Ancient Forest Alliance - AbsoluteAstronomy.com


Established	2010
Board of Directors	Ken Wu, TJ Watt, Tara Sawatsky, Michelle Connolly, Brendan Harry
Headquarters	Victoria Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian... , BC British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858... , Canada Canada Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
Membership	7,000
Homepage	www.ancientforestalliance.org

The Ancient Forest Alliance is a grassroots

Grassroots

A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...

environmental organization

Environmental organization

An environmental organization is an organization that seeks to protect, analyze or monitor the environment against misuse or degradation or lobby for these goals....

in British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. It was founded in January, 2010, and is dedicated to protecting British Columbia's old growth forests in areas where they are scarce, and ensuring sustainable forestry jobs in that province.

Mission

The objectives of the Ancient Forest Alliance, as stated on their website, are to:

Undertake a Provincial Old-Growth Strategy that will inventory the old-growth forests in BC and protect them where they are scarce (ie. Vancouver Island, southern Mainland coast, southern Interior, etc.)

Ensure the sustainable logging of second-growth forests, which now constitute the majority of forest lands in southern BC.

End the export of BC raw logs to foreign mills in order to ensure a guaranteed log supply for BC mills and value-added processing facilities.

Assist in the retooling and development of BC coastal sawmills and value-added facilities to handle second-growth logs.

Undertake new, democratic land-use planning processes to protect endangered forests based on new First Nations land-use plans, ecosystem-based scientific assessments, and climate mitigation strategies through forest protection.

History

The Ancient Forest Alliance was founded in January of 2010 by former Western Canada Wilderness Committee

Western Canada Wilderness Committee

The Western Canada Wilderness Committee is a non-profit environmental education organization that aims to protect Canada's wild spaces and species. Paul George, the founding director, formed the Wilderness Committee in the province of British Columbia in 1980...

activists Ken Wu, TJ Watt, and Tara Sawatsky, along with old-growth

Old growth forest

An old-growth forest is a forest that has attained great age , and thereby exhibits unique ecological features. An old growth forest has also usually reached a climax community...

activists Katrina Andres and Brendan Harry from Victoria

Victoria, British Columbia

Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...

and Michelle Connolly from Vancouver

Vancouver

Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

. The founders were prompted to start the new organization when the Western Canada Wilderness Committee announced in late 2009 that it was both closing its Victoria

Victoria, British Columbia

storefront and reorganizing its Victoria office in a way that they felt reduced its focus on old growth forest

Old growth forest

An old-growth forest is a forest that has attained great age , and thereby exhibits unique ecological features. An old growth forest has also usually reached a climax community...

s. The objective of the Ancient Forest Alliance was to fill a different niche than the Western Canadian Wilderness Committee by focusing specifically on old growth forests and by not obtaining status as a charitable organization

Charitable organization

A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...

, which allows it to either endorse or condemn politicians based on their forest policies. By March 9, 2010, less than two months after its creation, the Ancient Forest Alliance had grown to over 6,000 Facebook

Facebook

Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...

members.

Organization

The Ancient Forest Alliance currently has a board of directors consisting of Victoria conservationists and former Wilderness Committee activists Ken Wu, TJ Watt, Tara Sawatsky, and Brendan Harry, and Vancouver activist Michelle Connolly. Most of the work has been volunteered by the board of directors and supporters, but in March, 2010, the Ancient Forest Alliance launched a fundraising drive so they could hire core staff and pay for campaign costs.

Although the Ancient Forest Alliance is registered as a non-profit society

Non-profit organization

Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...

in British Columbia, they have declared that they will not register as a charitable organization

Charitable organization

. The lack of charitable status makes fundraising more difficult, because they can not issue tax receipts for donations. However, it also allows them to reject or endorse specific political candidates, based on their stance on old growth forest

Old growth forest

An old-growth forest is a forest that has attained great age , and thereby exhibits unique ecological features. An old growth forest has also usually reached a climax community...

s, while charitable organizations cannot take partisan political positions. The Ancient Forest Alliance has said that they will organize in swing ridings

Marginal seat

A marginal seat, or swing seat, is a constituency held with a particularly small majority in a legislative election, generally conducted under a single-winner voting system. In Canada they may be known as target ridings. The opposite is a safe seat....

to have maximum effectiveness in influencing government policies.
The Ancient Forest Alliance has also stated that they will "help empower, train, and guide new citizens’ groups that are going to fight for ancient forests", which they feel will help them run an effective campaign on a much small budget than larger environmental organizations. Since 2007, Ancient Forest Committees have been founded in various universities and regions of Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island is a large island in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several North American locations named after George Vancouver, the British Royal Navy officer who explored the Pacific Northwest coast of North America between 1791 and 1794...

and the Lower Mainland

Lower Mainland

The Lower Mainland is a name commonly applied to the region surrounding and including Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. As of 2007, 2,524,113 people live in the region; sixteen of the province's thirty most populous municipalities are located there.While the term Lower Mainland has been...

of British Columbia, including the University of British Columbia

University of British Columbia

The University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...

, Simon Fraser University

Simon Fraser University

Simon Fraser University is a Canadian public research university in British Columbia with its main campus on Burnaby Mountain in Burnaby, and satellite campuses in Vancouver and Surrey. The main campus in Burnaby, located from downtown Vancouver, was established in 1965 and has more than 34,000...

, and the University of Victoria

University of Victoria

The University of Victoria, often referred to as UVic, is the second oldest public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It is a research intensive university located in Saanich and Oak Bay, about northeast of downtown Victoria. The University's annual enrollment is about 20,000 students...

. These Ancient Forest Committees are autonomous, volunteer-run organizations that are independent from the Ancient Forest Alliance, but endorse its goals and strategies, and collaborate on certain events such as rallies, hiking trips, and activist training gatherings.

Campaigns

Documenting ancient forests and giant trees
The Ancient Forest Alliance has stated that they will "explore and document endangered ancient forests, record-sized heritage trees, and areas destroyed by old-growth logging." Photographer TJ Watt has been exploring and documenting old growth forests and giant trees for the Ancient Forest Alliance.
Protecting the Red Creek Fir
The 1000-year old Red Creek Fir is 73.8 m (242 ft) tall and 4.2m (13’ 9”) wide, and is the largest Douglas-fir

Douglas-fir

Douglas-fir is one of the English common names for evergreen coniferous trees of the genus Pseudotsuga in the family Pinaceae. Other common names include Douglas tree, and Oregon pine. There are five species, two in western North America, one in Mexico, and two in eastern Asia...

in the world. In February 2010 the Ancient Forest Alliance announced that they had discovered new logging tape within a few hundred meters of the Red Creek Fir, and that they feared it might soon be surrounded by a clearcut

Clearcutting

Clearcutting, or clearfelling, is a controversial forestry/logging practice in which most or all trees in an area are uniformly cut down. Clearcutting, along with shelterwood and seed tree harvests, is used by foresters to create certain types of forest ecosystems and to promote select species that...

, making it susceptible to blowdown

Windthrow

In forestry, windthrow refers to trees uprooted or broken by wind. Breakage of the tree bole instead of uprooting is sometimes called windsnap.- Causes :...

and reducing its tourism value. The Ministry of Forests has stated that the area immediately surrounding the Red Creek Fir is protected from logging, and that there are no plans to log the surrounding area in the immediate future. TimberWest, which owns the surrounding area, has confirmed this, stating that the logging tape does not necessarily mean that it will be logged, and that they are not planning on logging the area within the next year or two. The Red Creek Fir is an important tourist attraction

Tourist attraction

A tourist attraction is a place of interest where tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, or amusement opportunities....

for the nearby town of Port Renfrew, according to the local Chamber of Commerce

Chamber of commerce

A chamber of commerce is a form of business network, e.g., a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to advocate on behalf of the business community...

. TimberWest has said that they recognize the value of the tree, and are looking at improving access to it for tourists. The Ancient Forest Alliance has put up a new sign at the Red Creek Fir, and they are asking the British Columbia government to establish a Provincial Heritage Trees designation that will identify and protect the 100 largest and oldest specimens of each of the province’s tree species
Protecting Avatar Grove
The Ancient Forest Alliance is campaigning to protect a 10-hectare stand of 80-meter tall old growth

Old growth forest

An old-growth forest is a forest that has attained great age , and thereby exhibits unique ecological features. An old growth forest has also usually reached a climax community...

Douglas-fir

and western red cedar that is 15 minutes outside of Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island

, Canada. It was discovered by TJ Watt and has been nicknamed Avatar Grove. The Ancient Forest Alliance claims that this is one of the most spectacular and most accessible stands of ancient trees in a wilderness setting that remains on southern Vancouver Island, and that it is one of the only examples in the region of old growth forest on a valley bottom. One of the giant cedars in Avatar Grove has numerous huge burl

Burl

A burl or bur or burr is a tree growth in which the grain has grown in a deformed manner. It is commonly found in the form of a rounded outgrowth on a tree trunk or branch that is filled with small knots from dormant buds.A burl results from a tree undergoing some form of stress. It may be caused...

s and has been dubbed "Canada's gnarliest tree". The Teal-Jones Group has cutting rights for the area, and while the Ministry of Forests reports that logging is prohibited in a portion of Avatar Grove, the Ancient Forest Alliance maintains that the majority is still unprotected. John Cash, president of the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce

Chamber of commerce

, has said that he supports the protection of Avatar Grove because of its potential for increasing tourism in the area. On March 28, 2010, the Ancient Forest Alliance organized a trip to take volunteers, community members, and media to see Avatar Grove.
Three-step program for the Post-Avatar Blues
In February, 2010, the Ancient Forest Alliance announced their three-step program to cure the Post-Avatar Blues, a depression experienced by some viewers of the blockbuster film Avatar when they have to return to the drab reality of Earth after experiencing the wondrous ecology of the fictional moon Pandora

Fictional universe of Avatar

In the 2009 science fiction film Avatar, director James Cameron conceived a fictional universe in which humans seek to mine unobtanium on the fictional exoplanetary moon, Pandora. The Earth-like moon is inhabited by a sapient indigenous humanoid species called the Na'vi, and varied fauna and flora...

. The Ancient Forest Alliance maintained that the ancient forests of British Columbia and the wildlife that inhabits them are just as spectacular as the forests of Pandora, and suggested the following three-step program to cure movie-goers of their depression: "Get out and experience nature, take action to defend nature, and get others to do the same".
Avatar-themed rally to protect old growth forests
The Ancient Forest Alliance has organized one rally, which was held in downtown Vancouver on March 27, 2010. About 100 supporters marched from Canada Place to the Vancouver Art Gallery, making demands for the BC government to protect endangered old growth forests and support sustainable logging of second growth forests. The rally borrowed images from the blockbuster hit Avatar, with numerous people painted as characters from that movie.
Canada's Biggest Stumps competition
In April, 2010, members of the Ancient Forest Alliance discovered some giant stumps near Port Renfrew, BC. The stumps were from recently cut old growth red cedar, and measured between 3.7 and 4.6 metres in diameter. The stumps were on crown land being logged by the Surrey-based Teal-Jones Group. This discovery prompted the Ancient Forest Alliance to launch "Canada's Biggest Stumps Competition", and they created a Facebook site where people can upload their pictures of giant stumps.
Creating new regional parks in the Capital Regional District
In May, 2010, the Parks department of the Capital Regional District of southern Vancouver Island hosted a number of public input meetings to determine, among other things, candidates for new protected areas in the region. The Ancient Forest Alliance praised the Capital Regional District for considering public input, and recommended several areas of old growth forest for protection in regional parks. The areas that the Ancient Forest Alliance wants the Capital Regional District to protect include the Red Creek Fir (the largest Douglas-fir on earth), the San Juan Spruce (the largest Sitka spruce in Canada), and Avatar Grove, all of which are on public land.
Organizing in swing ridings
On April 9, 2010, the Ancient Forest Alliance led media representatives to see a 400-year-old Douglas-fir growing in the Oak Bay-Gordon Head

Oak Bay-Gordon Head

Oak Bay-Gordon Head is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Canada.- Demographics :- Member of Legislative Assembly :...

provincial

Provinces and territories of Canada

The provinces and territories of Canada combine to make up the world's second-largest country by area. There are ten provinces and three territories...

electoral district

Electoral district

An electoral district is a distinct territorial subdivision for holding a separate election for one or more seats in a legislative body...

in order to launch their campaign in that swing riding

Marginal seat

. The group declared that they will focus their campaign on the dozen or so swing ridings in British Columbia to force the BC government to protect endangered old-growth forests, ensure the sustainable logging of second-growth forest, ban raw log exports, and assist in retooling of old-growth sawmills for value-added wood manufacturing. The Ancient Forest Alliance is not a charity, and is therefore is permitted to condemn or endorse politicians and political parties. On May 14, the group held a gift-giving ceremony at BC Liberal

British Columbia Liberal Party

The British Columbia Liberal Party is the governing political party in British Columbia, Canada. First elected for government in 1916, the party went into decline after 1952, with its rump caucus merging with the Social Credit Party for the 1975 election...

MLA

Legislative Assembly of British Columbia

The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia is one of two components of the Parliament of British Columbia, the provincial parliament ....

Ida Chong

Ida Chong is British Columbia's Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development and was Minister Responsible for the Asia-Pacific Initiative as well as Minister of Technology, Trade, and Economic Development. She has served in this position since June 2008...

's office in Oak Bay

Oak Bay, British Columbia

Oak Bay is a municipality located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, in the Canadian Province of British Columbia, Canada. A member municipality of the Capital Regional District, it is a community east of and adjacent to the City of Victoria...

. Ida Chong won the last election by a 2% margin.

Fundraising
On May 8, 2010, the Ancient Forest Alliance held a fundraiser at Tzvi's Place in Vancouver. Numerous musicians played at the event, and all proceeds went to the Ancient Forest Alliance, and to support local musicians. The Big Tree Tour is another fundraiser for the Ancient Forest Alliance, which is scheduled to happen from June 3 to 6, 2010. Eight riders will take pledges from donors, and intend to cycle 260 km through southern Vancouver Island to visit some of the largest trees on the planet.

External links

Official website for the Ancient Forest Alliance

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