Master stylist

Thank you to Seventh Heaven Bio Salon Fundraiser!

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Thanks to Seventh Heaven Bio Salon in co-operation with Green Circle Salons for their “Haircuts not Clearcuts” fundraiser for the Ancient Forest Alliance this past Sunday, August 4th, at the Spirit of the Sea Festival in White Rock!

Entertaining, educational and hair enhancing master stylist, Champ Waterhouse, dressed as a cowboy, was a scissor slinging, straight cutter raising funds and awareness for AFA, with the ‘clearcut’ hair being re-purposed for such uses as oil spill cleanup.

For more information about Seventh Heaven and their evolution for healthy beauty, visit www.seventhheavenbiosalon.com

Avatar Grove: the Extraordinary and the Ordinary

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A scant 10 minute walk off a logging road near the BC’s West Coast town of Port Renfrew is Avatar Grove, a stand of old cedars so majestic, powerful and gnarled that T. F. Watt said he and his colleagues from the Ancient Forest Alliance “were running around like kids in a candy story” when they found it in 2009. (Globe & Mail, July 23/11).

Watt, along with the co-founder of the Ancient Forest Alliance, Ken Wu, had been searching for just such an iconic stand of trees, one that would dramatize and catalyze enough awareness of old-growth forests to prevent further logging of the tiny remnant that still exists on southern Vancouver Island. Avatar Grove, as this stand was named, just might accomplish such an ambitious feat. Indeed, the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce, the BC Ministry of Forests and the company that had the right to log Avatar Grove, Teal Cedar Products Ltd, all concurred that the stand was so sensational that it should be protected.

But it nearly wasn’t. Watt and Wu found a cluster of 20 huge stumps nearby that had been logged the year before. These 900 yearold cedars may have been even more spectacular than the standing trees that were saved. “This would have surpassed Avatar Grove in grandeur – had we found it in time,” said Wu. And shortly after Watt found Avatar Grove, timber cruisers surveyed it for logging, hanging the ominous ribbons of plastic tape that marked a cutting boundary. After 1,000 years of growing, Avatar Grove came within a hair’s breadth of the chainsaw’s bite.

Given the awesome character of Avatar Grove, who cut down the neighbouring trees? What were the fallers thinking as the teeth of their chainsaws bit into millennium-old wood? What thoughts were passing through the minds of the timber cruisers who flagged Avatar Grove for a similar fate? Are “pieces of silver” so numbing of perception and so corrupting of judgment that people simply do not notice or recognize the miraculous when it is manifest? In another time under different circumstances the only appropriate answer to these questions would have been, “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Because the trees in Avatar Grove awaken in us the sense of sacred that we do not usually possess, the work of environmentalists such as T.J. Watt and Ken Wu should qualify them as modern-day saints – a status they would probably reject. With their seeing and their conviction, with their dedication and passion, they open the eyes of the blind, bringing illuminating light into a place of dull darkness. They reveal the evident, proclaim the unmistakable, connect us to a wondrous obvious of which we were previously ignorant. What else explains why some trees are felled and others are saved? Whether or not a crucifixion occurs merely depends on the difference between recognizing or not recognizing, between awareness and unawareness.

Show people and they will see. The tourists who now flock to gaze at the massive trees of Avatar Grove are not so much tourists as pilgrims coming to enter the awe of something bigger and older than themselves, something that communes with the slow passage of eon and transcends the limits of self. These pilgrims are doing the same when they flock to such revered places as Banff, Jasper, the wild trails of Strathcona, or to any seashore, lake, mountain, river, valley or forest. Something primal and timeless lures them out of themselves and connects them to a mystery that is greater than anything they can possess, control or understand.

Saints awaken us to such awareness. They make pilgrims of us all. They show us the extraordinary so we will find it in the ordinary. If we are perceptive enough, we can learn to find the miraculous in any tree, any fish, any frog or any blade of grass. The ordinary is no less amazing than the extraordinary. If we are attentive enough, if we are open and receptive enough, every part of nature becomes a wonder that will reduce the greatest of our explanations to an awestruck silence.

No one can understand the utter magic pervading any of the living things that surround us. They are profound because they give context, companionship and meaning to our very existence – the outside of us that enters the inside of us through the miracle of awareness. Then a special stand of trees may infuse us with a moment by-moment sense of magic.

But a pilgrimage does not have to be a physical journey to Avatar Grove. Every time we watch a nature documentary we are paying vicarious homage to the life forces that permeate our planet. Such programs amaze us with the living vigour of reefs, tundra, grasslands, plains, jungles, and all the plants and creatures than enliven them with incredible and diverse vitality – a living planet that we are despoiling and diminishing with an astonishingly blind enthusiasm.

As the Canadian media guru, Marshall McLuhan, so wisely noted, we move through the present looking through a rear-view mirror at what is behind us – we don’t see what is, we only see what is past, where we have been and what we are losing. This principle applies with profound irony when we consider our current fascination with all the myriad wonders of nature that we revere through documentaries and pilgrimages. Just as we are celebrating and learning of nature’s incredible complexity and intricacy, our industrial exploitation is destroying them with alarming zeal.

This is why Avatar Grove is so important, why Watt and Wu were so invigorated by hope. This small stand of glorious trees is a signal, an icon, a symbol, a sign of what remains that we must not lose. It is a warning announcing that innumerable treasures are slipping into an irretrievable past. But Avatar Grove is also a promise and an awakening, if we can understand its deeper meaning. By honouring the extraordinary, perhaps we can learn to protect the ordinary.

Re-printed in the Island Courier:  https://www.courierislander.com/news/avatar-grove-the-extraordinary-and-the-ordinary-1.133466

Province has until Thursday to buy Quadra Island park land with community-raised funds

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Years of planning and fundraising for a new Quadra Island provincial park could be lost Thursday if the B.C. government fails to hit a deadline to purchase the private land.

The government has until 3 p.m. Thursday to submit a bid to buy 395 hectares of waterfront property for sale by forest company Merrill & Ring, based in Washington state.

Quadra Island’s roughly 3,000 full-time residents have led a charge to raise more than $200,000, to try to push the province into action to save the property from logging or development.

The pristine land links Octopus Islands and Small Inlet provincial parks on the north end of Quadra Island, east of Campbell River. It’s a popular location for eco-tourism and has been targeted for a park for more than 16 years.

The government entered into a conditional agreement with Merrill & Ring in 2012, which involved $6.15 million in cash and land transfers. But after a series of missed deadlines, the forest company said it has moved on to numerous other bidders.

“We’ve had good negotiations and conversations with the government,” said Norm Schaaf, vice-president of Merrill & Ring’s Timberlands branch.

“It was disappointing that we were unable to reach the completion of this deal, after several years of working on it and feeling we were pretty close. We were all disappointed, government and us. We don’t hold any ill feelings, that way. It’s just one of those things.”

It’s still possible the province could step in with a bid before Thursday, Schaaf said. After that, the forest company will work on completing purchase and sale agreements with another bidder, he said

Environment Minister Mary Polak said that despite delays, the government is “absolutely committed to doing it.”

The province needs to find roughly $2 million to afford the purchase, Polak said.

“We don’t want to see the opportunity slip through our fingers,” she said.

“To be able to make that connection between the two existing parks would be fantastic. But at the end of the day, these things still cost money, and we need to find ways to do that.

“There aren’t any ministries walking around with $2 million to spare.”

Polak admitted it’s unlikely the government will meet Thursday’s deadline.

“Not all hope is lost because the deadline passes,” she said. The province is “exploring other means” to close the deal, and Polak said she’s been inspired by the “amazing” fundraising efforts of the community.

Local residents and politicians remain worried the land could be sold to someone else.

“We’ve been keeping our fingers crossed for months and months,” said Susan Westren, of the Quadra Island Conservancy and Stewardship Society, which has spearheaded the Save the Heart of Quadra Parks fundraising campaign.

The Strathcona Regional District, which has pledged an additional $100,000 toward the park purchase, wrote Merrill & Ring to ask for an extension.

“It’s getting kind of panicky,” said Jim Abram, the Quadra Island regional director.

“I think it’d be kind of silly for Merrill & Ring to throw the deal out at this point. We’re very close.”

North Island NDP MLA Claire Trevena said the government should restore its annual parks acquisition budget, so it could accommodate purchases like this in the future.

Trevena said she’s hopeful the government can work out a deal.

“There’s been so much work, for so long, it would be extraordinarily sad for the community and the province if we lost it.”

Read more:  https://www.timescolonist.com/province-has-until-thursday-to-buy-quadra-island-park-land-with-community-raised-funds-1.565557


 

Cougar den may have been lost to logging, Port Alberni man says

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An avid, amateur cougar enthusiast in Port Alberni fears that logging on the Alberni Hump has destroyed a cougar den used by generations of the big cats.

“Island Timberlands has built a road right up to it, and there’s flagging tape right at the entrance,” said Ray McLellan, who has tracked and watched cougars at the small cave since he was growing up in Port Alberni in the 1970s.

“Now the last little section on top of the hump has been logged. They could have left a nice buffer around it,” said McLellan, whose father was a cougar hunter.

The area was logged last summer, but McLellan hoped the cougars would return to their traditional safe cave — a cut in the rocks that goes back six metres and is about 45 centimetres high.

However, there has been no sign of them, McLellan said. Before the logging started, he had bought a trail camera that he planned to hang in front of the den.

“They won’t put up with this amount of disturbance. They need peace and quiet,” McLellan said.

“These animals would usually take refuge in the Cameron River canyon, but that has been clearcut too. These cougars are now displaced,” he said.

One fear is that the animals could cut along Roger Creek and Dry Creek Park and head into Port Alberni, he said.

“And bad things happen when they hang around town too much.”

Island Timberlands spokeswoman Morgan Kennah said the company was not aware that there was a cougar den in the area.

“If a noticeable den was discovered in timber at any stage of our planning, we would map the location and plan activities around the area accordingly,” she said.

“We have a bear den identified in this area which was protected with adjacent tree retention.”

Usually cougars den in escarpments and rock bluffs that are not conducive to harvesting trees, Kennah said,

No more logging is planned around the Alberni Hump for now, she said.

“Our near-term harvest plans in this area were complete this past winter.”

A Forests Ministry spokesman said Island Timberlands has to abide by the Private Managed Forest Land Act and protect critical wildlife habitat, but cougars are not considered a species at risk.

The provincial government estimates, from a 2010 survey, that there are between 400 and 600 cougars on Vancouver Island and the population is on the upswing.

The cougar population estimate provincewide is between 5,100 and 7,000 animals.

McLellan said it is likely the den had been used by cougars for hundreds of years.

“There have been five generations of animals since I found it in the mid-’70s,” he said.

“When one lot disappears, their place is almost invariably taken by a big male, and that tells me it is prime habitat,” he said.

Read more: https://www.timescolonist.com/cougar-den-may-have-been-lost-to-logging-port-alberni-man-says-1.565546

Master stylist

Salon cuts hair in support of endangered forests

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Time for a haircut?

If you can stave it off until Sunday (Aug. 4), you can get a cut from noted Vancouver master stylist Champ Waterhouse at the Spirit of the Sea Festival – and help protect endangered old-growth forests in B.C. in the bargain.

‘Haircuts – Not Clearcuts’ will be the theme of a special booth on White Rock’s East Beach; the latest event organized by Crescent Beach’s arts, environment and community-friendly Seventh Heaven Bio Salon.

Owner Chloe Scarf said it’s a chance to make an environmental statement and be introduced to the the latest member of her team, the cowboy-hat-wearing, six-shooter blow-dryer-wielding Waterhouse.

Half the proceeds of the regularly-priced cuts will be donated to the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA), an environmental non-profit working not only to protect old-growth forests but to ensure sustainable forestry in the province.

Scarf said it will the salon’s second consecutive year participating in the festival’s celebratory atmosphere, while also helping people learn something about protecting old-growth forests. The AFA’s Hannah Carpendale will also be on site to hand out information and answer questions, she added.

Extra entertainment value will be added by Waterhouse’s sense of style and fun, she said.

“Champ’s a really, really skilled haircutter,” she commented, noting that he joined forces with Seventh Heaven about a month ago, a serendipitous alignment that coincided with Waterhouse’s desire for a change of pace following years of working at high-end Vancouver salons.

“We worked together for years on Commercial Drive,” she said. “It’s very hard to find his calibre of stylist.”

Scarf said the pseudo-cowboy outfit was Waterhouse’s own idea, shortly after he came on board at Seventh Heaven.

“Don’t ask me where he got the 1800s pistol blow dryer from,” she said, laughing. “He’s a true creative and a technician – and he’s really a character.”

“I’m totally excited about Haircuts Not Clearcuts,” Waterhouse said. “I’ve done lots of things like this in the past for different causes.”

He said he has been enjoying getting to know the White Rock and South Surrey clientele over the last month.

“It’s totally different from working in Vancouver – much more laid back,” he said.

Although ‘Haircuts Not Clearcuts’ makes an eye-catching hook, Carpendale said the organization is about more than fighting clearcuts in endangered old-growth forests, such as those on Vancouver Island, in the southwest mainland and in the southern interior.

“There is so little old-growth left at this point in some areas that any commercial practice of logging endangered old-growth (whether clearcut or other) will have a huge ecological impact…protecting (the forests) could also include restrictions on other logging practices than just clearcuts,” she said.

The organization is also working to ensure that second-growth forests are logged at a sustainable rate, she said.

Read more: https://www.peacearchnews.com/community/salon-cuts-hair-in-support-of-endangered-forests/

 

HAIRCUTS, NOT CLEARCUTS. Sunday, Aug. 4th

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You are invited to participate in saving BC’s Endangered Old-Growth Forests:
Have your hair cut with master stylist Champ Waterhouse at Seventh Heaven’s booth at the Spirit of the Sea Festival on East Beach in White Rock BC, Sunday August 4. Half of the proceeds will be donated to Ancient Forest Alliance!
The hair will be collected from the event and all clippings will be repurposed by *Green Circle Salons.
*Green Circle Salons is proud to partner with Seventh Heaven Bio Salon Ltd. in the ‘Haircuts’ not Clearcuts initiative at the Spirit of the Sea Festival on East Beach in White Rock BC. All hair clippings will be re-purposed for such uses as oil spill cleanup.
See more about our Canadian community of green-minded salons at www.greencirclesalons.ca
Seventh Heaven sponsors collective causes in the community while continuing to promote healthy beauty on the peninsula since 2008.
Seventh Heaven Hair Gallery and Bio Salon Ltd.
12185 Beecher Street Crescent Beach BC
www.seventhheavenbiosalon.com
778 292-0687
All-star naturalists Darren and Claudia Copley chatting with folks at the the giant bigleaf maple tree near the start of last year's walk at Royal Roads University.

Mon. July 22, Greater Victoria’s Finest Ancient Forest Walk! Fundraiser

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Nature Walk and Fundraiser for the Ancient Forest Alliance with Victoria Natural History Society president Darren Copley and Royal BC Museum collections manager Claudia Copley, and with the Ancient Forest Alliance’s Ken Wu and TJ Watt through the Spectacular ROYAL ROADS ANCIENT FOREST!

  • Date: Monday, July 22nd
  • Time: 7:00pm – 8:30pm (please arrive early if you can)
  • Difficulty Level: EASY-MODERATE
  • Location: Meet at Royal Roads University Cedar Building (*Note that parking is $1/hour)
  • Suggested Donation: $10 to $100
  • Facebook Event Page: www.facebook.com/events/675339812482564/

Dogs must be leashed at all times.

Did you know that one of the most spectacular old-growth forests around is at Royal Roads University by Victoria? We often seek grandeur far away from where we live – but the ancient forests of Royal Roads are among the most magnificent in existence, one of the largest tracts left within the extremely endangered Coastal Douglas Fir ecosystem (only 1% of this ecosystem remains as old-growth). Surprisingly, while many people have visited the Hatley Castle (where X-Men was filmed) few people have actually hiked through the incredible ancient forests around the university.

Join president of the Victoria Natural History Society Darren Copley (and former Goldstream Nature Centre chief interpreter) and Royal BC Museum entomology collections manager and naturalist Claudia Copley to learn about the tremendous diversity of plants, birds, trees, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, insects, and other creatures living in this incredible ancient forest. The Ancient Forest Alliance’s Ken Wu and TJ Watt will speak about the Ancient Forest Alliance’s campaign to protect the remaining endangered forests in BC.

We will walk through spectacular ancient redcedars, grand firs and Douglas firs, including visiting the 2nd largest Douglas fir tree in Greater Victoria (10 feet wide!), see some mind-blowing huge bigleaf maples and an enormous forked yew tree, and be done by 8:30 pm. You will not be disappointed!

***This event is a fundraiser for the Ancient Forest Alliance which is in need of funding to continue its vital campaigns to protect BC’s ancient forests and forestry jobs and to build a boardwalk in the Avatar Grove.

Bring friends and family!

If possible, please email us at info@16.52.162.165 so we can get a sense of our numbers.

Hikers walk through the Avatar Grove during last year's Biodiversity Hike.

Hike at Avatar Grove – Boardwalk Fundraiser! Sunday, July 21st.

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Join Darren Copley, Victoria Natural History Society president, and Claudia Copley, Royal BC Museum entomology collections manager, BC spider expert Dr. Robb Bennett, and Ancient Forest Alliance organizers Ken Wu and TJ Watt on Sunday, July 21st for a fantastic forest hike. You’ll learn about the plants and wildlife of our old-growth forests, see the progress of the boardwalk so far and find out how you can help support the completion of this important project!

PLEASE carefully read all the info below!

  • TIME & PLACE: Meet 1:30 pm in Port Renfrew at the Coastal Kitchen Cafe after which time we’ll drive in a convoy to the Avatar Grove. We will hike from 2:30-4:30pm
  • NOTE – When you arrive, please park alongside the road opposite the cafe so we leave room in the main parking lot for regular customers. Thank you!
  • COST: SLIDING SCALE – $20 to $100 per individual (children are free)
  • MAP: Printable Tall Tree Tour map of Port Renfrew: https://bit.ly/ZoLgew

Funds from this hike will go towards expanding the boardwalk project in the Avatar Grove! Construction has already begun and the trail improvements are remarkable but more work is still needed many areas! A boardwalk is essential to help protect the forests’ ecological integrity and enhance visitor access and safety. For $100 you can sponsor a 1 metre section of the trail.

Donations can be made securely online at: www.ancientforestalliance.org/boardwalk-donation.php
By credit card over the phone at: 250.896.4007
Or in person at the hike!

What can you expect from the trip?

– To see some of the largest and strangest looking trees in BC, including “Canada’s Gnarliest Tree”!
– To learn to identify some of the common rainforest trees and plants.
– To learn about the wildlife
– To meet great new people and have an AWESOME TIME!

THINGS TO KNOW:

* Only those with moderate hiking abilities and who are comfortable on semi-rugged terrain, with a firm sense of balance, can attend this hike.
* All participants will be required to sign a waiver form.
* Participants must bring their own water, rain gear, hiking boots and wonderful attitude!
* Dogs must remain on a leash at all times – they can disturb wildlife including bears, elk, deer, cougars, wolves, raccoons, mink, and Sasquatch in the area.
* Be sure to support the local community by spending your dollars in Port Renfrew and Sooke!
* Be sure to fuel up in Sooke. Gas is only available at the Port Renfrew Marina from 9-5pm.
* This event is a fundraiser for the Ancient Forest Alliance which is in need of funding to build an Avatar Grove boardwalk and to continue its vital campaigns to protect BC’s ancient forests and forestry jobs.

If you can, please email us at info@16.52.162.165 to let us know how many of you are coming so we can get a sense of our numbers.

AFA's photographer TJ Watt takes a shot of "Canada's Gnarliest Tree" in the Upper Avatar Grove

Avatar Grove: Seeing the forest for the ancient trees

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From the logging road just outside Port Renfrew, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, there is no obvious sign that you are in the presence of megaflora.

But a small sign announcing the Avatar Grove trailhead and a few vehicles pulled over onto the dusty margin of the road make it clear this is the place to encounter ancient life.

The forest, with its thousand different shades of green, doesn’t look any different from others anywhere else on the West Coast – except for the grey spires you can see poking above the canopy. These are what are known as candelabra tops and they signify the presence of really old cedars.

It was those weathered tips that caught the attention of T.J. Watt, a member of the Ancient Forest Alliance, a few years ago as he was ending a search for old trees. He had been crisscrossing Vancouver Island without much luck – and didn’t expect to find it so close to a logging town.

“I didn’t think there could possibly be big trees that close to Port Renfrew,” he recalled.

But he pulled over to explore anyway, stopping pretty much in the same place that thousands of tourists now do. He didn’t go far off the road before he was forced to a halt, tilt back his head and say: “Wow.”

Along the Gordon River, in moist, hilly terrain, is a cluster of giant old fir and cedar trees that somehow escaped the woodsman’s axe during the past century of logging.

Shortly after that discovery, Mr. Watt and Ken Wu, the director of the Ancient Forest Alliance, started a campaign to save the trees, branding it Avatar Grove after the James Cameron science fiction movie, Avatar, that was then drawing huge crowds and which features a massive “Hometree” on the planet Pandora.

After a brief, intense campaign the environmental activists persuaded the provincial government to set the area aside from logging – and not long after that the first tree tourists started to arrive.

Mr. Wu said so many people have come that his group, together with the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce, has now started to build a boardwalk system to protect the tree roots and make hiking around the trees easier.

“There’s a steady stream of tourists going in there,” said a delighted Mr. Wu recently. “Actually a lot of them are coming from around the world now … It’s become the second Cathedral Grove of British Columbia,” he said.

Cathedral Grove, on the road to Port Alberni, was made into a park in 1944, at a time when there were still substantial amounts of old-growth forest left on the island.

By the time Mr. Watt laid eyes on Avatar Grove, about 90 per cent of Vancouver Island’s old growth had been logged.

Mr. Wu said he’s not surprised the increasingly rare old-growth trees have become a major tourist attraction for Port Renfrew.

“There’s so little of this lowland, monumental forest left,” said Mr. Wu. “Luckily, as a result of massive public pressure, this area was saved. It’s one of the finest groves of old growth in B.C. … and it is generating hundreds of thousands of dollars for the local economy each year.”

Jon Cash, a director of Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce and owner of Soule Creek Lodge, said the economic impact of the trees isn’t something environmentalists have dreamed up.

“It’s definitely boosted tourism,” he said. “There’s been thousands and thousands of people going there.”

Mr. Cash said Port Renfrew is a tough town to market because it is a long way off the beaten tourism path that runs through Victoria.

But he said word of Avatar Grove has spread around the world.

“I’ve probably realized tens of thousands of dollars of overnight stays just from people coming up to see the trees,” he said.

A rough trail winds through the grove and although it is a short walk, it probably should be rated as an “intermediate” rather than an easy hike.

But it’s worth it – if you want to be in a grove of trees that was standing there long before Captain Cook sailed along what is now the coast of B.C.

Globe and Mail online article: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/avatar-grove-seeing-the-forest-for-the-ancient-trees/article13214516/

AFA's Ken Wu with a giant old-growth Douglas-fir tree in Stanley Park.

Stanley Park Old-Growth Forest Walk and Fundraiser! July 25th, 7:00-8:30pm

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Join the Ancient Forest Alliance's Ken Wu, TJ Watt, and Hannah Carpendale for a guided nature walk to some of the largest old-growth redcedars, Douglas-firs, grand firs, and bigleaf maples left in the Lower Mainland! Learn about the ecology, plants, and animals that inhabit this forest.

Many people don't realize that within Stanley Park are some of the finest remnant old-growth stands and trees on the southern mainland coast of BC, with diameters of some redcedars exceeding 13 feet and a bigleaf maple over 10 feet wide. While partly disturbed by invasive species and human activity, most of the native plant species still survive in the park, and the park is also home to many species of wildlife.

This hike is a fundraiser for the Ancient Forest Alliance, which is working to build a boardwalk in the Avatar Grove on Vancouver Island and is working to achieve comprehensive provincial legislation to protect the endangered old-growth forests across BC.

Find out how you can help our public education and mobilization campaigns to protect ancient forests and ensure sustainable second-growth forestry jobs!

Suggested donation $10 to $100