News Coverage

Using a backdrop of parkland bought by the Capital Regional District, an environmental group on Thursday called on the provincial government to set up a park acquisition fund similar to that of the CRD.

A fund of at least $40 million a year, raising $400 million over 10 years, is needed if old growth and other endangered ecosystems on private lands are to be protected, said Ken Wu, Ancient Forest Alliance co-founder.

Environment Ministry spokesman Suntanu Dalal said there is no set annual budget for buying parkland, but other strategies – such as density transfers, land exchanges or partnering with organizations such as land trusts – are used for acquiring land.

Until 2008-09, there was a land acquisition budget, Dalal said. “Due to fiscal challenges, that fund no longer exists. However, the ability to continue to acquire key properties has remained,” Dalal said.

Sooke Potholes Regional Park, part of which was protected through the CRD’s park acquisition fund, is an example of what can be achieved, Wu said at a news conference.

The situation is urgent because Island Timberlands is set to log several privately owned forests with high recreational and environmental value, he said.

“The government must step forward with a funding solution,” Wu said. “At the same time, Island Timberlands needs to put the brakes on their plans to log the last old growth stands and contentious areas until those lands can be purchased for protection.”

Island Timberlands did not return calls on Thursday.

The company recently postponed logging on Cortes Island, a move that activist Zoe Miles attributes to intense public pressure. “It’s a temporary victory, but it does give us more time to raise funds for land purchase,” Miles said. “If Island Timberlands is genuinely willing to consider a land sale at fair market value, then it’s the responsibility of our provincial government to listen to its electorate and make that happen.”

Conservationists fear Cathedral Grove Canyon, near Port Alberni, and the nearby Cameron Valley Firebreak are about to be logged.

Dalal said the priority for the next fiscal year will be completing projects where there are legal obligations in place or where land with significant value is donated to the province.

“Lands are selected based on priorities for conservation, recreation or operational purposes,” he said.

It’s a grove of 900 year-old cedars near Port Renfrew and has attracted the attention of everyone from eco-tourists to Al Jazeera.The BC government announced Avatar Grove will be protected from logging. Ken Wu is celebrating this decision. He has spent years advocating for preservation of the area. He is the co-founder of the Ancient Forest Alliance.

[CBC Radio All Points West interview with Ken Wu no longer available]

A grove of giant, old-growth trees that has drawn thousands of tourists to Port Renfrew over the past two years will be protected by the province.

Avatar Grove, a unique stand of centuries-old Douglas firs and red cedars, will be at the heart of an expanded, 59-hectare old-growth management area, Forests Minister Steve Thomson said Thursday.

“A lot of the requests that came in recognized the importance of the grove to the community,” Thomson said in an interview.

“It’s very good news for Vancouver Island.”

Logging and mining are not permitted in old-growth management areas, but the designation is one step short of legislated protection given to parks.

The decision follows a public review period, with 232 out of 236 comments favouring protection.

The grove, with massive gnarled trees and an abundance of wildlife, gained public attention after being discovered by members of the Ancient Forest Alliance who gave it the Avatar nickname. Shortly after the initial visit in February 2010, the area was flagged for logging and a public campaign to save Avatar Grove gained steam. At that time only 24 per cent of the grove was in an old-growth management area.

To the amazement of many residents of Port Renfrew, a community formerly based on logging, the big trees drew a steady stream of sightseers.

“I was shocked at the amount of people,” said Rosie Betsworth, Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce president.

Through last summer, at least a dozen people stopped daily at the Chamber of Commerce information booth asking about Avatar Grove. Tours run by the AFA drew up to 80 people each time. “We owe the Ancient Forest Alliance a big thank you for bringing Avatar into the public focus,” Betsworth said.

Ken Wu, AFA co-founder, said the success of Avatar Grove as a tourist attraction will be watched in communities across the province.

“It is important that environmentalism has a component on how people can make revenues and have jobs,” he said.

Wu and co-founder TJ Watt applauded the provincial protection, but would have preferred the stronger park designation. They want the government to stop all old-growth logging on Vancouver Island.

“Virtually all of the valley bottoms on southern Vancouver Island, where the biggest trees grow, have been logged,” Watt said. “Our main goal is to see a new provincial plan to protect all of B.C’s endangered old-growth forests and to ensure a sustainable second-growth industry instead.”

Surrey-based Teal-Jones Group, which holds logging rights for Avatar Grove, will be compensated with 57 hectares removed from other old-growth management areas. That is a legal obligation to license holders, Thomson said.

But the AFA questions why compensation should be paid on publicly-owned Crown forests.

“The company does not own the land or the trees, all they have are access rights to the resource through their licence,” Wu said.

View the Times Colonist article here:  https://www.timescolonist.com/

Ken Wu called it a “campaign on steroids,” and Rose Betsworth called it a “soft approach,” but whatever it was called, the provincial government listened.

On February 16, Minister Steve Thomson for the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations announced that all of Avatar Grove is now protected from harvesting.

Wu, co-founder of the Ancient Forest Alliance, said he would like to commend the B.C. government for protecting this key old growth forest.

“Eventually we would like to see it as a legislated park or conservancy,” said Wu.

Rose Betsworth, president of the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce is understandably pleased. For her community it means Avatar Grove will be made more accessible with upgrades to the trails and tidying up the area.

“Now we can make it better for everybody… we can put a trail in and do upkeep,” said Betsworth.

She said the Ancient Forest Alliance had the right approach which was a soft one where they educated people and gained respect out of that. The AFC included forestry workers’ and the small business community’s comments and concerns in their efforts to save the grove.

“They’re not a bunch of radicals,” said Betsworth in referring to the way the AFA conducted their campaign.

The campaign led to a public review and comment period during the fall of 2011 where 232 out of 236 comments expressed support for preservation of the grove.

The unique stand of old-growth cedar near Port Renfrew is now protected in an expanded old-growth management area, totaling 59.4 hectares,

TJ Watt, the other co-founder of AFA, came across the grove in December 2009, popularized it and began the goal of preserving the monumental stand of valley-bottom ancient red cedars and Douglas fir.

“We commend the BC government for protecting this key tract of extremely rare valley bottom ancient forest – virtually all of the valley bottoms on southern Vancouver Island where the biggest trees grow have been logged, literally 95 per cent of them, ” stated TJ Watt. “At the same time, thousands of hectares of old-growth forests are being logged every year on Vancouver Island, and millions of hectares of old-growth forests are endangered across B.C. Our main goal is to see a new provincial plan to protect all of B.C.’s endangered old-growth forests and to ensure a sustainable second-growth forest industry instead.”

To fulfil the province’s obligation to Teal-Jones Group, which holds the logging rights for Tree Farm Licence 46 where Avatar Grove is located, the boundaries of other old-growth management areas were adjusted by removing 57.4 hectares.

Of the 862,125 hectares of old-growth forests on Crown land on Vancouver Island, it’s estimated that over 520,000 hectares will never be harvested.

Sooke News Mirror article:   https://www.sookenewsmirror.com/news/139468763.html