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.The objectives of the Ancient Forest Alliance, as stated on their website, are to:[3] The Ancient Forest Alliance was founded in January 2010 by former Western Canada Wilderness Committee activists Ken Wu, TJ Watt, and Tara Sawatsky, along with old-growth activists Katrina Andres and Brendan Harry from Victoria and Michelle Connolly from Vancouver.[3][9] 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.[15] The approximately 1000-year old Red Creek Fir is 73.8 m (242 ft) tall and 4.2m (13' 9") wide, is located near Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island and is one of the largest Douglas-fir in the world.)[16] In February 2010 the Ancient Forest Alliance announced that they had discovered new logging tape within a few hundred metres of the Red Creek Fir, and that they feared it might soon be surrounded by a clearcut, making it susceptible to blowdown and reducing its tourism value.)[22] Originally published by The Walrus, where the article won a silver National Magazine Award (2018),[23] the story helped to re-ignite interest in the clearcutting issue and attracted additional coverage by the major news media.In April 2019, it was one of the groups lobbying to prevent additional logging of a 109 hectare old-growth forest adjacent to the Juan de Fuca Provincial Park in the Port Renfrew area, known as the Tall Tree Capital of Canada.[27][28] The Ancient Forest Alliance is campaigning to protect a 10-hectare stand of 80-metre tall old growth Douglas-fir and western red cedar that is 15 minutes outside of Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island, Canada.[33] John Cash, president of the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce, has said that he supports the protection of Avatar Grove because of its potential for increasing tourism in the area.[43] 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 provincial electoral district in order to launch their campaign in that swing riding.
The Tolkien Giant in the unprotected upper Walbran Valley
Aerial art event organized by the Ancient Forest Committee at Simon Fraser University