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New Old-Growth Clearcut Mars the Scenery from the Popular Gordon River Bridge at Avatar Grove

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Before-and-After Photos Reveal Logging Destruction on Edinburgh Mountain, a “Hotspot” of Exceptional Old-Growth Forest near Port Renfrew

Port Renfrew, BC – Old-growth clearcutting approved by the NDP government has now marred the scenic view from the popular bridge over the Gordon River by the Avatar Grove, one of the most popular nature tourism destinations in BC. Before-and-after images taken by conservationists with the Ancient Forest Alliance highlight the destructive impacts of recent clearcut logging by the Teal Jones Group on Edinburgh Mountain, a “hotspot” of high conservation, scenic, and recreational value near Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island. The photos, taken before logging commenced and then after most of the clearcutting was completed, reveal the felling of exceptional ancient forest, including giant redcedars and rare, ancient Douglas-fir trees within a 15.6 hectare cutblock.

“These images provide a glimpse into the shocking situation that’s playing out all over BC’s south coast,” stated Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner and photographer TJ Watt, who captured the images. “Old-growth forests once teeming with life and some of Canada’s largest trees are being destroyed, never to be seen again in our lifetime. The logging on Edinburgh Mountain adds to the approximately 75 hectares of ancient forest already logged by Teal Jones that has further fragmented what was once almost 1,500 hectares of stunning, intact ancient rainforest. Two new logging roads are also under construction on the mountain as we speak. To top it off, now they have started to mar the view from the Gordon River Bridge with their old-growth clearcutting, a bridge where hundreds of thousands of tourists view the scenery of what was previously a contiguous old-growth and second-growth forest canopy.”

The clearcutting came to within approximately 50 feet of an enormous Douglas-fir tree, tossing trees and debris around its base. The giant tree measures 33’9″ft (11.4m) in circumference or 10’8″ft in diameter, making it the sixth-widest Douglas-fir in Canada according to the BC Big Tree Registry (seventh widest when including the Alberni Giant in the Nahmint Valley), and is not protected.

Edinburgh Mountain Ancient Forest, as it’s known by conservationists, located in Pacheedaht First Nation territory, is home to Big Lonely Doug, Canada’s second largest Douglas-fir tree, which stands alone in a clearcut at the base of the mountain, and is important habitat for endangered northern goshawks and threatened marbled murrelets. It also contains one of the finest and most endangered lowland, valley-bottom, old-growth forests left on Vancouver Island: the spectacular Eden Grove.

The area is one of about two dozen old-growth forest “hotspots” on Vancouver Island identified by conservationists, which represent some of the island’s last remaining, exceptional, intact, and unprotected old-growth areas. Others include the spectacular Nahmint and Central Walbran Valleys, East Creek Rainforest, and Nootka Island.

“These hotspots are in need of immediate protection by the BC government,” stated Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner Andrea Inness. “Most of them are actively being logged and time is running out to prevent them from becoming tattered fragments, like the majority of Vancouver Island’s remaining productive old-growth. While the BC government assures British Columbians that they’re working on an old-growth strategy, they have yet to reveal any details and continue to send the wrong signals. In the meantime, failure to protect these old-growth hotspots will result in considerable losses in terms of biodiversity, ecological processes, opportunities for tourism, and First Nations cultural values, and could spark significant conflict.”

In the case of Edinburgh Mountain, significant opportunities are lost with each cutblock that’s logged, including potential tourism revenues for the nearby town of Port Renfrew, which has been dubbed the Tall Tree Capital of Canada having capitalized on the outstanding old-growth forests and record-sized trees in the region.

“It’s frustrating to see the BC government’s outdated forest policies threaten Port Renfrew’s growing tourism economy,” stated Watt. “Thousands of tourists come to see Renfrew’s spectacular old-growth forests and ancient giants each year. The destruction of Edinburgh Mountain undermines the town’s image as an eco-tourism destination, particularly because it’s so visible. While driving along the Gordon River bridge on the way to Avatar Grove, where you once saw a beautiful, fully intact old-growth forest on the mountainside, there’s now a big ugly clearcut that spoils the view. Tourists must shake their heads when they see how BC manages its globally rare old-growth forests.”

“The NDP government has an economic and ecological imperative to cultivate a forest industry for the future that supports sustainable jobs and conserves the many values ancient forests provide like biodiversity, carbon storage, cultural values, and clean water,” said Inness. “The Ancient Forest Alliance, along with other conservation groups and the BC Greens, are calling on the NDP government to take immediate action to protect old-growth hotspots while there’s still time and develop long-term, science-based solutions for BC’s endangered old-growth forests while supporting the sustainable economic diversification of First Nations communities whose unceded territories these are.”

“Meanwhile, the NDP government needs to facilitate a shift to a sustainable, value-added, second-growth forest industry using incentives and regulations to phase out raw log exports and support retooling of mills to handle second-growth trees.”

“We have a global responsibility to safeguard BC’s ancient forests, given the climate emergency and unprecedented global biodiversity decline that we’re faced with. A shift to a science-based approach that also maintains forestry jobs is entirely possible. It just takes political leadership.”

Background Information

Old growth forests are integral to British Columbia for ensuring the protection of endangered species, climate stability, tourism, clean water, wild salmon, and the cultures of many First Nations. They have unique characteristics that are not replicated by the second-growth forests they’re replaced with and are a non-renewable resource under BC’s forest system, where forests are logged every 50-80 years, never to become old-growth again.

The BC government often states that 520,000 hectares of old-growth forests are protected on Vancouver Island and will never be logged and that 55 percent of the old-growth on BC’s coast is protected, but these figures are misleading. These figures include vast areas of low-productivity forest – stunted, marginal forests that grow at high elevation or in bogs and are therefore at low to no risk of being logged. They also leave out enormous swathes of largely cut-over forests on private lands, which make up more than a quarter of Vancouver Island and which are largely managed under provincial authority. Finally, the BC government fails to consider how much old-growth has already been logged on Vancouver Island: almost 80% of the original productive old-growth forest and over 90% of the low elevation, high-productivity stands where the largest trees grow. Only about 8% of Vancouver Island’s original old-growth forests are protected in parks and Old Growth Management Areas.

For more information, see our December 2018 media release marking the commencement of the logging on Edinburgh Mountain by Teal Jones Group: https://16.52.162.165/new-logging-operations-underway-on-edinburgh-mountain-an-old-growth-forest-environmental-hotspot-near-port-renfrew-on-vancouver-island/

 

Conservationists condemn BC NDP Government’s plans to log old-growth forest adjacent to Juan de Fuca Provincial Park

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Port Renfrew, Vancouver Island – Conservationists with the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) are outraged that the BC government’s logging agency, BC Timber Sales, is currently auctioning off 109 hectares of old-growth forest adjacent to Juan de Fuca Provincial Park on Vancouver Island. The area, located northeast of Botanical Beach and south of Port Renfrew in Pacheedaht First Nation territory, borders one of the most spectacular sections of the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail with impressive old-growth forests and stunning waterfalls.

The seven planned cutblocks, of which two come to within 50 metres of the Juan de Fuca Provincial Park boundary, would see an estimated 55,346 cubic metres of old-growth – the equivalent of over 1,300 logging trucks – leave the region known as the “Tall Tree Capital of Canada.”

 

An aerial photo of the old-growth forests where B.C. Timber Sales has seven pending cutblocks totalling 109 hectares. Juan de Fuca Provincial Park is along the coast and the town of Port Renfrew in the background.
Photograph By TJ WATT[/caption]

“It’s outrageous that BC Timber Sales has approved the clearcutting of an area more than two Avatar Groves in size so close to one of Vancouver Island’s most popular provincial parks,” stated Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner Andrea Inness. “People come from all over the world to hike the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail. The clearcutting will further degrade and fragment the forest that buffers the park which helps protect the park’s outstanding ecological and recreational values. This is a clear-cut example that BC Timber Sales cannot be trusted to maintain, or even consider, the ecological importance of BC’s ancient forests in its planning.”

BC Timber Sales (BCTS) is the notorious BC government logging agency which manages 20% of the province’s allowable annual cut and which has come under fire across the province for auctioning off old-growth forests to be clearcut in such places as the Nahmint Valley and Schmidt Creek on Vancouver Island and in Manning Provincial Park’s “donut hole.” Earlier this month, Sierra Club BC and Sunshine Coast-based environmental organization Elphinstone Logging Focus revealed that BCTS plans to auction off more than 1,300 hectares of cutblocks in old-growth forests across Vancouver Island in 2019. (See their joint press release)

“BC Timber Sales is going after some of the most significant tracts of the province’s remaining ancient forests despite the fact that, today, they are worth more standing than they are on logging trucks,” stated Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner and photographer TJ Watt. “Port Renfrew, a former logging town, has successfully re-branded itself in recent years as the “Tall Tree Capital of Canada” and is seeing a huge increase in eco-tourism, greatly benefiting local businesses. We’re concerned about the impact the logging would have on Port Renfrew’s reputation as an eco-tourism destination in addition to the impact on the environment.”

Falling-boundary tape in one of the seven old-growth cutblocks that were proposed by B.C. Timber Sales near Juan de Fuca Provincial Park.
Photograph By TJ WATT

There are also concerns that logging and the construction of over 10 kilometres of new road could impact nearby businesses, such as Soule Creek Lodge, located just 500 metres from one of the cutblocks.

“My business relies heavily on tourists coming to Port Renfrew to admire big trees and old-growth forests and to visit Botanical Beach and other parts of Juan de Fuca Provincial Park,” stated Soule Creek Lodge owner John Cash. “I’m deeply concerned that all the noise from months of logging operations is going to drive customers away. People come here for peace and quiet and to connect with nature, not to listen to blasting, chainsaws, and trees crashing in the distance.”

“Instead of facilitating old-growth clearcutting right up to a provincial park boundary, the BC government should be helping rural communities like Port Renfrew transition to more diverse and sustainable economies. In this case, the government needs to use its control over BCTS to cancel the old-growth timber sales before the closing date of April 26th and expand the protected area system to buffer the Juan de Fuca Provincial Park,” stated Watt.

“We need to see leadership and vision from Forests Minister Doug Donaldson, not more status quo old-growth clearcutting. He and the BC government must stop using misleading statistics that hide the fact that old-growth forests are endangered on Vancouver Island and start implementing a science-based plan to protect them where they’re endangered across the province,” stated Watt.

Watt recently explored the old-growth forest within one of the proposed cutblocks and found old-growth redcedar trees measuring six to seven feet in diameter with one cedar measuring ten feet, nine inches in diameter, making it eligible for protection under BC Timber Sales’ Coastal Legacy Tree Policy which aims to retain ‘legacy trees’ that exceed certain size thresholds. However, a BCTS representative stated in an email that the agency had conducted a review of the proposed cutblocks and that “no legacy trees were identified.”

 

Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner and photographer TJ Watt stands beside a massive redcedar measuring 10’9″ in diameter in one of the cutblocks that was proposed by BC Timber Sales near Port Renfrew.

“BCTS’ Legacy Tree Policy failed to prevent the ninth widest Douglas-fir tree in Canada from being felled in the Nahmint Valley last year,” stated Inness. “Not only does the policy leave big trees standing alone in clearcuts with no buffer zones, BCTS clearly can’t be trusted to fully implement it. The BC government needs to quickly implement its long-overdue Big Tree Protection Order originally meant to protect BC’s biggest trees with buffer zones and which the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development has been working to develop since 2012.”

Background information:
Old growth forests are integral to British Columbia for ensuring the protection of endangered species, climate stability, tourism, clean water, wild salmon, and the cultures of many First Nations. At present, over 79% of the original productive old-growth forests on BC’s southern coast have been logged, including well over 90% of the valley bottoms where the largest trees grow. Only about 8% of Vancouver Island’s original productive old growth forests are protected in parks and Old Growth Management Areas.

Due to the popularity of nearby old-growth forests for large numbers of visitors from across the world, the former logging town of Port Renfrew has rebranded itself in recent years as the “Tall Trees Capital of Canada.” Port Renfrew boasts access not only to the popular West Coast and Juan de Fuca trails, but also some of BC’s most popular ancient forest destinations including Avatar Grove, the Central Walbran Valley, Big Lonely Doug (Canada’s 2nd largest Douglas-fir), the Red Creek Fir (the world’s largest Douglas-fir), the San Juan Spruce (previously Canada’s largest Sitka spruce until the top broke off in 2017), Eden Grove, and Jurassic Grove. These ancient forests and trees attract hundreds of thousands of tourists from around the world, strengthening the economy of southern Vancouver Island.

In 2016, The Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce signed a resolution calling on the BC government to increase protection for old-growth forests to benefit the economy. The Sooke and WestShore Chambers of Commerce have also spoken up for the protection of the old-growth forests in the Walbran Valley, while the BC Chamber of Commerce has passed a resolution calling for the increased protection of old-growth forests in BC to support the economy. The Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM), the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities (AVICC), the Wilderness Tourism Association of BC (WTABC) and the councils of Victoria, Metchosin, and Tofino have all passed resolutions for the protection of remaining old-growth forests on Vancouver Island or across BC.

The Ancient Forest Alliance is calling on the BC government to implement a series of policy changes to protect endangered old-growth forests, including an interim halt to logging in old-growth “hotspots” – areas of high conservation value, such as the Nahmint Valley – to ensure the largest and best stands of remaining old-growth forests are kept intact; a comprehensive, science-based plan to protect endangered old-growth forests across the province; conservation financing support for First Nations communities in lieu of old-growth logging; and a provincial land acquisition fund to purchase and protect endangered ecosystems on private lands.

New IMAX Film by Renowned Canadian Video Artist to Highlight Vancouver Island’s Endangered Old-Growth Forests

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The magnificent but endangered old-growth forests of Vancouver Island are about to get a large-scale national audience on IMAX screens across Canada as the film Embers and the Giants premieres at the Images Festival in Toronto this week (Thursday, April 18) and later this fall in IMAX cinemas across Canada in Victoria, Sudbury, Edmonton and Montreal.

The film is part of a program of work entitled Outer Worlds, a series of five IMAX commissions from leading Canadian media artists, each of whom have created films in a cinematic genre typical of IMAX films: larger-than-life landscapes. Two of the films will feature the endangered old-growth forests of Vancouver Island near the town of Port Renfrew, in the unceded territory of the Pacheedaht First Nation band:

Embers and the Giants, by internationally renowned Canadian artist Kelly Richardson, a professor of Visual Arts at the University of Victoria and on the board of advisors of the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance, presents an endangered old-growth forest during last light, articulated by thousands of floating embers of light. Initial impressions may be that we are witnessing a rare, exceptionally beautiful display of fireflies. Then again, human intervention may be at play, suggesting a time when we’ll need to amplify the spectacle of nature in order to convince the public of its worth.

An endangered old-growth forest during last light in Kelly Richardson’s IMAX art film, Embers and the Giants

Richardson is known for creating hyper-real digital films of rich and complex landscapes that have been manipulated using CGI, animation and sound. Her projects have received major international acclaim, having been featured in the National Gallery of Canada, in galleries around the world, in an official Canada 150 exhibition, and in the upcoming IMAX film series.

Her most recent project and work has previously been highlighted in various news media:
See: : https://www.timescolonist.com/islander/capturing-the-art-of-nature-and-change-1.23144042
and https://www.sookenewsmirror.com/news/port-renfrews-avatar-grove-featured-in-national-imax-series/
and https://www.cheknews.ca/victoria-artist-showcase-port-renfrew-old-growth-forests-imax-project-405493

Forest, by Leila Sujir, Chair of the Studio Arts Department in the Faculty of Fine Arts at Concordia University, is another feature of the project. Her subject will be the Central Walbran Valley, an area on Vancouver Island that is scheduled for clear-cut logging. Over the past decade, Sujir has been experimenting with stereoscopic 3D video, extending the viewer into the space of the moving image.

Over the years, Vancouver Island’s old-growth forests have drawn considerable attention from the artistic community, including Emily Carr who produced pieces depicting the old-growth trees, giant stumps, and forests of the region in the first half of the 20th century; scores of renowned artists who contributed to the best-selling art book “Carmanah: Visions of an Ancient Forest” (300,000 copies sold) in 1990; and increasing numbers of artists and filmmakers in recent years featuring the ancient forests around Port Renfrew, including Richardson and Sujir.

“I relocated to Victoria in 2017 after living and working in England for 14 years in order to be closer to the magnificent old-growth forests. After visiting Avatar Grove during a work trip in the fall of 2016, I was overwhelmed by my experience of those ancient stands, which was a huge influence in my decision to apply for a professorship at the University of Victoria where I now work. My most recent project, Embers and the Giants, features the old-growth forests in this region. Through my partners with the Outer Worlds IMAX project, I hope I can contribute to efforts to raise awareness about their outstanding beauty and the plight to protect what remains.”

“We’re excited that such high-caliber artists and film producers will feature the endangered old-growth forests of Vancouver Island through the most spectacular medium – IMAX technology – on a national scale,” stated Ken Wu, executive director of the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance. “The old-growth forests around Port Renfrew, still largely endangered, are clearly continuing to impress increasing numbers of people -not only tourists, but acclaimed artists as well.”

Internationally renowned Canadian artist, Kelly Richardson, working on IMAX art film near Port Renfrew.

“The old-growth forests around Port Renfrew, referred to these days as Canada’s ‘Tall Trees Capital’ that attracts thousands of tourists from around the world, are an international treasure with some of the largest and oldest living organisms on the planet. Sadly, most are on the verge of being turned into giant stumps. All large-scale exposure and awareness raising, including through creative media, are greatly welcome!” stated TJ Watt, Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner and photographer.

The campaign to protect the old-growth forests around Port Renfrew, in the Avatar Grove, Central Walbran Valley, Jurassic Grove, Eden Grove (adjacent to “Big Lonely Doug”), Edinburgh Mountain, and Mossome Grove, has enlisted a ground-breaking alliance of environmental activists and diverse allies involving numerous businesses, labour unions, city and town councils, artists, conservation groups, and others, calling on the British Columbian provincial government to protect old-growth forests and to ensure a sustainable, second-growth forest industry.

More BACKGROUND Information on BC’s Old-Growth Forests

Old-growth forests are vital to sustaining unique endangered species, climate stability, tourism, clean water, wild salmon, and the cultures of many First Nations. On BC’s southern coast, satellite photos show that at least 79% of the original, productive old-growth forests have been logged, including well over 90% of the valley bottoms where the largest trees grow. Only about 8% of Vancouver Island’s original, productive old-growth forests are protected in parks and Old-Growth Management Areas (see maps and stats at: https://16.52.162.165/ancient-forests/before-after-old-growth-maps/). Old-growth forests – with trees that can be 2000 years old – are a non-renewable resource under BC’s system of forestry, where second-growth forests are re-logged every 50 to 100 years, never to become old-growth again.

The BC government regularly spins the statistics on how much old-growth remains on Vancouver Island by:

  • Including vast tracts of marginal, low-productivity bog and subalpine forests with small stunted trees of low to no timber value; failing to include contextual stats on how much used to originally exist (ie. How much has already been logged…ie.80%) of the productive old-growth forests
  • Removing vast tracts of cut-over private corporate forest lands (still under provincial management) from their logging stats
  • Combining stats of Vancouver Island’s remaining old-growth forests of the milder, southern coast with the old-growth forests of the colder, northern coast (ie. the Great Bear Rainforest) which are different (eg’s. they lack most of the really big trees and some of the biodiversity and ecosystem types found farther south; are far more extensive due to a more recent history of logging and more rugged terrain; and have largely been protected in recent times as a result of massive international forest products boycotts by Greenpeace in the 1990’s followed by almost 2 decades of negotiations, which has not occurred for most of Vancouver Island’s forests).

In recent times, the voices for old-growth protection have been quickly expanding, including numerous Chambers of Commerce, mayors and city councils, forestry unions, conservation groups, and First Nations across BC who have been calling on the provincial government to expand protection for BC’s remaining old-growth forests.

The Endangered Ecosystems Alliance, Ancient Forest Alliance, and BC conservation groups are calling on the BC government to develop science-based legislation to protect old-growth forests, to enact regulations and incentives to ensure a sustainable, value-added second-growth forest industry, and to support First Nations land use plans and the sustainable economic development and diversification of the communities as an alternative to old-growth logging.

Canada’s ‘most magnificent old-growth forest’ near Port Renfrew

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Watch video news coverage here 

CHEK News: Conservationists are asking the provincial government to protect what they are calling Canada’s “most magnificent” old-growth forest near Port Renfrew. Ceilidh Millar reports.

It may remind some of a prehistoric-creature, but even Hollywood would be hard-pressed to re-create a sight as spectacular as “Mossome Grove.”

“It’s the most magnificent and beautiful forest in the country,” said Ken Wu with the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance.

Short for “mossy and awesome” Mossome Grove is a 13-hectare old-growth grove located along the San Juan River near Port Renfrew.

The conservation group recently identified the area, and say it is home to some of the top ten widest trees in the province including a Sitka spruce with a diameter of 3.1 metres.

There is also a giant Bigleaf maple, nicknamed the “Woolly Giant,” which has produced a branch measuring 76-feet in length.

Wu says it could the longest horizontal branch on any tree in B.C.

“They are also very old,” Wu explained. “I would estimate the spruce are as young as 300 or 400-years-old and maybe as old as 800-years-old.”

They aren’t revealing its exact location, for fear it will be logged as the grove is on mostly unprotected land.

The grove is situated on Crown land in the unceded territory of the Pacheedaht First Nation band.

“It’s a mishmash of different jurisdictions but most of it could be logged,” Wu said.

Conservationists say the province needs a more protective old-growth policy.

“They are logging about 10,000 hectares which is over 10,000 football fields of old-growth every year on Vancouver Island alone,” explained Wu.

The B.C. Ministry of Forests said in a statement that the grove is contained in a woodlot operated by Pacheedaht Forestry Ltd., and there is no imminent logging planned.

“The Ancient Forest Alliance supplied the ministry with an updated map of the grove area yesterday, so ministry staff are currently reviewing the map to determine what protections exist in the area,” it said.

Under the Vancouver Island Land Use Plan, more than 13 per cent of Vancouver Island will never be logged, including 520,000 hectares of old growth forests, the statement said.

However, a proper protection policy can’t come soon enough for those fighting to save our forests.

“Let’s leave these ancient trees,” explained Wu. “Especially these magnificent valley bottom giants like this for future generations of all creatures.”

Conservationists want protection on ‘Canada’s most magnificent’ old-growth forest

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The Canadian Press
January 12, 2019

VANCOUVER — Conservationists in British Columbia are pushing for protections on an area of old-growth forests they describe as “Canada’s most magnificent.”

The grove is located on Crown land in the San Juan River Valley near Port Renfrew on southern Vancouver Island in the unceded territory of the Pacheedaht First Nation band.

The 13-hectare grove of immense old-growth Sitka spruce and big-leaf maples draped in hanging mosses and ferns was first located in October and explored again in late December, said Ken Wu, executive director of the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance.

“It is probably the most spectacular and beautiful old growth forest I’ve ever seen and I’ve explored a lot of old growth forests,” Wu said. “(The trees) look shaggy because they’ve got all this hanging mosses and ferns on their branches. So they look like ancient prehistoric creatures.”

Most of the grove is unprotected, with a small portion — about four hectares — off-limits to loggers through the provincial government’s old-growth management area, he said.

Some of the trees in this grove are near-record sized, including a Sitka spruce with a diameter of 3.1 metres that would rank among the top 10 in the province, Wu said.

A massive maple that conservationists have nicknamed the “Woolly Giant” may have the longest horizontal branch of any tree in British Columbia, measuring 23.1 metres, he said.

“It’s covered in thick mats of hanging mosses and ferns, resembling a prehistoric monster.”

Wu said conservationists are calling this area of old-growth forests, “The “Mossome” Grove,” which is short for mossy and awesome.

“It includes lots of the tall, straight Sitka spruce like Roman pillars and they’re very impressive giants along with ancient moss covered shaggy, big-leaf maples,” he said.

It’s hard to say how old these trees are, Wu said.

“These are great growing conditions,” he said. “The trees can be as young as 400 years old but I would estimate around the 800-year-old range for the big spruce.”

Ancient Forest Alliance and other conservation groups are asking the provincial government to save not just this newly found old-growth forest but others too, he said.

This forest can be saved from logging if the provincial government simply extends its existing old growth management area, which currently protects about two hectares of this grove, he said.

The B.C. Ministry of Forests said in a statement that the grove is contained in a woodlot operated by Pacheedaht Forestry Ltd., and there is no imminent logging planned.

“The Ancient Forest Alliance supplied the ministry with an updated map of the grove area yesterday, so ministry staff are currently reviewing the map to determine what protections exist in the area,” it said.

Under the Vancouver Island Land Use Plan, over 13 per cent of Vancouver Island will never be logged, including 520,000 hectares of old growth forests, the statement said.

The ministry is also updating the forest inventory for Vancouver Island and monitoring the effectiveness of best management practices related to protecting legacy, or big trees, it said.

Wu said conservation organizations want comprehensive science-based legislation to protect not just this grove but all old-growth forests.

Old-growth forests are vital to sustaining wildlife, including unique species that can’t live in the second-growth tree plantations that old growth forests are being replaced with, he said.

The Mossome Grove is home to not just some of the oldest and grandest trees but also animals and birds such as Roosevelt elk, black-tailed deer, black bears, wolves, cougars, marbled murrelet, northern goshawk, pygmy owl, screech owl, Vaux’s swift, and long-eared bats.

They are also vital for tourism, providing clean water for communities and wild salmon, for carbon storage, and for many First Nations cultures, Wu said.

“We’ve already lost well over 90 per cent of our grandest old-growth forests in the valley bottoms,” he said.

Read this Canadian Press article in the Globe and Mail, the National Post, or in the Toronto Star.

B.C. ancient tree lovers unveil ‘Mossome’ grove as part of bid for new protections

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CBC News
January 12, 2019

The most ‘stunningly beautiful old-growth forest I’ve ever seen,’ says conservationist

Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner TJ Watt poses with a bigleaf maple outside of Port Renfrew B.C. The group considers the tree the ninth largest of its kind in B.C. and has nicknamed it the Woolly Giant. (TJ Watt/Ancient Forest Alliance)

Conservationists on Vancouver Island have documented a unique grove of ancient trees which it wants protected from logging due to its ecological value.

“This is perhaps the most magnificent and stunningly beautiful old-growth forest I’ve ever seen,” said Ken Wu, executive director of the conservation group, Endangered Ecosystems Alliance.

Wu, 44, has been exploring forests on Vancouver Island to campaign for their protection for the past 28 years.

The latest find, a 13-hectare parcel on public land, is located near Port Renfrew along the San Juan River and within the traditional territory of the Pacheedaht First Nation.

Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner Andrea Inness poses with a series of giant Sitka spruce snags and bigleaf maples outside of Port Renfrew B.C. in December 2018. (Ken Wu/Endangered Ecosystems Alliance)

Wu and campaigners with the conservation group, Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA), have nicknamed the grove ‘Mossome Grove,’ a blending of the words “mossy” and “awesome.”

They first walked through the area in October 2018 and returned in December to document it.

Several of the grove’s trees are near record size. Based on B.C.’s Big Tree Registry, one Sitka spruce would rank in the top 10 in the province with a diameter at chest height of 3.1 metres.

Endangered Ecosystems Alliance executive director Ken Wu poses by a huge, old bigleaf maple outside Port Renfrew B.C. in December 2018. One of its branches is 23.1 metres in length. (Ken Wu/Endangered Ecosystems Alliance)

One of the bigleaf maples, which campaigners have named the “Woolly Giant,” has a horizontal branch 23.1 metres in length. Wu says it may be the longest branch in B.C.

“Of all of B.C.’s ancient forests, this one deserves protection not only due to the scarcity of its ecosystem type, but because of its sheer unique beauty,” said Wu.

No ‘imminent’ logging
The province says there are no imminent plans for logging in the area and it is reviewing a map of the area provided by the AFA to determine what protections may already be in place.

Wu says roughly four hectares of the area is in a Pacheedaht woodlot, which could be logged by the nation, but is unlikely. The nation has its own sawmill, but mostly processes cedar logs, which it harvests based on a conservation strategy.

Another four hectares has some provincial protection according to Wu, while the remaining four could be auctioned off for logging by the government’s timber agency.

Highlighting the area is the latest move by campaigners as they hope to push the province to improve protections for old-growth areas in the province.

B.C.’s Ministry of Forests says it is currently working with key stakeholders, including conservationists like Wu, to refine its old-growth strategy. It has not said when that process will be completed.

The province is also updating the makeup of forests on Vancouver Island and monitoring the effectiveness of a new policy to protect big trees.

That policy, if followed by loggers, would result in the preservation of the Sitka spruce in the Mossome Grove because it meets a threshold in size.

Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner and photographer, TJ Watt, poses by what the organization calls the the 9th widest Sitka spruce in B.C. outside Port Renfrew on Southern Vancouver Island. (TJ Watt/Ancient Forest Alliance)

Conservationists are concerned the policy will only end up protecting individual trees, not whole areas of trees and their ecosystems.

The ministry says it has taken steps since July 2017 to protect wildlife habitat areas for animals like marbled murrelets and northern goshawks, which nest in old-growth forests.

It also has protected around 1,000 hectares, or 10 square kilometres, of the unique coastal Douglas fir ecosystem.

See original article here

Conservationists locate what may be Canada’s most magnificent and photogenic old-growth forest on Vancouver Island

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The Ancient Forest Alliance’s campaigner and photographer TJ Watt by BC’s ninth widest bigleaf maple, the Woolly Giant, completely draped in hanging moss and ferns, in the Mossome Grove (short for “Mossy and Awesome” Grove) near Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island.

The “Mossome” Grove (short for “Mossy and Awesome” Grove) consists of giant, prehistoric-looking, shaggy bigleaf maples with tall, straight Sitka spruce, and is found near Port Renfrew

Conservationists in British Columbia have recently located what may very well be the most magnificent and awe-inspiring old-growth forest in the country on Vancouver Island. The spectacular, largely unprotected grove, with several near record-size trees, highlights the need for new policies by the BC government to protect BC’s biggest trees, grandest groves, and old-growth forest ecosystems. The BC government has recently stated that they are currently developing a new set of policies to manage BC’s old-growth forests but have not revealed any details yet.

The 13 hectare grove of immense old-growth Sitka spruce and bigleaf maples draped in hanging mosses and ferns, nicknamed the “Mossome Grove” (short for “Mossy and Awesome” Grove), was initially located in October and explored again in late December by conservationists Ken Wu of the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance and TJ Watt, Andrea Inness, and Rachel Ablack of the Ancient Forest Alliance. The grove is located on Crown land in the San Juan River Valley near Port Renfrew on southern Vancouver Island in the unceded territory of the Pacheedaht First Nation band. Most of the grove is unprotected, with a small portion, about four hectares, lying within an Old-Growth Management Area and in the riparian reserve along the San Juan River.

“This is perhaps the most magnificent and stunningly beautiful old-growth forest I’ve ever seen, and I’ve explored a lot of old-growth forests in my time,” stated Ken Wu, executive director of the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance and former executive director of the Ancient Forest Alliance and the Wilderness Committee’s Victoria office, who has 28 years’ experience exploring and campaigning to protect BC’s old-growth forests. “This is the first time in Canada we’ve located a prominent stand of this rare forest type, with old-growth spruce and maple trees growing together. The combination of giant Sitka spruce, as tall and straight as Roman pillars, and huge, ancient, bigleaf maples draped in hanging mosses and ferns, resembling prehistoric shaggy monsters, makes this perhaps the most photogenic forest in the country. Hollywood could not make a more stunning, picture-perfect forest than this one. This is the best example of ‘charismatic megaflora’ that I’ve ever seen. Of all of BC’s ancient forests, this one deserves protection not only due to the scarcity of its ecosystem type, but because of its sheer unique beauty.”

The Mossome Grove stands on Crown lands in the operating area of BC Timber Sales, with a portion within a Woodlot Licence allocated to the Pacheedaht band and the rest under the regulatory authority of BC Timber Sales. BC Timber Sales is the notorious BC government logging agency which has come under fire across the province for auctioning off old-growth forests to be clearcut in such places as the Nahmint Valley and Schmidt Creek on Vancouver Island, as well as in Manning Provincial Park’s “donut hole”.

Several of the Mossome Grove’s largest trees are near record-sized, including a Sitka spruce that would rank the ninth widest in comparison to those currently listed on the BC Big Tree Registry (with a diameter of 3.1 meters or 10 feet & 1 inch) and a bigleaf maple that would rank the ninth widest on the registry (with a diameter of 2.29 meters or 7 feet & 6 inches). The massive maple, nicknamed the “Woolly Giant”, also may very well have the longest horizontal branch of any tree in British Columbia, measuring 23.1 meters (76 feet) long – more than the height of many second-growth trees – and is covered in thick mats of hanging mosses and ferns, resembling a prehistoric monster.

The Ancient Forest Alliance’s campaigner Rachel Ablack by a huge Sitka spruce among then sword ferns in the Mossome Grove (short for “Mossy and Awesome” Grove) near Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island.

Along with its “charismatic megaflora”, the Mossome Grove is also home to “charismatic megafauna”, including significant numbers of Roosevelt elk, black-tailed deer, black bears, wolves, and cougars, who inhabit the productive San Juan River Valley. Old-growth forests on Vancouver Island in the area are also important habitat for the marbled murrelet, northern goshawk, pygmy owl, screech owl, Vaux’s swift, and long-eared bats.

Old-growth Sitka spruce and bigleaf maple stands are best known in the Hoh, Queets, and Quinault Valleys in the Olympic National Park in Washington State, where millions of tourists visit to marvel at the mossy giants. In Canada, such ancient spruce/maple stands are essentially unknown by the conservation movement and tourism industry for the simple reason they are virtually non-existent here, except for this newly-identified stand and possibly a few small patches scattered around southwestern Vancouver Island. At the time of European colonization in BC, there would have been more extensive but still limited old-growth Sitka spruce and bigleaf maples stands in the San Juan, Nitinat, and Fraser Valleys. However, virtually all have been logged or converted to agriculture or urban sprawl (in the case of the Fraser Valley where Vancouver stands today).

“This is like a combination of the monumental Sitka spruce stands of the Carmanah Valley and the gorgeous bigleaf maples of the Mossy Maple Grove that we popularized a few years ago near Lake Cowichan. The two combined are essentially the apex of the grandeur and beauty that could exist in a forest”, stated TJ Watt, Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner and photographer. “Photogenically, this grove should be a new poster child for BC’s endangered ancient forests – and the urgent need to protect their beauty. We need old-growth protection at all spatial scales at this time, to save the biggest trees, grandest groves, and old-growth forest ecosystems on a vaster scale.”

Due to its limited size, the scarcity of this forest type, and the fact that there are no trails, the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance and Ancient Forest Alliance are not publicly revealing the Mossome Grove’s location at this time until it can be safeguarded from excessive trampling, and most importantly, from future commercial logging.

The Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development since 2012 has been working to develop a “Big Tree Protection Order”, a policy originally aimed at protecting the largest trees and grandest groves in BC. Successive governments, including the NDP, have dragged out the policy’s development and implementation and appear to be leaving out the most important facets of the proposed policy, that is, to include buffer zones around the largest trees, to include the grandest groves (concentrations of exceptionally large trees), to make the threshold sizes for protection reasonable (instead of protecting only the very few largest trees), and to make the policy legally-binding rather than voluntary. Currently the policy is being piloted in selected parts of Vancouver Island and also in areas managed by BC Timber Sales, where it is called the “Coastal Legacy Tree” policy. The Coastal Legacy Tree policy recently failed to protect the ninth widest Douglas-fir tree in BC in the Nahmint Valley. See: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/old-growth-logging-1.4689648

“Without buffer zones to surround and protect the largest trees, and without also protecting the grandest groves, the BC government’s currently proposed big tree protection policy is essentially a ‘Big Lonely Doug policy’ that will leave a few sad giants standing alone in clearcuts scattered around Vancouver Island,” stated Andrea Inness, Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner, referring to Canada’s 2ndlargest Douglas fir, nicknamed ‘Big Lonely Doug’ by AFA campaigners who identified the tree in 2014. “The largest trees and grandest groves are like the ‘icing on the cake’, while protecting old-growth ecosystems on a larger scale, that is, saving the ‘rest of cake’, is ultimately the most important task. But it would be a shame to lose the icing…without it, a cake is not quite the same.”

More background info

While an effective Big Tree Protection Order would be particularly important in cases like the Mossome Grove, more important would be science-based legislation to protect BC’s remaining old-growth forest ecosystems on a much more comprehensive scale. While new legislation and updated land use plans are being developed, moratoria on the most intact and highest conservation value old-growth forests like at the nearby Edinburgh Mountain and Upper Walbran Valley need to be implemented in places, while the BC government needs to also implement incentives and regulations for the development of a value-added, sustainable second-growth forest industry.

Conservation financing support from the provincial and federal governments is also needed for BC’s First Nations communities to help foster sustainable businesses and jobs in the communities based on eco- and cultural tourism, clean energy development, non-timber forest products (e.g. wild mushroom and berry harvests), sustainable seafood harvesting, and value-added second-growth forestry.

To ensure the protection of all ecosystem types, federal and provincial “Endangered Ecosystems Acts” are also needed to establish science-based protection and recovery targets for all ecosystems across Canada, including rare plant communities such as old-growth Sitka spruce and bigleaf maple groves like Mossome Grove.

In the interim, the federal government has committed to protecting 17% of Canada’s land and freshwater ecosystems by 2020 and must greatly step up its prioritization and activity to achieve this target (currently Canada is at 10.6% protection). In particular, most of the provinces, including British Columbia, must still commit to meeting the 17% target, and conservation groups will be lobbying the province to adopt this target shortly.

Old-growth forests are vital to sustaining unique endangered species, climate stability, tourism, clean water, wild salmon, and the cultures of many First Nations. On BC’s southern coast, satellite photos show that at least 75% of the original, productive old-growth forests have been logged, including well over 90% of the valley bottoms where the largest trees grow. Only about 8% of Vancouver Island’s original, productive old-growth forests are protected in parks and Old-Growth Management Areas. Old-growth forests, with trees up to 2,000 years old, are a non-renewable resource under BC’s system of forestry, where second-growth forests are re-logged every 50 to 100 years, never to become old-growth again.

The Ancient Forest Alliance is calling on the BC government to implement a comprehensive, science-based plan to protect all of BC’s remaining endangered old-growth forests while also ensuring a sustainable, value-added, second-growth forest industry.

Due to the popularity of nearby old-growth forests for large numbers of visitors from across the world, the former logging town of Port Renfrew has rebranded itself in recent years as the “Tall Trees Capital of Canada.” Not only is the town located near Mossome Grove, but is also near many of the province’s most popular ancient forest destinations including the Avatar Grove, Central Walbran Valley, Big Lonely Doug (Canada’s 2nd largest Douglas-fir), Red Creek Fir (the world’s largest Douglas-fir), Harris Creek Spruce (an enormous Sitka Spruce), San Juan Spruce (previously Canada’s largest spruce until the top broke off last year), Eden Grove, and Jurassic Grove. These ancient forests and trees attract hundreds of thousands of tourists from around the world, strengthening the economy of southern Vancouver Island. Environmental groups encourage visitors to stay in local accommodations, buy food and groceries in local stores, and camp in the Pacheedaht-run campground to help boost the local economy with eco-tourism dollars.

Various chambers of commerce, starting with the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce, have called for increased protection of BC’s ancient forests. The BC Chamber of Commerce, BC’s premier business lobby representing 36,000 businesses, passed a resolution in May of 2016, calling on the province to expand protection for BC’s old-growth forests to support the economy, after a series of similar resolutions passed by the Port Renfrew, Sooke, and WestShore Chambers of Commerce. See: www.ancientforestalliance.org/news-item.php?ID=1010

Both the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM), representing the mayors, city and town councils, and regional districts across BC, and Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities (AVICC), representing Vancouver Island local governments, passed a resolution in 2016 calling on the province to protect Vancouver Island’s remaining old-growth forests by amending the 1994 land use plan. See: https://16.52.162.165/media-release-ubcm-passes-old-growth-protection-resolution/

The Private and Public Workers of Canada (PPWC), formerly the Pulp, Paper, and Woodworkers of Canada, representing thousands of sawmill and pulp mill workers across BC, passed a resolution in 2017 calling for an end to old-growth logging on Vancouver Island. See: https://16.52.162.165/conservationists-applaud-old-growth-protection-resolution-by-major-bc-forestry-union/

See maps and stats on the remaining old-growth forests on BC’s southern coast at: www.ancientforestalliance.org/old-growth-maps.php

In order to placate public fears about the loss of BC’s endangered old-growth forests, the BC government’s PR-spin typically over-inflats the amount of remaining old-growth forests by including hundreds of thousands of hectares of marginal, low productivity forests growing in bogs and at high elevations with smaller, stunted trees, in with the productive old-growth forests, where the large trees grow (and where most logging takes place). See a rebuttal to some of the BC government’s PR-spin and stats about old-growth forests towards the BOTTOM of the webpage: https://16.52.162.165/action-alert-speak-up-for-ancient-forests-to-the-union-of-bc-municipalities-ubcm/

Destinations: Port Renfrew

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Pacific Yachting
September 20th, 2018

With a new well-protected marina, Wild Renfrew is the perfect stopover for cruising the west coast of Vancouver Island

Pacific Gateway Marina, built on the south shore of Port San Juan in Port Renfrew, is so new it doesn’t show up on even the most updated charts. It’s still a marina in evolution but the most important aspects are in place: the heavy breakwater, a set of sturdy docks, a fuel dock and fish-cleaning stations. The breakwater is essential, as the frequent west and southwest winds funnel up Port San Juan and there’s not even a small land protrusion to shield a vessel from the wind and waves. Years ago, we anchored here and we rocked and rolled throughout the night; we never stopped again on the way to and from Barkley Sound.

And we aren’t alone. One of the impediments to cruisers visiting Vancouver Island’s west coast from the south has been the long slog from Becher Bay or Sooke to Barkley Sound. The approximately 90- mile run is a daunting distance, especially for smaller sailboats. Catching an ebbing tide can help during the trip, but you must fight the flood at some stage. That’s why having a safe stop at Port Renfrew’s marina is such a pleasure—it cuts the voyage into two almost equal segments.

This heavy-duty breakwater was built to protect the marina against any weather.
This heavy-duty breakwater was built to protect the marina against any weather.

WE’D LEFT CADBORO BAY in Beyond the Stars, our Hanse 411, for the short trip to Becher Bay. The sun was hot early on, a welcome change from our region’s long, rainy and cold winter. The sky filled with puffy clouds resembling woolly sheep- skins. A few Dall porpoises sliced their ins through the water, while gulls raised a racket as they dove into a herring ball. Some hitched a ride on floating logs, reminding us to be watchful and recalling the adage from ancient mariner Bruce Taylor, “don’t steer your boat where the seagulls walk.”

We sped through Race Rock Passage, with its black-and-white ringed lighthouse starkly outlined against the glacier-capped Olympic Mountains. Whirl Bay presented a surprisingly strong back-eddy where lat circles were ringed by tiny whitecaps—small white horses on a trot—halved our speed. A fishboat so laden its gunnels nearly touched the water passed by. We anchored in Becher Bay behind Wolf Island and spent the afternoon recovering from the bustle of getting ready for a seven-week cruise. Early the next morning, we began the 50-mile passage to Port Renfrew.

PACIFIC GATEWAY MARINA From a distance, the new rock breakwater on the marina’s northwest and southwest sides is high enough that only the white-hatted pilings show. The new facility replaced an old, unprotected marina whose docks were deployed only during the summer. Sport-fishing boats are the new dock’s primary occupants while both sides of a long finger offer transient moorage for vessels up to 80 feet. We had five metres under the keel at low tide.

PGM is part of the Mill Bay Marine Group, which has purchased, built or refurbished five marinas in B.C. over the past several years, including this one, Mill Bay, MK Marina in Kitimat, Port Sidney and Port Browning.

A high wall, made up of grey igneous rock and brittle layers of black shale, looms behind the marina. It’s where the breakwater was born. “It took several years to get the permits in place,” said Glenn Brown, whose wife Vicki Asselin, is the marina site manager. “We started blasting in January 2016. Three 50-ton and two 30-ton excavators loaded the rock into trucks. Down a newly built road, the trucks backed up to the water and dumped their loads until the rock remained above water. As the breakwater grew, they’d back up further, on and on, seven days a week from late May until the end of September until the barrier rose two metres above high tide.

“We had a storm this winter,” Glenn continued.“It took down trees but the sea didn’t come over the breakwater. A good test! I think this will be a world-class marina. The owner, Andrew Purdey, does things right. No skimping on materials.”

During our visit, we registered up to 18 knots of wind but didn’t feel a ripple. A Cal 24, Pizza Pocket, tied up behind us. Vancouverites Dave and Vesna said it was their first time on Vancouver Island’s west coast. “We read about the new marina in a Pacific Yachting ad,” said Vesna. “We wouldn’t have come if it hadn’t been for this place to tie up. It would’ve been just too far for a small boat to venture out.”

Plans for the marina are on-going. Water and power are slated for installation in 2018. Once a sewage treatment plant is built, laundry, showers and toilets will replace the porta-potties. The post-and- beam structure at the top of the dock may become a restaurant; in the meantime, a Bridgeman’s food truck sells burgers and other fast food. A hotel will be built at the bottom of the rock wall and cottages will occupy the acreage owned by the development. Purdey has already installed a helipad so he can visit the marina—and fish—frequently.

LATER THAT DAY, I met a group of fishing guides, baseball caps in place, relaxing at a picnic table with a beer, a smoke and fried onion rings. A strong part of the local culture, they’d had a successful day with their B.C. and Alberta-based clients, each having caught their quota of two chinook salmon and one halibut (two coho later in the season).“They must all have their fishing licence before they come,” said self-appointed spokesman, Brannon Derek. “We take a maximum of four passengers and charge up to $1,300 a day. Plus tips, of course.

“I see you’re all having a beer together,” I said.“Is there no competition among you fishing guides?” “Nah,” said Brannon. “We all work together. We’re often busy seven days a week. And we help each other. In fact, a freak wave broke the windows on another boat just yesterday and cut a client’s neck badly. A lot of blood. We wrapped a big towel around his neck. Then we swapped boats. The other per took my boat and delivered the injured guy to shore while I slowly brought back the stricken boat.”

Fishing guide John Wells has lived in Port Renfrew for 17 years and loves the freer, non-city aspects of the outdoor life. He has the build and complexion of some- one who spends most of his time on the water and in the sun.“This is a great place to live,” he said. “I like the natural beauty of this region. It’s outdoor living yet we’re close to Victoria if need be. We’re lucky up here, leaving the city stress behind. In the winter, I hunt deer and Canada geese.”Then, looking up at me from under his baseball cap’s rim, he asked if I liked crab. “Who doesn’t?” I answered. “Well,” he said, “you see those traps on the first dock? Go haul out that line next to them and you’ll ind crabs in the crab hotel. Take what you want.” This generous offer wasn’t wasted on us; we fished out three lovely Dungeness and had a feast.

PROVISIONING IS SCARCE in Port Renfrew. A small general store serves the 250 year-round residents and visiting hikers and campers, but for most, it’s too far to walk to from the marina. However, if you’re tired of cooking aboard, besides the food truck, three eateries are easily reached on foot. You can follow the road around or take a bit of a short cut by climb- ing the 122 steps to the upper road.You’ll skip-quickly ind Tomi’s, a small place serving breakfast and lunch. At exactly one kilo- metre from the marina, Coastal Kitchen Café is operated by Chelsea Kuzman. The café cooks breakfast and a lunch that includes calamari, salmon, halibut, burgers and pie.

I ate lunch at the Renfrew Pub (1.3 kilometres from the marina), once the Port Renfrew Hotel. It burned down in 2003, was rebuilt as the pub and now rents cottages down the boardwalk that also leads to an unprotected, seasonal government dock. Visitors come here for holidays, or stay before hiking the West Coast Trail, which runs between Port Renfrew and Bamield, or the less strenuous Juan de Fuca Trail (heading south from Renfrew.) The well-known Botanical Beach and the start of the Marine Trail are located another 2.5 kilometres down the road.

I’d been told that I should seek out Johnny Mac, the unofficial mayor of Port Renfrew: “He’ll be at the pub on the first stool at the bar when you come in the door. Can’t miss him.” Indeed, Johnny was just finishing his pint; sporting a short grizzled beard, he joined me on the deck while I ate a terrific seafood chowder. (The pub’s menu promotes a drink called the Johnny Mac.) He said he’s travelled the world competing in the sport of archery and represented Canada at the Seoul Olympic Games—one of his proudest achievements. But after retiring as a shipwright, he chose to live in the small isolated town of Port Renfrew. “For the fishing and the lifestyle,” he said. “I care about Port Renfrew. I want people to enjoy it here. I often help them. I’m like a personal tourist guide.”

THE BIG TREE TOUR From Port Renfrew, TJ Watt operates the Big Tree Tour (bigtreetours.ca), using his sturdy van to drive up to six visitors to view some of the biggest and oldest trees in the world. Some may be 1,000 years old. “I was on a photography trip and found these mammoth trees,” said TJ. “I identified the groves as a special old-growth forest of high conservation and tourism value. We’ve called it Avatar Grove. Seeing them, the trees shifted my baseline and I joined conservation groups.”

With Ken Wu, he founded the Ancient Forest Alliance, which, along with the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce’s strong support, has campaigned to prevent the trees from being logged. Since identifying the groves, TJ has built boardwalks clad in non-slip chicken wire to protect roots and provide excellent viewing platforms. While there, he explains the climate and environment that allows trees to grow to these great heights and girth.“The tour is of moderate difficulty but I’ve had visitors from around the world and of all ages,”he said. “These trees always amaze people and that keeps me excited too. It’s a spiritual experience to see them.”

Depending on weather and tides and the time visitors have, Big Tree Tours can tailor tours to include visits to Sombrio Beach and Botanical Beach.

Atavar-Grove. The tree in the foreground is an old-growth redcedar. The tree in the background is a giant Douglas-fir.
Atavar-Grove. The tree in the foreground is an old-growth redcedar. The tree in the background is a giant Douglas-fir.

THE WILD RENFREW ADVENTURE CENTRE, with offices next to the pub on the boardwalk, also offers tailored adventures. “Along with partners and guides, the centre conducts ocean wildlife tours in RIBS, focusing on all the ocean’s creatures, not just whales,” said manager Martin Knor. “With Pacheedaht guides, canoes and kayaks we will explore the Gordon and San Juan rivers. And we offer nature tours of the nearby big trees like Avatar Grove, the beaches, lakes and intertidal zones. We take walk-ins from yachts or cottages. Plus, we’ll rent electric scooters for people to explore on their own.”

Port Renfrew is rebranding itself: “Wild Renfrew—Wilderness within Reach.” Vacation cottages are springing up. The Chamber of Commerce sees tourism as a job creator. The new marina for boaters and the planned accommodations on its site will add more allure for visitors.

With all these visitors, by sea and by land, will Port Renfrew become less wild? Will it lose its small-town, rough-hewn character? Perhaps, but not for quite a while yet.

If You Go

Pacific Gateway Marina
pacificgatewaymarina.ca

Wild Renfrew Adventure Centre
wildrenfrew.com

Etymology

Before Spanish explorer José Maria Narváez called the inlet “Port San Juan,” the Pacheedaht First Nation, meaning “People of the Sea Foam,” had their village sites around the bay. according to Raincoast Place Names, Narváez arrived here on June 24, 1789, the date purported to be John the Baptist’s birthday. The Port’s name honoured this New Testament figure, a favourite in Spanish Catholicism. Captain Vancouver recorded the name on his charts. The European settlement at the head of the bay also called itself San Juan, but continual confusion with the U.S.’s San Juan Island led to a renaming. Port Renfrew may refer to the Prince of Wales, who also holds the title of Baron Renfrew.

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Kelly Richardson in Avatar Grove

New Visual Arts Professor Creates Avatar Grove Film Project

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Internationally acclaimed artist Kelly Richardson, a new professor in UVic’s Department of Visual Arts, is bringing the old-growth forests near Port Renfrew sharply into focus with a new digital art project.

Created with the participation of the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA), Richardson’s large-format film will be shot in July at Port Renfrew’s Avatar Grove (a popular nickname for its Nuu-cha-nulth Pacheedaht name of T’l’oqwxwat) by Christian Kroitor, the grandson of IMAX inventor Roman Kroitor, and released on IMAX screens across Canada next year.

The Ontario-born artist, who has been living in the UK since 2003 and teaching at Newcastle University in northeastern England since 2013, cites proximity to Vancouver Island’s old-growth forests as one of the reasons she moved to Victoria and accepted the position at UVic.

New project to be featured as part of IMAX 50th anniversary
Richardson and four other Canadian media artists—Michael Snow, Oliver Husain, Lisa Jackson and Leila Sujir— are featured in the upcoming XL-Outer Worlds project which celebrates the 50th anniversary of the IMAX, a Canadian invention by Roman Kroitor.

XL-Outer Worlds focuses on short films creating a larger-than-life landscape that forms an outer world.

Home to spectacular stands of old-growth trees
Richardson decided to move to Vancouver Island specifically upon seeing BC’s old-growth forests firsthand during her time as a UVic Visiting Artist in the fall of 2016.

“I was overwhelmed by my experience of those ancient stands, which was a huge influence in my decision to apply for a professorship at UVic,” says Richardson. “I couldn’t believe those ancient stands still exist at all anywhere in the world, let alone here. My upcoming projects will feature the old-growth forests in this region and I hope I can contribute to efforts to raise awareness about their outstanding beauty and the plight to protect what remains.”

Known for creating hyper-real digital films of rich and complex landscapes manipulated using CGI, animation and sound, Richardson’s work fuses 19th century painting, 20th century cinema and 21st century scientific inquiries. She creates works with strong environmental themes, asking viewers to consider what the future might look like if we continue on our current trajectory of global environmental crisis.

“It’s not just the sheer size but it’s actually how you feel in front of these ancient, ancient trees.” – Kelly Richardson, visual arts prof

In 2017, Richardson was involved in 14 solo and group exhibitions across Canada and in China, France, the UK and the US. Her video installations have been included in the Toronto International Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival and she was previously honoured at the Americans for the Arts’ National Arts Awards alongside Robert Redford, Salman Rushdie and fellow artist Ed Ruscha.

Richardson’s old-growth project will be created with the participation of the AFA which, together with the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce, spearheaded the protection of Avatar Grove / T’l’oqwxwat located in the Pacheedaht First Nations’ traditional territory and home to one of the most spectacular and easily accessible stands of monumental old-growth trees in BC.

Read the original story here.

Internationally-acclaimed artist Kelly Richardson moves to Victoria, turns attention to “Tall Trees Capital” of Canada – Port Renfrew

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For Immediate Release
Tuesday, January 9, 2017

Victoria, BC – Vancouver Island’s famed old-growth forests near Port Renfrew – known as Canada’s “Tall Trees Capital” – have attracted the attention of internationally acclaimed artist Kelly Richardson, who will feature these ancient forests in an upcoming digital art installation to be projected on IMAX screens across the country as part of an upcoming large-format film series.

Richardson is known for creating hyper-real digital films of rich and complex landscapes that have been manipulated using CGI, animation and sound. Her projects have received major international acclaim, having been featured in the National Gallery of Canada, in galleries around the world, in an official Canada 150 exhibition this year, and in the upcoming large-format film series.

Taking cues from 19th century painting, 20th century cinema and 21st century scientific inquiries, Richardson creates works with strong environmental themes, asking viewers to consider what the future might look like if we continue on our current trajectory of planetary pillaging and consumption, and why we have allowed ourselves to arrive at such a moment of global environmental crisis.

Kelly Richardson said: “Having lived and worked in England for the last 14 years, I recently relocated to Victoria in order to be closer to the truly magnificent old-growth forests. After visiting Avatar Grove during a work trip in the fall of 2016, I was overwhelmed by my experience of those ancient stands, which was a huge influence in my decision to apply for a professorship at the University of Victoria where I now work. My upcoming projects will feature the old-growth forests in this region and I hope I can contribute to efforts to raise awareness about their outstanding beauty and the plight to protect what remains.”

Over the years, Vancouver Island’s old-growth forests have drawn considerable attention from the artistic community, including Emily Carr who produced pieces depicting the old-growth trees, giant stumps, and forests of the region (whose works in regards to her interest in ancient forests is currently on display in the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria.

) in the first half of the 20th century; scores of renowned artists who contributed to the best-selling art book “Carmanah: Visions of an Ancient Forest” (300,000 copies sold) in 1990; and increasing numbers of artists and filmmakers in recent years featuring the ancient forests around Port Renfrew, including Richardson.

“We’re excited to have such a renowned and original artist of Kelly Richardson’s caliber, focusing her talent to draw international attention through creativity to the endangered old-growth forests of Vancouver Island. Her work has gone far and wide across North America, Europe, and China, garnering major media attention, moving critics and reaching popular audiences, all while raising environmental themes in powerful ways”, stated Ken Wu, executive director of the Ancient Forest Alliance. “The old-growth forests around Port Renfrew – still largely endangered – are clearly continuing to impress increasing numbers of people – not only tourists, businesses, and news media, but acclaimed artists as well.”

Born in Canada, Kelly Richardson’s works have been widely acclaimed in North America, Asia and Europe, having been acquired by the National Gallery of Canada, Art Gallery of Ontario, and Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal in Canada and by museums around the world. Her video installations have been included in the Toronto International Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival and she was previously honoured at the Americans for the Arts National Arts Awards alongside Robert Redford, Salman Rushdie and fellow artist, Ed Ruscha. Her forthcoming work focusing on British Columbia’s old-growth forests will be featured in the upcoming XL-Outer Worlds Project, an exposition of five new large format films by five digital media artists, including Richardson, that will help highlight Canada’s invention of IMAX film technology, to be screened across the country in IMAX theatres in 2019.

Located only 20 minutes from Port Renfrew, the Avatar Grove or “T’l’oqwxwat” in the language of the local Pacheedaht First Nation, is home to one of the most spectacular and easily accessible stands of monumental old-growth trees in BC. It has become among the province’s most popular old-growth tourism destinations, attracting visitors from around the world (particularly with the completion of a boardwalk last August), the attention of countless national and international news media organisations, and a major investment in new businesses in the region.

The campaign to protect the grove, spearheaded by the Ancient Forest Alliance and the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce – a ground-breaking alliance of environmental activists and the local business community – has significantly fuelled a provincial movement of businesses, labour unions, city and town councils, and environmental groups calling on the British Columbian provincial government to protect old-growth forests and to ensure a sustainable, second-growth forest industry.

More BACKGROUND Information on artist Kelly Richardson

Kelly Richardson’s work has been acquired into significant museum collections across Canada, the UK, and the USA including the National Gallery of Canada, Art Gallery of Ontario, Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (USA), Albright-Knox Art Gallery (USA), Arts Council Collection (England), among others. Recent one person exhibitions include Dundee Contemporary Arts, SMoCA, CAG Vancouver, VOID Derry, Naturhistorisches Museum Wien and a major survey at the Albright-Knox. Her work was selected for the Canadian, Beijing, Busan, Gwangju and Montréal biennales, and major moving image exhibitions including the The Cinema Effect: Illusion, Reality and the Moving Image at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Toronto International Film Festival and Sundance Film Festival.

Kelly Richardson was born in Burlington, Ontario, Canada. From 2003-2017 she resided in north east England where she was a Lecturer in Fine Arts at Newcastle University. She currently lives and works as a visitor on the traditional territory of the WSANEC peoples of the Coast Salish Nation on Vancouver Island, Canada. She is Associate Professor in Visual Arts at the University of Victoria. See her website at https://kellyrichardson.net

More BACKGROUND Information on BC’s Old-Growth Forests

Old-growth forests are vital to sustaining unique endangered species, climate stability, tourism, clean water, wild salmon, and the cultures of many First Nations. On BC’s southern coast, satellite photos show that at least 75% of the original, productive old-growth forests have been logged, including well over 90% of the valley bottoms where the largest trees grow. Only about 8% of Vancouver Island’s original, productive old-growth forests are protected in parks and Old-Growth Management Areas (see maps and stats at: https://16.52.162.165/ancient-forests/before-after-old-growth-maps/). Old-growth forests – with trees that can be 2000 years old – are a non-renewable resource under BC’s system of forestry, where second-growth forests are re-logged every 50 to 100 years, never to become old-growth again.

In recent times, the voices for old-growth protection have been quickly expanding, including numerous Chambers of Commerce, mayors and city councils, forestry unions, conservation groups, and First Nations across BC who have been calling on the provincial government to expand protection for BC’s remaining old-growth forests. The Ancient Forest Alliance is also calling on the province to support First Nations land use plans and the sustainable economic development and diversification of the communities as an alternative to old-growth logging. See a recent news article at: https://www.sookenewsmirror.com/news/groups-demand-protection-of-islands-old-growth-forests/

About the XL-Outer Worlds Project

Janine Marchessault of the Public Access Collective and Christian Kroitor (grandson of IMAX inventor Roman Kroitor) of True Frame Productions have come together to commission five new large-format digital film shorts in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the invention of IMAX. The theme for the commissioned program is in keeping with the cinematic genre typical of IMAX films: the larger-than-life landscape that forms an outer world. Participating Canadian media artists include: Oliver Husain, Lisa Jackson, Kelly Richardson, Michael Snow, and Leila Sujir. XL-Outer Worlds will result in a four-day Festival Celebration in 2019 at the Cinesphere, the world’s first permanent IMAX movie theatre located in Toronto at Ontario Place. This festival will showcase the commissioned films celebrating the invention of IMAX, alongside curated programs of early IMAX films. The XL-Outer Worlds festival will later tour the first IMAX cinemas across Canada in Victoria, Sudbury, Edmonton and Montreal. This is one of the 200 exceptional projects funded through the Canada Council for the Arts’ New Chapter program. With this $35M investment, the Council supports the creation and sharing of the arts in communities across Canada.