Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) News & Events – June 6, 20161. Historic Leap for Old-Growth Forests – BC Chamber of Commerce Passes Resolution for Expanded Protection!
2. Please DONATE to Support the Avatar Grove Boardwalk's ‘Home Stretch’
3. In the News: East Creek, Bialowieza Forest and Mount Elphinstone
4. Now Hiring - Door, Street & Phone Canvassers in VANCOUVER and Door Canvassers in VICTORIA!Details:**********
1. Historic Leap for Old-Growth Forests – BC Chamber of Commerce Passes Resolution for Expanded Protection!Huge news! The BC Chamber of Commerce, the largest business lobby in the province representing 36,000 businesses and 125 chambers of commerce, has passed a resolution calling on the BC government to expand protection for the province's old-growth forests! This is a historic leap forward for old-growth forest protection campaigns in BC. Please share far and wide! Thanks to the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce and president Dan Hager for all of their work championing the resolution and for working with the Ancient Forest Alliance!
SEE the full MEDIA RELEASE
here and read the full RESOLUTION
here
Related News Articles:
• BC Local News: Vancouver Island growing away from old-growth logging? (see article here)
Here's a very insightful
article about the shift underway in the economy and attitudes in the business community and in rural communities (spearheaded by the efforts of the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce and the Ancient Forest Alliance, fostering a growing chorus of voices, including the BC Chamber of Commerce and the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities - AVICC) towards favouring increased protection of old-growth forests to support a more sustainable economy! Take note that the BC government's and logging industry's stats on how much old-growth remains and is protected are deliberately misleading by including stunted, non-commercial bogs and subalpine old-growth stands on steep rocky mountainsides along with the productive stands of big trees targeted by the logging industry, and by combining the northern rainforest (the Great Bear Rainforest) where huge progress in protection levels has occurred as a result of environmental boycotts of logging companies (followed by 15 years of negotiations) along with the southern rainforest (Vancouver Island and the southwest mainland) where protection levels are very minor, where old-growth forests have been much more heavily logged, and where the forests are different (ie. different biodiversity, ecosystems, and generally much larger, grander ancient trees), ie. the northern and southern coasts are two very different regions and should not be mixed together and confused, unless your goal is to mislead people...
• Times Colonist Editorial: Good ecology is good economics (see article here)
"The chamber voted this week to ask the province to expand protection of old-growth forests in areas where they have, or likely would have, greater economic value if left standing. Old-growth forests and other pristine areas of B.C. attract an increasing number of visitors, and will continue to generate jobs forever. When an area is logged off, the jobs are gone until the forest regenerates, and that takes a long, long time. We should remember, too, that forests are about more than esthetics or recreation — they are vital to the health of our watersheds and even the air we breathe. Businesses are increasingly recognizing that environmental sustainability is not only good business, it is essential. More and more investors are demanding that corporations be environmentally responsible as well as fiscally responsible. They have recognized what we must all recognize — that if we don’t look after the environment, we won’t have an economy."
• Times Colonist: B.C. Chamber of Commerce hugs old-growth trees (see article here)
"The resolution also called on the province to enact new regulations — incorporating such strategies as old-growth management areas, wildlife-habitat areas or land-use orders — with an eye on eventually legislating permanent protection through provincial park or conservancy status." While the chamber of commerce also continues to support the forest industry (which is now based primarily on second-growth stands for most of its cut), as it traditionally has for decades, for the organization's membership to also vote to expand protections for old-growth forests and thus "break through" the mold of the old 1990's land use plans (which cap protection levels on Vancouver Island at 13% of the landbase and 6% of the productive forests) is a new thing - and a very positive leap forward!
• David Suzuki Foundation Report: The Economics of Protecting Old-Growth Forest: An Analysis of Spotted Owl Habitat in the Fraser Timber Supply Area of British Columbia (see report here)
A 2008 study from SFU showed that old-growth forests in the southwestern mainland of BC are more valuable if left standing than if logged, based on their value for tourism, recreation, carbon, and non-timber forest products. Vancouver Island has even more old-growth forest tourism and carbon rich forests than the Fraser Timber Supply Area on the mainland where the study focused. See the study here
• Vancouver Sun: Some say the fate of British Columbia's old-growth forests rests in the balance (see article here)
Here's a
new article featuring renowned forest ecologist Dr. Andy MacKinnon about the fate of BC's endangered old-growth forests. Take note that the forest industry and BC government are spinning the situation about old-growth forests to make it appear as if they are not endangered and that they are already well protected - this is completely false, and they do this by including vast areas of stunted marginal non-commercial stands (bog forests, high elevation and far northern old-growth forests on steep rock faces with small trees, etc.) with the productive old-growth stands with big trees that have been heavily logged, and by combining the southern rainforest (Vancouver Island and Lower Mainland) with its different ecosystems, higher levels of logging, and far lower protection levels, with the northern rainforests (Great Bear Rainforest) where 20 years of markets pressure including boycotts by environmental groups of logging companies in the area resulted in a far greater level of protection in a more intact region of the province, i.e. they are two different regions.
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2. Please DONATE to Support the Avatar Grove Boardwalk's ‘Home Stretch’Have you been to visit the Avatar Grove? Due to the generous contributions of supporters like yourself, the assistance of key partners including the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce and the Pacheedaht First Nation band, and scores of hard-working volunteers, we’ve constructed a major, first-rate boardwalk and trail in the Upper and Lower Avatar Grove. See images of the most recent boardwalk additions as well as a short video clip.
Donations are needed to complete the last stretch of the Avatar Grove Boardwalk before our official "ribbon-cutting ceremony" at the boardwalk's completion in a few months. Additional boardwalk and bridges over the remaining areas prone to winter flooding in the Lower Avatar Grove, railings along the bridge in the Upper Grove, an improved staircase into the Lower Grove that will include a viewing platform overlooking the forest, and a variety of smaller projects are all underway.
The Avatar Grove was protected in 2012 after a two-year long campaign led by the AFA and has now become akin to a “second Cathedral Grove”. Thousands of people visit this spectacular ancient forest all year long, hugely bolstering the economies of southern Vancouver Island with old-growth forest tourism. The boardwalk is vital to protect the tree roots and understory from excessive trampling, to enhance visitor safety, and to support the local eco-tourism economy. Please
DONATE HERE towards this final stretch for the boardwalk’s completion!
If you're interested in volunteering, please contact TJ at:
info@ancientforestalliance.org with 'Avatar Boardwalk Volunteer 2016 - [your name]' in the subject line. Feel free to include any relevant experience you may have in the message as well. Thanks!
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3. Other Old-Growth News: East Creek Rainforest, Bialowieza Forest and Mount Elphinstone• East Creek RainforestThe East Creek Rainforest near the Brooks Peninsula on NW Vancouver Island, until recent year, was one of the most intact old-growth valleys left on the southern coast until LeMare and Lionsgate logging began clearcutting huge sections of its ancient forests. This is an ecological travesty!
See a recent article in the Tyee
here• Poland's Bialowieza ForestCommercial logging has recently begun in Europe's last major old-growth forest, the famous Bialowieza old-growth forest in eastern Poland, home to the European bison.
See this
recent article in the Guardian as well as an
earlier article in the Guardian about the imminent threat to the forests.
To express your opposition to the logging, visit the website of the local activists
here
• Mount ElphinstoneThe Elphinstone Logging Focus is working to stop a BC Timber Sales (a BC government-directed logging cutblock) cutblock in the biologically rich mature forests on the slopes of Mount Elphinstone near Gibsons on the Sunshine Coast.
See an article in the Coast Reporter
here Visit the website of Elphinstone Logging Focus at:
http://www.loggingfocus.org/**********
4. Now Hiring - Door, Street & Phone Canvassers in VANCOUVER and Door Canvassers in VICTORIA!The Ancient Forest Alliance is hiring door canvassers for part-time or full-time work (Mon to Fri,
5-9:30pm) in Victoria, as well as door, street and phone canvassers in Vancouver. Apply to join a team of environmentally-conscious people to help raise funds and environmental awareness about BC’s endangered old-growth forests and forestry jobs!
**Great job for full-time or part-time students!**To apply in VICTORIA, contact Amanda Evans at:
canvass@ancientforestalliance.orgTo apply in VANCOUVER, contact Ezra Bloom or Kent MacWilliam at:
vancanvass@ancientforestalliance.org
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