Announcements

Hello AFA Supporters!

Looking forward to seeing you all at the upcoming AFA event!

SAVE our ANCIENT FORESTS and BC FORESTRY JOBS!  Pre-Election RALLY and INFO NIGHT!

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

7-9 pm

Alix Goolden Hall, 907 Pandora Ave. (by Quadra St), Victoria

Facebook event page (invite friends!)

YOUR ATTENDANCE is needed to SEND A STRONG MESSAGE to BC’s politicians one month before the BC election that it’s their MORAL OBLIGATION to commit to saving our endangered ancient forests and ensuring sustainable forestry! We will:

– See a NEW LEGISLATIVE PROPOSAL from UVic’s Environmental Law Clinic on how to protect BC’s old-growth forests.

– See NEW MAPS for Vancouver Island and BC’s Southwest Mainland that debunk the BC Liberal government’s PR-spin

– See the ELECTION REPORT CARD on old-growth forests from the Ancient Forest Alliance

– Hear about the SWING RIDING CAMPAIGN for Sustainable Forestry and how YOU can help!

SPEAKERS will include:

– Robert Morales (Chief Treaty Negotiator, Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group)

– Calvin Sandborn (Legal Director, University of Victoria Environmental Law Clinic)

– Vicky Husband (Victoria conservationist, Order of BC and Canada recipient)

– Scott Fraser (NDP MLA for Alberni-Pacific)

– Dr. Andrew Weaver (Deputy Leader, Green Party of BC, and climate scientist)

– Arnold Bercov (President, Pulp, and Woodworkers of Canada – Local 8

– TJ Watt (Campaigner and Photographer, Ancient Forest Alliance)

– Ken Wu (Executive Director, Ancient Forest Alliance)

Background info:

Ancient forests are vital to sustain endangered species, tourism, the climate, clean water, wild salmon, and many First Nations cultures. See VIDEOS at: https://16.52.162.165/photos-media/videos/ and PHOTOS at: https://16.52.162.165/photos-media/

A century of unsustainable logging has eliminated the vast majority of the biggest, best old-growth trees in the valley bottoms and lower elevations that historically built BC’s forest industry. This has resulted in diminishing returns as the trees get smaller, more expensive to reach higher up, and lower in value.

As second-growth forests mature and now dominate the forested land base, the BC government has done little to stimulate investment in second-growth sawmills and value-added facilities to process the logs. Instead, they’ve allowed vast quantities to be exported raw to foreign mills in China, the US, and elsewhere.

Much of BC’s remaining old-growth forests now consist of marginal or “low-productivity” trees growing on poor sites at high elevations, on steep, rocky mountainsides, and in bogs. The BC government’s statistics deliberately overinflate the amount of remaining old-growth forests by including these stunted “bonsai” forests – mainly uneconomic to log – in their public relations figures, as well as failing to provide context on how much old-growth forests once stood.

Our remaining “productive” old-growth forests where the large trees grow, or “ancient forests”, today consist of only a small fraction of their original extent. This is particularly true on Vancouver Island, the southern mainland coast, and in the BC interior.

On Vancouver Island, 75% of the original, productive old-growth forests have been logged, including over 90% of the valley bottoms where the largest trees grow.

The history of unsustainable resource extraction around the world is replete with examples where the biggest and best stocks have been depleted one after another, resulting in the loss of resource industry jobs
along the way.

BC’s politicians must not allow this familiar pattern of high-grade resource depletion, ecosystem collapse, and the impoverishment of rural communities to continue in BC’s forests under their watch – or through
their active support. A major change in the status quo of unsustainable forestry in the province is vital. Politicians who fail to understand this fundamental concept must not have power.

By Donation.

Organized by the Ancient Forest Alliance www.AncientForestAlliance.org

For more information call 250-896-4007.

Come on out this Saturday, March 23rd to Calhoun's Bakery, 3035 West Broadway, Vancouver, BC.

10:30 am – Meet fellow volunteers over a coffee and have a briefing on the issues and on what to do. Meet at Calhoun’s at 3035 West Broadway in Kitsilano, Vancouver

11:00 am -1:30 pm – Pair up and go Delivering Leaflets/ Door Canvassing/ Street Canvassing depending on individual preferences. Students and non-students all welcome!

Check out the Facebook page for this event at: https://www.facebook.com/events/233736906772955/

Join a team of environmentally-minded volunteers organized by the Ancient Forest Alliance and the UBC Ancient Forest Committee for a massive “info blitz” in Premier Christy Clark’s riding of Vancouver–Point Grey to help save ancient forests and ensure sustainable forestry jobs. 

Read more about this volunteer gathering below or on the Facebook event page: 

With only 2 months left before a provincial election in mid-May, BC’s politicians are highly sensitive to public opinion and pressure. NOW is the best time to get new environmental policy commitments from both the BC Liberal government and the NDP opposition who will likely form the next government.

We will first meet to introduce ourselves to each other, learn the key facts about old-growth forests and BC forest policy, and then learn about how to engage people in the riding by canvassing (or which streets to simply drop off leaflets into mailboxes, if you are more shy).

Once each person is clear and comfortable with what to do, we will then fan out across the riding in pairs to deliver leaflets and/or canvass residents door to door or on the streets (depending on each individual’s comfort level), informing thousands of local residents about the BC Liberal government’s (ie. Premier Christy Clark, in this riding) and the NDP opposition’s (represented by candidate David Eby in this riding) current position on old-growth logging and sustainable forestry.

Our main goals will be to raise large-scale awareness, to gather petition signatures, and to get as many local residents to write and phone Christy Clark and David Eby to save ancient forests and to end raw log exports.

With a group of two dozen volunteers we will be able to reach as many as 2000 households in a few hours!

BC’s old-growth forests are vital to sustain endangered species, the climate, tourism, clean water, wild salmon, and many First Nations cultures. Over 80% of the ancient forests in southern BC have been logged, while BC’s forestry jobs are being shipped off as raw logs to foreign mills. Read more info and sign the petition at ancientforestalliance.org/ways-to-take-action-for-forests/petition/ See spectacular photos of our ancient forests at: https://16.52.162.165/photos-media/

So far the BC Liberal government has been defending continued large-scale old-growth logging and raw log exports from the province, often citing highly misleading statistics to convey the false message that old-growth forests are not endangered. They must quickly veer away from promoting the destructive status quo, lest they are tarred with a legacy as the anti-environmental despoilers of Beautiful BC.

The NDP opposition has so far stayed silent on a previous commitment by leader Adrian Dix in 2011 during his bid to become party leader, where he stated that if elected, he would, “Develop a long term strategy for old growth forests in the Province, including protection of specific areas that are facing immediate logging plans”. They must be pushed to fulfill this promise and develop it further to include substantive details that will fundamentally alter the status quo of old-growth liquidation. See:
[Original article no longer available]

Thank you for taking a stand for our Ancient Forests and BC Jobs!

For more info contact Ken Wu or Hannah Carpendale at the Ancient Forest Alliance at info@16.52.162.165 or Cori, Parker, or Laura of the UBC Ancient Forest Committee at ubc.afc@gmail.com  

Environmentalists are rejoicing today after the BC Liberal government backed down from its plans to pass enabling legislation to give greater property rights for major logging companies in British Columbia by expanding Tree Farm Licences (TFL’s). Earlier today Forests Minister committed to delete Section 24, the so-called “Forest Giveaway Bill”, from Bill 8, an omnibus bill of miscellaneous statute amendments, after facing huge pressure from concerned citizens through a campaign spearheaded by Independent MLA Bob Simpson and BC environmental organizations. The deletion will occur tomorrow during the committee stage of Bill 8. See MLA Bob Simpson’s media release at: https://www.bobsimpsonmla.ca/independent-mla-calls-for-public-inquiry-into-forest-policy/

“This is good news! The BC Liberals wanted to give a ‘parting gift’ to the major logging companies before they leave office, but in this politically sensitive pre-election period that’s not going to happen now – thanks to thousands of people who spoke up and the great work of Independent MLA Bob Simpson. Simpson was the ‘central clearing house’ for the campaign, providing the main insights for concerned citizens on the government’s proposal, and acting as a battering ram against the proposal from within the legislature. He has clearly demonstrated the power that one determined, independent thinker and politician can be,” stated Ken Wu, executive director of the Ancient Forest Alliance. “Time and time again, British Columbians have spoken up en masse to keep public lands in public hands every time a large scale forest privatization scheme like this has reared its ugly head through successive governments.”

The BC Liberals received thousands of emails in recent weeks, including over 3200 messages from Ancient Forest Alliance supporters through its website www.BCForestMovement.com, protesting the proposal since the government introduced Bill 8 on February 20. In addition, over 1200 people have already pre-confirmed their attendance for this Saturday’s rally for sustainable forestry (12:00 noon, Legislative buildings) being planned by the Ancient Forest Alliance in Victoria, which was originally going to include a focus against the “Forest Giveaway Bill” – but now no longer has to.

The TFL expansion bill would have gone through its second reading today, and would have empowered the Minister of Forests to allow major forest companies to convert their “volume-based” logging rights (ie. in cubic metres) into “area-based” licences or Tree Farm Licences in defined areas tens or hundreds of thousands of hectares in size.

Opponents of the plan argued that increasing private property rights for major logging companies on Crown lands would make it harder to protect forests for wildlife, recreation and scenery; make First Nations treaty settlement more difficult, lengthy and expensive; entrench the overcutting already occurring at the expense of the long term viability of local communities; and diminish the land base available for community forestry and other tenures.

“The Forest Giveaway Bill would have taken us backwards. Now we need to move forward, as the status quo is still highly unsustainable for jobs and the environment. We need to get commitments from both the BC Liberal government and the NDP opposition for strong legislation to protect our endangered old-growth forests, ensure sustainable, value-added second-growth forestry, and to end the export of raw logs to foreign mills,” stated Wu.

Background Info

A Tree Farm Licence (TFL) is a defined geographic area that is tens or hundreds of thousands of hectares in size that confers exclusive logging rights to one logging company on Crown (public) lands. TFL’s currently constitute a minor fraction of BC’s land base, perhaps about 10% of the geographic area and about 20% of the cut. Most of the province’s forests are found in Timber Supply Areas (TSA’s) where no specific geographic area is granted to companies for exclusive logging rights – instead they are given a volume of wood (in cubic meters) through a Forest Licence (FL) that they are allowed to cut within each massive TSA each year in cutblocks planned by the Forest Service.

See the Ancient Forest Alliance’s original media release on the BC Liberal government’s TFL expansion proposal at: See the AFA’s original media release at: https://16.52.162.165/media-release-pine-beetle-used-as-trojan-horse-to-increase-privatization-of-bcs-forests-through-ministerial-fiat-instead-of-democratic-legislative-vote/

The Ancient Forest Alliance is calling on BC’s politicians to commit to:

– A provincial Old-Growth Strategy that will protect the province’s endangered old-growth forests.
– Ensure the sustainable logging of second-growth forests, which now constitute most of BC’s productive forest lands.
– End the export of raw logs to foreign mills.
– Support the retooling of coastal old-growth mills and the development of value-added wood processing facilities to handle second-growth logs.

BC’s old-growth forests are vital to support endangered species, tourism, the climate, clean water, wild salmon, and many First Nations cultures. On Vancouver Island, satellite photos show that about 75% of the original, productive old-growth forests have already been logged, including 90% of the valley-bottom ancient forests where the largest trees grow and most biodiversity resides. Only about 10% of Vancouver Island’s original, productive old-growth forests are protected in parks and Old-Growth Management Areas (OGMA’s). See: https://16.52.162.165/ancient-forests/before-after-old-growth-maps/

So far the BC Liberal government has been defending continued, large-scale old-growth logging and raw log exports in the province, often citing highly misleading statistics to convey the false message that old-growth forests are not endangered.

The NDP opposition has so far stayed silent on a previous commitment by leader Adrian Dix in 2011 during his leadership bid that he would, “Develop a long term strategy for old growth forests in the Province, including protection of specific areas that are facing immediate logging plans” if elected. See:
[Original article no longer available]

See spectacular old-growth forest photos at: https://16.52.162.165/photos-media/
and videos at: https://16.52.162.165/photos-media/videos/