Oct 23 2016

Chinese-Language Ancient Forest Tours – Training for Educators Begins in Stanley Park

Today the Ancient Forest Alliance (www.AncientForestAlliance.org), the Hua Foundation (www.HuaFoundation.org) and the Stanley Park Ecology Society (www.StanleyParkEcology.ca) launched a new educational program that will eventually target the half a million Chinese-speakers in the Lower Mainland about the ecology and conservation of BC's old-growth forests. The organizations held their first "training for educational tour guides", volunteers who are interested in potentially leading old-growth nature walks in Mandarin or Cantonese, in Stanley Park. The Ancient Forest Alliance's Ken Wu and the Hua Foundation's Kevin Huang guided the dozen volunteers along some of the most spectacular old-growth trails in the park, the Tatlow and Lovers Trails where 14 feet wide, 800 year old redcedars still stand, and explained in English about the plants, animals, ecology, and related conservation issues regarding old-growth forests in British Columbia. The specialized terminology will subsequently be translated by skilled volunteers into Chinese for the participants to study. As there are half a million people in the Lower Mainland who identify their mother tongue as Chinese, this program aims to help raise the awareness and level of engagement of a major segment of BC's population on the ecology and conservation needs of old-growth forests. At a future date to be announced, once there is a trained core of nature guides, there will be public tours in Mandarin and Cantonese in the old-growth forests of Stanley Park and potentially in the Walbran Valley, Avatar Grove, Eden Grove, and Echo Lake Ancient forests. If you can speak Mandarin or Cantonese and would like to participate in this program, please contact Ken Wu at info@15.222.63.112

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Oct 23 2016

Avatar Grove Boardwalk Damaged by Winter Storm – Lower Grove Closed for Now

Last weekend's hurricane-force winds in Port Renfrew resulted in at least 30 trees (luckily none of the spectacular giants) crashing down over the Avatar Grove trail in the Lower Grove, damaging sections of the boardwalk (see photos HERE). This is unfortunate, as the Ancient Forest Alliance had literally just completed the boardwalk a week before after 3 years of hard work and was about to hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony to launch its completion. We now have to clear the trail and fix the boardwalk, steps, and platforms in the Lower Grove before we re-open it, which will take several months given the wet winter weather that is descending upon us. For now the Upper Avatar Grove remains open. Thank you for your patience and your support! We look forward to launching the fixed and completed boardwalk in the spring!

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Oct 22 2016
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Thank You to Sitka!

Thank you to Sitka (https://sitka.ca/) for raising $4000 for the AFA to construct our Avatar Grove boardwalk. We are most grateful for their generous help in making this project a reality!

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Oct 10 2016
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Thank You to Joshua Wright!

Thank you to 13-year-old Joshua Wright, one of our great young donors, who has raised $350 for the AFA through the sale of his drawings. Joshua came to support our Avatar Boardwalk construction efforts in late September. We are SO grateful for conscious young people who also take action to make the world a better place. Thank you Joshua!

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Oct 4 2016

Avatar Grove Boardwalk Construction – Sept 2016

See the photo gallery of the latest boardwalk construction at the Avatar Grove! We've made some major improvements thanks to the help of dedicated volunteers and all those who've donated!

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Oct 3 2016
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Thank You to Gavin Wright!

Thank you to 9 year old Gavin Wright, who collected donations at his lemonaide stand for the Ancient Forest Alliance! He showed up to present his batch of donations to us after the film screening of Hadwin's Judgement. We're most grateful to Gavin for his initiative to help our organization and campaigns!

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Oct 3 2016
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Hadwin’s Judgement Screening – THANK YOU!

Last night almost 600 people showed up for the benefit screenings in Victoria of Hadwin's Judgement, based on John Vaillant's book The Golden Spruce, for the Ancient Forest Alliance! Thanks to all of you who came out and to producer Elizabeth Yake, author John Vaillant, the Cinecenta theatre, and the volunteers who made such a successful night for our organization and cause!

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Sep 22 2016

VICTORIA: Hadwin’s Judgement – Film Screening Fundraiser for the Ancient Forest Alliance! Sept. 29

WHEN: Thursday September 29th, showings at 7pm and 9:15pm WHERE: UVic Cinecenta Theatre (UVic Student Union Building, 3800 Finnerty Rd. – see MAP) TICKETS: $15 (or $9 for students) - purchase tickets in advance here or at the door (box office opens 40 min before each showtime)

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Sep 17 2016

‘Twist and Shout’ Forest Under Threat

Check out the website of the Sunshine Coast (Roberts Creek area) based conservation group the Elphinstone Logging Focus who are working to achieve a 2000 hectare expansion to the protected area on Mount Elphinstone. BC Timber Sales has given the go ahead to log the 'Twist and Shout' forest within the proposal, which includes numerous veteran old-growth Douglas-firs and redcedars, and local activists have been non-violently protesting there for weeks. See a comprehensive list of updates and coverage and events and how to take action on the "Twist and Shout" section of their website at: https://www.loggingfocus.org/campaigns/protect-the-twist-and-shout-forest/ And check out some great photos of the forest there by Shel Neufeld: https://www.facebook.com/shel.n.neufeld/posts/10154336717750155?pnref=story

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Aug 21 2016

Scarves for Sustainability Fundraiser – NOW until August 31st!

From now until August 31st, you can support the AFA by purchasing a scarf through the Scarves for Sustainability initiative at https://scarvesforsustainability.com! Scarves for Sustainability is a project that emerged from the Royal Roads University BCom program with the mission of helping to protect old-growth forests in BC. Scarves for Sustainability sells light, high quality custom silk scarves printed with images of BC’s protected old-growth forests, visible on both sides of the scarf. Through this initiative, they will be donating 100% of the profit from the sale of the scarves to the Ancient Forest Alliance to support our work to protect BC’s endangered old-growth forests! Thank you to Angeline Arsenault, Darren Chan, Maria Fadda, Myles Cook and Nicole Melanson, the creators of the Scarves for Sustainability initiative, for your generous vision and creative support!  

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