edinburgh mountain

Exploring & Climbing Ancient Giants at Eden Grove

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While further exploring Eden Grove in Pacheedaht territory earlier this year, I came across another epic stand of ancient giants!

The grove, located near Port Renfrew, boasts magnificent, monumental redcedars in every direction and forms a perfect, pizza-slice-like triangle. Nicknamed the "Pizza Slice” for now, it truly is a slice of heaven. 🌲🍕

In early March, with the help of our friends at Expedition Old-Growth, we were able to climb and measure the grove's biggest tree: an enormous, burly cedar that came in at 175 feet tall and nearly 14 feet wide!

The "Pizza Slice," Eden Grove, and the rest of Edinburgh Mountain's remaining ancient forests comprise one of the most outstanding, unprotected old-growth "hotspots" on Vancouver Island, where over 96% of "big tree" forests have already been logged. Sadly, this rare, intact mountain is being chipped away at by Teal Jones, one cutblock at a time.

Time is running out to save ancient forest hotspots like this one. Without immediate moratoria, the Province's plans to develop a provincial old-growth strategy will result in a classic talk-and-log scenario.

Speak up. Tell the BC NDP we urgently need immediate AND long-term solutions for old-growth:
https://www.ancientforestalliance.org/send-a-message/

(Note: These images were captured prior to physical distancing & travel restriction measures being put in place. Small communities like Port Renfrew are now asking people to refrain from visiting at this time.)

Surrounded by ancient redcedar trees that remain unprotected and at risk at Eden Grove near Port Renfrew.

BBC Earth Features Port Renfrew's Ancient Forests on Instagram

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BBC Earth has featured Avatar Grove, the unprotected Eden Grove, and Big Lonely Doug in their latest Instagram story (which reaches 5.2 million followers!), helping to raise global awareness of the need to protect these rare and endangered ecosystems. See the story where I tour Connel Bradwell through the ancient forests near Port Renfrew in Pacheedaht territory on their page here: www.instagram.com/bbcearth/ (click the circle image of BLD or direct link). Below are some photos from our day out in the field!

Run With The Ghosts Of Giants

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Check out this great short film by friend & filmmaker, James Frystak, featuring three trail runners using their passion to raise awareness about the beauty and destruction of BC's coastal ancient forests.

The film follows the runners through stunning old-growth forests like Avatar and Eden Grove and the brutal new clearcuts on Edinburgh Mountain near Port Renfrew in Pacheedaht territory.

As the last remaining old-growth forests of British Columbia are reduced to clear cuts and 2nd growth plantations, a group of trail runners and big tree activists come together to explore what it will take to save the endangered Eden Grove of Port Renfrew, British Columbia. Please share this and head to https://www.ancientforestalliance.org/take-action/ and sign the Petition to Protect BC's Endangered Old-Growth Forests and Forestry Jobs

Old-Growth Logging on Edinburgh Mountain

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New logging has commenced on Edinburgh Mountain, an exceptional old-growth forest “hotspot” near Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island and the location of Big Lonely Doug (Canada’s second largest Douglas-fir tree) and the spectacular Eden Grove. AFA campaigners visited the cutblock December 15th and were dismayed to find scores of giant trees cut down, including two-meter-wide cedars and an extremely rare, two-meter-wide, old-growth Douglas-fir. Over 15 hectares is being logged by Teal Jones, which adds to the over 75 ha of old-growth forest the company has logged on the mountain since 2016.

Just 50 meters away from the active cutblock stands a Douglas-fir tree that is the 6th widest Douglas-fir tree on record, according to the BC Big Tree Registry, and the 7th widest when including the Alberni Giant in the Nahmint Valley. While the near record-sized tree is located within a Wildlife Habitat Area, it remains vulnerable to future logging. Old-growth hotspots of high conservation and recreational value, like Edinburgh Mountain, are disappearing before our eyes and will be reduced to tattered fragments if action isn’t taken soon. The BC government must enact an immediate halt to logging in hotspots to ensure the largest and best stands of remaining ancient forests are kept intact and develop a science-based plan to protect endangered old-growth forests across BC! Send them an instant message at: www.ancientforestalliance.org/send-a-message

Exposed: New Old-Growth Logging on Edinburgh Mt. Near Port Renfrew

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Below are images featuring recent old-growth logging on Edinburgh Mt. near Port Renfrew. It took a 17km round-trip hike up the steepest roads I've encountered on the island to access the area, which is on the mountainside above Big Lonely Doug. What we found were two old-growth clearcuts, totaling 34 hectares (almost 40 football fields) in size. Dozens of old-growth western redcedars - some of them 8 feet in diameter -, yellow cedar, western and mountain hemlocks, and very rare, old Douglas-firs (between 500 to 1000 years in age) have been logged. How much further will the BC government allow this industry to go? Plans for four new old-growth clearcuts, one approved and three pending approval, and an expanded road network are also underway. It would seem that no place is currently deemed too rare or important in the destructive race to log the island's last endangered old-growth forests before we have a chance to see them saved. Ecosystems that have taken millennia to form, erased in a blink of an eye, never to be seen again.

A giant old-growth western redcedar log in a Teal-Jones clearcut on Edinburgh Mt. near Port Renfrew - TFL 46.

Standing among three ancient cedar trees on the edge of new logging operations by Teal-Jones. Edinburgh Mountain is one of the largest contiguous tracts of largely unprotected old-growth forest left on southern Vancouver Island, along with the nearby contentious Central Walbran Valley. It is within the traditional territory of the Pacheedaht First Nation band.

Press: Shaw TV Features Big Lonely Doug and the Eden Grove

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I recently had the pleasure of touring a journalist from Victoria's Shaw TV to both Big Lonely Doug and the spectacular, yet endangered Eden Grove right next door. Check out the two resulting news pieces below, which also feature some of my drone clips and new video from my trail camera of a black bear climbing a giant cedar tree!

Snapshot: Amazing Rainbow near Port Renfrew

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While filming with a documentary crew in Port Renfrew last week, we saw one of the most incredibly vibrant rainbows that any of us had seen before. It appeared to be emanating right from the heart of the ancient forests on Edinburgh Mountain, the largest intact area of old-growth forest in the region, which we took as a sign of hope and good fortune. It doesn't get much more magical than that!