From left to right: Jens Wieting (Sierra Club of BC); Andrea Inness (AFA); Dan Hager (Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce); Ken Wu (AFA); and Arnold Bercov (Public and Private Workers of Canada) by an old-growth redcedar tree in Stanley Park.

Ancient Forest Alliance Featured in Vancouver’s Chinese-Language Newspaper

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The AFA was recently featured in an article in Sing Tao – Vancouver’s Chinese-language newspaper – from our press conference Oct 10th with Jens Wieting of Sierra Club BC, Dan Hager from the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce, and Arnie Bercov from the Public and Private Workers of Canada forestry union.

Our organizations came together to shine a spotlight on BC’s forestry industry during the 2017 Forest Stewardship Council General Assembly and the need for changes to protect old-growth forests and forestry jobs.

 

Some AFA staff and allies in the Lower Avatar Grove. Pictured from left to right are: TJ Watt (AFA Photographer)

Ancient Forest Alliance Featured in Latest Edition of Your Magazine

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The latest edition of Your Magazine features the Ancient Forest Alliance, with quite a bit of information on the organization’s “modus operandi”. See the article (pages 5-6) at: https://issuu.com/yourmagazinevictoria/docs/your-summer2017-web

Ancient Forest Alliance

Shaw TV: Walbran Valley Update

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Direct link to video: https://youtu.be/A3X9NEoKtpg

Check out the latest Shaw TV news piece on the Walbran Valley, Castle Grove, and Eden Grove ancient forests near Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island in Pacheedaht First Nation territory, and what a new provincial government could mean for BC's endangered old-growth forests! It features an interview with the Ancient Forest Alliance's executive director Ken Wu and video footage (including drone footage) and photos taken by the AFA's photographer and campaigner TJ Watt. Thanks to Lorraine Scollan and Heather Leary of Shaw TV for covering these local old-growth forest issues again!

Ancient Forest Alliance

WATCH: Avatar Grove Boardwalk

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Direct link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pNaEbAflsk

Check out the major new Shaw TV piece, featuring the most extensive news coverage on Avatar Grove so far, about the completion of the boardwalk and its significance for Port Renfrew and ancient forest protection! Featuring the Ancient Forest Alliance’s TJ Watt and Ken Wu, Dan Hager of the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce, Jon Cash of Soule Creek Lodge, Kristine Pearson and Pamela Jones of the Pacheedaht First Nation band, Matthew Varley and Scott Harris super volunteers, and Alison Sturrock an international tourist who happened to be hiking there. Thanks to Shaw TV’s Lorraine Scollan and Heather Leary for putting this piece together!

Ancient Forest Alliance

Ancient forest hot spot: Port Renfrew’s Avatar Grove now accessible to public

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See this link for CHEK News Video coverage: www.cheknews.ca/ancient-forest-hot-spot-port-renfrews-avator-grove-now-accessible-public-355742/

They are some of the most magnificent trees on Vancouver Island or even the world.

“You're going to see some of the grandest forest left not only in Canada but on planet Earth. To have these 14-15 foot wide trees here is a very rare thing, these trees can be 1,000 years old,” said Ken Wu, executive director of the Ancient Forest Alliance.
 
Once a little-known area, the 50-hectare forest outside of Port Renfrew is now easily accessible, after a ribbon cutting ceremony Thursday officially opened “Avatar Grove” to the public.
 
Work on the boardwalk project started four years ago, after the Ancient Forest Alliance fought and won a battle to have the area protected.
 
It took hundreds of volunteers endless hours to transform the rugged terrain.
 
“It obviously involved tremendous effort carrying the heavy boardwalk planks and buckets of gravel to top of the hill to build these,” said TJ Watt, boardwalk co-ordinator with the Ancient Forest Alliance.
 
One of the main goals was to protect the sensitive ecosystem
 
“We wanted to first and foremost protect plants and tree roots from all foot traffic going by,” said Watt.
 
But it was also to make it a tourist draw — and it has worked.
 
On Thursday, there were dozens of visitors from Victoria, Toronto, and even Germany on the one-kilometre trail.
 
“I think it's bigger than I pictured it, the big trees and everything's so green,” said Tim Schumaker, a tourist from Germany.
 
Visitors included several families with young children, who said they found the trail, with its new boardwalks, easy to hike.
 
The popularity of Avatar Grove's ancient trees is providing a major boost to the small community of Port Renfrew.
 
“That's created a spur, a flurry of economic activity, between new employment, construction, people becoming more interested in Renfrew and making Renfrew a destination,” said Dan Hager, president of the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce.
 
Those who fought to protect Avatar Grove, and it's unique beauty, are hoping it sends a message to the government that protecting old growth forests is more than just an environmental decision.
 
“People used to think saving old growth forest undermines rural economies, instead it shows the opposite, saving old growth forest actually brings in tremendous amounts of revenues, businesses, and jobs for rural economies,” said Wu.
 
And now people of all ages, from around the world, will have a chance to see the gentle giants up close.
Left to Right: Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) Boardwalk Coodinator TJ Watt

New pathway for ancient forest

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Volunteers have put the finishing touches on one of the region’s newest big-tree destinations.
 
The boardwalk and trail at Avatar Grove, an old-growth forest 20 minutes from Port Renfrew, is complete after four years of work.
 
“If you were to arrive at Avatar Grove, you’ll find a one-kilometre trail with hundreds of metres of high-quality boardwalk that takes you through one of the most spectacular ancient forests in the country,” said TJ Watt, Avatar Grove boardwalk co-ordinator with the Ancient Forest Alliance.
 
The boardwalk protects the tree roots and vegetation from excessive trampling and provides safe public access to the forest, he said. “It allows people to spend more time looking at the trees and less time looking at their feet.”
 
 
Avatar Grove, also known as T’l’oqwxwat, received provincial protection in 2012 after a campaign led by the Ancient Forest Alliance and the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce. Port Renfrew has branded itself the Tall Tree Capital of Canada, as part of its economic shift toward tourism and away from logging.
 
The area includes Big Lonely Doug, an old-growth tree believed to be the second-largest Douglas fir in Canada and stands in the middle of a clearcut. On the road toward Port Renfrew is another old-growth forest that the Ancient Forest Alliance is tentatively calling Jurassic Park, another area it hopes will be protected.
 
Ken Wu, executive director of the Ancient Forest Alliance, said about 300 tourists visit Avatar Grove on a summer weekend afternoon. “Avatar Grove has shown that saving ancient forests benefits the local economy — businesses and jobs. And it’s changed the whole narrative from the previous way of thinking, which was that saving ancient forests would undermine rural economies,” Wu said.
 
The project was supported by the Pacheedaht First Nation, the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce and a team of volunteers at the Ancient Forest Alliance.
 
Strong winds that knocked down several trees in October 2016 delayed the boardwalk completion.
 
Boardwalk in the Upper Avatar Grove

Avatar Grove Boardwalk Now Completed and Open

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After 4 years of work involving hundreds of volunteers, Avatar Grove now has a kilometre-long trail and boardwalk that includes extensive stairs, steps, walkways, bridges, and viewing platforms.
 
In 2013, the Ancient Forest Alliance began constructing the boardwalk on both sides of the Gordon River Main logging road in the Upper and Lower Avatar Groves.
 
Now it's open the Ancient Forest Alliance's Ken Wu says it's been great for eco-tourism. “That is a message for other rural communities to stand up for the ancient forest in your area. Maybe take a page out of Costa Rica's book and  take a step towards a sustainable economy and instead log second growth forest sustainably instead of logging the last of our ancient forests as well.”
 
The Grove is located on the Gordon River Main logging road, about 20 minutes from Port Renfrew.
 
It is home to one of the most spectacular and easily accessible stands of monumental old-growth trees in BC and has become among BC's most popular old-growth forest tourism destinations, bolstering and transforming the economy of the local region and allowing Port Renfrew to rebrand itself as the “Tall Trees Capital of Canada”.
 
CFAX article: https://www.iheartradio.ca/cfax-1070/news/avatar-grove-boardwalk-now-completed-and-open-1.3063436
Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce President Dan Hager

Avatar Grove boardwalk finally complete

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Something to celebrate
 
After four years of work, the boardwalk at Avatar Grove is officially finished and ready to be enjoyed by the public. On Thursday, the Ancient Forest Alliance held a grand opening ceremony in Port Renfrew in celebration of the effort put in to building the boardwalk. “We now have a kilometre-long trail with sections of high quality boardwalk for visitors with diverse abilities to enjoy one of Canada’s most magnificent ancient forests,” said TJ Watt, the alliance’s Avatar boardwalk coordinator.
 
AFA Boardwalk Co-odinator TJ Watt carries materials along the new trail.

Volunteer-built boardwalk showcases protected old-growth near Port Renfrew

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Volunteers on Vancouver Island hope the completion of a boardwalk through a section of old-growth forest near Port Renfrew will help prove that B.C.'s giant trees are more valuable standing.

The ancient trees in Avatar Grove have been protected from logging since 2012.
 
But the trails and boardwalk to make them accessible to tourists for viewing, led by the Ancient Forest Alliance, has taken four years to complete.
 
“Hundreds of people have come out to help, to carry buckets of gravel up through the trail, to carry heavy boardwalk planks, hammering thousands of nails and swatting a million mosquitos,” said T.J. Watt, boardwalk coordinator for the group.
 
Port Renfrew has long relied on forestry and commercial fishing as main industries. But outdoor recreation and eco-tourism are a growing part of the economy.
 
In recent years, the town has even rebranded as Canada's tall tree capital, thanks in part to the thousands of visitors per year who now come to see the big trees in Avatar Grove, Watt said.
 
“Avatar Grove really is a case study in showing how protecting old-growth forest can be a huge boom to the economy rather than hindering it,” he said.
 
Materials for the project were paid for through public donations and grants from companies such as MEC and Patagonia, Watt said.
 
Avatar Grove is located on Crown land within the traditional territory of the Pacheedaht First Nation. It received protection from logging following a two-year awareness campaign by the Ancient Forest Alliance.
 
Now that the boardwalk is complete, Watt says attention will now turn to protecting other old-growth areas in B.C.
 
One such area was discovered this spring between Port Renfrew and Jordan River. It has been dubbed Jurassic Grove for the size of the trees.
 
“We feel that other communities around British Columbia can look to Port Renfrew as an example of how they can protect old growth forest in their own community and stand to benefit from that,” he said.
 
“We are not saying end all logging across the province. We just need to do it in a smarter, more sustainable way.”
 

Avatar Grove boardwalk construction to be finished this weekend

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This weekend the boardwalk in the Avatar Grove will finally be finished construction after four years.

For the finishing touches, volunteers with the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) will be building a new platform, stairs, steps, and walkways, and install signage, on the major project.

“The Avatar Grove’s real significance is that it serves as an example to other communities that protecting old-growth forests benefits the economy by hugely bolstering local businesses and jobs,” said Ken Wu, executive director of the Ancient Forest Alliance.“In helping to revitalize Port Renfrew’s economy, it has clearly counteracted the old, false narrative that saving old-growth forests harms the local economy. The Avatar Grove and its boardwalk have been the most important catalyst for B.C.’s ancient forest movement in recent times and have helped to shape the fate of endangered forests across the province.”

See full article in the Sooke News Mirror: https://www.sookenewsmirror.com/news/avatar-grove-boardwalk-construction-to-be-finished-this-weekend/