Blog Archive Layout

Zoe Miles comes to Toronto to save B.C.’s ‘Avatar Woods’

Aug 14 2010/in News Coverage

This protest by Cortes Island activist Zoe Miles and MTV’s Buried Life in downtown Toronto had an Avatar theme, and their focus was on saving the old-growth forests of BC with a particular emphasis on the old-growth Douglas fir stands of Cortes Island (which they dubbed the “Avatar Woods”, not to be confused with the “Avatar Grove” near Port Renfrew). We thank them for doing this! – Ancient Forest Alliance

When Zoe Miles came home from university this summer she found that the forest in her hometown of Cortes Island had been brought and tagged for logging. The land was brought by a company in Toronto.

Today Zoe and members of the MTV docu-show The Buried Life stood outside of Brookfield Place on Toronto’s Bay Street asking to be heard.

Bay Street’s Brookfield Place was the location of about 100 young people dressed in blue this morning protesting the plans of Brookfield Asset Management to log a part of Cortes Island.

The blue group envisioned the movie Avatar for their protest. Why? Because the forest on Cortes Island has been dubbed the real Avatar Woods. With 99.5 percent of the Douglas Fir old growth already cut, there is little left for the environment, they claim.

Miles, with the help of MTV, came to Toronto to talk with Brookfield Asset Management’s Senior Managing Partner and Chief Financial Officer Bruce Flatt. Miles was unable to discuss her desires with Flatt today but her voice was heard to those who walked by the busy building Friday.

“I think of this forest as a best friend,” Miles told those protesting for Avatar Woods Friday morning through a megaphone. The crowds shouted to those inside the glass building to “save our forest” and “to listen to us.”

Miles was kept out of the building by building security. Unable to speak to Bruce Flatt she told the crowd that she wanted to have a friendly conversation with him to ask him to allow her to buy the land.

“I want to ask Bruce Flatt to stop cutting old growth forest in B.C.”

Miles said that she is uncomfortable being the center of attention but her commitment to the forest over-rides her fears.

When asked about local MPs in her area, Miles said there is support but didn’t expand on which government officials were behind the movement. Asked about her funds to pay for the area of forest that she wants to buy, Miles admitted that she only had $4 in the bank at this time but said there was support. She did say that she is willing to pay fair market dollar for the 2,700 acres for the Avatar Woods.

With no response from Brookfield, the group announced that they would be moving to Toronto Island to continue getting their voice heard.

The security team that guarded the doors to Brookfield Place said there was no comment from within.

The Nahmint Valley near Port Alberni has some of the last remaining tracts of unprotected old-growth Douglas fir forests.

Old Forests Get Protection

Aug 13 2010/in News Coverage

Old forests get protection

Keri Sculland, Alberni Valley Times

Published: Thursday, August 05, 2010

While the provincial government has sectioned off thousands of hectares to protect old-growth forests, none are located in the Alberni Valley.

The government sectioned off two types of old-growth forest on Crown land to preserve the natural trees and forestation. On the east side of the Island, about five kilometres were sectioned off to preserve the Coastal Douglas Fir Ecosystem, which is a rare type of ecosystem that only covers a small portion of the Island. Other parts of the Island in the northern central area and southern areas were also protected from future logging and land management.

The catch is, explained TJ Watt, forest campaigner from the Ancient Forest Alliance, these areas aren’t legislative protected areas, they are regulatory protected areas, meaning the areas won’t be considered provincial parks, like Cathedral Grove and the Pacific Rim Provincial Park.

“Unfortunately,” he said, “it doesn’t cover anything within the Alberni Valley… there is still a need to go further on protection for Vancouver Island.”

The five parcels of Crown land between Nanaimo and Courtenay have been made off-limits to logging through new Land Use Orders. These new additions have increased protection in the Coastal Douglas Fir zone from 7600 hectares to 9200 hectares.

The ecosystem is characterized by its mild, Mediterranean-like climate, trees like the Douglas fir, Garry oak and arbutus, and large numbers of species at risk such as the alligator lizard and sharp-tailed snake.

Of the productive old growth on Vancouver Island, 75% of it has been lost. That includes the large trees and valley bottoms. Since 2004, 90% of the valley bottoms have been logged, and 99% of the big old-growth Douglas fir.

“There’s an area we are pushing to have protected in the Nahmint Valley,” Watt said. “Some of the last strands of Douglas fir are [there].”

Manager of economic development for the city, Pat Deakin, said he isn’t aware of the old-growth conditions in Nahmint.

“Diversity is important,” he said. “But it’s not an end-all-be-all situation.”

The Coastal Douglas Fir ecosystem is considered to be among the top four most endangered ecosystems in Canada, along with the Tallgrass Prairie in Manitoba, the Carolinian Forest in southern Ontario, and the “Pocket Desert” near Osoyoos in southern B.C.

“We could go much further than this,” Watt added. “We are not against logging, we’re basically stating that we should be protecting endangered old growth forests where they are scarce.”

AFA also wants to focus on sustainable logging in second-growth forests, and a ban on raw log exports to create a value-added industry here.

“We’ve actually had a lot of forestry workers on our sides for those points,” Watt said.

The new protection was implemented by the Ministry of Forests and Range, the Integrated Land Management Bureau and Forest Minister Pat Bell.

Sending a message to Brookfield Asset Management on Bay Street, "Hands off BC’s last old growth trees."

Aug 12 2010/in News Coverage

The message is simple “Hands off the last of the Coastal Old Growth in BC”.

On Friday morning, Young “Avatars” (giant blue folk – like in the recent movie) will storm Bay Street in a flash mob protest against the logging of the last of the coastal old growth in BC. The protest has caught the eye of MTV and will be featured in an upcoming documentary on the hit show The Buried Life.

How do I know? My teenage son went out with a bunch of his friends, last Saturday, and talked with MTV about their horror at the possibility of seeing clear cuts replace miles of old and gorgeous forest, in areas where they’ve camped and kayaked since they were little kids.

Considerable disruption to the financial district is expected, as police may choose to close Bay Street over the midday due to the number of people expected to participate.

It may be a bad day for Brookfield Asset Management, as the media-shy mega-conglomerate comes into the spotlight for their plans to log the last remnants of our ancient forests. The parallel between the recent movie Avatar and the reality on the west coast is bringing activists together in what looks to be a sustained campaign against old growth logging.

The movement was started by the passionate commitment of one young woman to save her home from destruction, and now is drawing attention from far and wide. It is estimated that 99.5% of the Douglas Fir old growth has already been cut, but Brookfield still is gunning for the little that’s left over. That these precious trees mostly leave the country as raw log exports, means disaster to both the economy and ecology of places like Cortes Island, where Zoe Miles was born and has launched her epic quest for justice.

What: “Avatar” themed Old Growth Logging Protest filmed by MTV
on Bay Street

Where: Brookfield Asset Management’s Corporate Headquarters
181 Bay Street (just North of Front Street and Union Station)
Toronto

When: Friday August 13 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM
Press Conference at 11:30 AM