirror on February 18.
“We’re considering what we might be able to do and also mapping out what’s been done already. A significant portion of Avatar Grove is already protected.”
Minister Bell said the nearby logging licensee, Teal-Jones “haven’t indicated any interest in harvesting in there anyway. But if people feel more comfortable having a higher level of protection it’s something I’m prepared to consider.”
The Minister stressed the importance of the area being “safe and secure” if growing numbers of visitors are to show up at the grove which is about a 10-minute drive from Port Renfrew on the way to Lake Cowichan. He concluded by saying he expects to hear back from the chief forester within “the next few weeks.”
A February 10 report from the BC Forest Practices Board had apparently been inspired by a complaint from a private citizen focusing on old growth harvesting.
T.J.Watt, an AFA photograher/campaigner expressed gratification with the report that adds to support for grove preservation so far expressed by MP Dr. Keith Martin, MLA John Horgan and CRD Juan de Fuca regional director Mike Hicks, the Sooke Region Tourism Association and the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce.
“Wonderful,” is how Hicks described the news of possible government protection of the grove. On Feb. 17 Hicks said the grove is more valuable to local residents standing than cut.
“The loggers can survive on the second growth in the area,” added Hicks.
“It’s a positive step,” said Rose Betsworth of the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce. “Avatar Grove has certainly put Port Renfrew on the map of late. Logging the grove would take away the good exposure we’re getting.”
Watt – the Alliance member credited with taking the hike that led to recent awareness of the grove said a preserved grove, over and above its value as a draw for nature lovers, would present other benefits as well.
“A key point is that old growth forests store two to three times more carbon per hectare than ensuing second-growth tree plantations,” Watt explained. “So keeping old growth forest around actually helps in the fight to stop climate change.”
Ken Wu, Ancient Forest Alliance executive director weighed in,
“How many jurisdictions on Earth still have trees that grow as wide as living rooms and as tall as downtown skyscrapers? And how many still say it’s good to cut down them down? We now have a major second-growth alternative, so it’s nuts to keep logging towards the end of the old-growth resource at this stage in our history.”