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Organise a Fundraiser for the Ancient Forest Alliance

Jul 18 2010/in Take Action

Organise a Fundraiser for the Ancient Forest Alliance

The ides of July has arrived and we are just two weeks away from our $30,000 July 31 fundraising deadline. The recent slew of highly successful community-organised benefits events has gone a long way toward our target, and it would be wonderful to maintain this level of momentum.

The Ancient Forest Alliance is working to build the strongest campaign on just a fraction of the funds typically used by the larger environmental groups. YOU can help us do exactly that by hosting a fundraiser for us!

Organise a simple fundraiser for us. This could include:

– Holding a yard sale/ garage sale.

– Selling your unneeded items on E-Bay or Craigslist and donating us the proceeds.

– Holding a benefit house party for us (charge a fee or by donation…)

To find out more, e-mail us at: info@ancientforestalliance.org

Google Earth Screen Shot - Vancouver Island

New Images of Massive Trees and Giant Stumps on Google Earth

Jul 18 2010/in Announcements

New Images of Massive Trees and Giant Stumps on Google Earth

Ancient forest campaigner and photographer TJ Watt has been steadily uploading new shots of BC’s biggest trees and most massive stumps to Google Earth, a popular global satellite-imaging program. This allows users around the world to view ancient forest photographs on both Google Earth and Google Maps.

Many of the areas the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) documents on Vancouver Island are quite remote; by tagging photos and providing GPS coordinates on Google Earth, the AFA is able make these magnificent, remote ecosystems accessible to viewers all over the world.

To view TJ’s images, visit the link to the Panoramio galley at: https://www.panoramio.com/user/3576104

To see them mapped visit: https://www.panoramio.com/map/?user=3576104

Keep visiting the image gallery! Great new photos will be added regularly.

Also, for those interested in doing some research of their own, Google Earth is a great way to familiarise yourself with BC’s landscape and to see what is truly happening down BC’s backroads. For a free download of the Google Earth program visit: https://earth.google.com/

MP Keith Martin wants to expand Pacific Rim park

Jul 14 2010/in News Coverage

The Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) is supporting Member of Parliament (Esquimalt- Juan de Fuca) Keith Martin’s proposal to extend Pacific Rim National Park Reserve’s boundaries to protect adjacent endangered forests, including the grandest stands of old-growth trees in Canada.

Recently Martin joined Ancient Forest Alliance activists TJ Watt and Brendan Harry on a guided tour through the spectacular Avatar Grove and a nearby clearcut filled with giant stumps near the national park reserve.

Last fall, Martin proposed to expand Pacific Rim National Park Reserve to protect threatened forest lands along the southwest coast of Vancouver Island, in part to protect former Western Forest Products lands by Jordan River and the Juan de Fuca Trail that were threatened by development due to their removal from Tree Farm License 25. While the Capital Regional District has recently purchased the lands by Jordan River and the Sooke Potholes, other forested areas with high conservation and recreation values remain threatened in the region, particularly old-growth forests on Crown lands near Port Renfrew and Crown and private lands adjacent to the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail Provincial Park. Martin has expressed an interest in including such areas in his proposal, which he intends to introduce as a private members bill in the House of Commons at a future legislative session.

“These trees are some of the oldest living creatures on our planet. Cutting them down provides a short term benefit and a much larger long term loss. Ethno-tourism and eco-tours would provide for long term jobs and economic security in this area that has suffered from chronically high unemployment. We are in a race against time to save these forest giants. I am asking the provincial and federal governments to work with the forestry companies to stop this destruction of our old growth forests in the Gordon River Valley, Upper Walbran and surrounding areas,” said Dr. Martin.

Located on unprotected Crown Lands less than a 15 minute drive from Port Renfrew, Avatar Grove is home to dozens of some of the South Island’s largest redcedars and Douglas firs, including several trees with trunks reaching over 12 feet in diameter.