Logging

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!

Drone Video - Climbing Big Lonely Doug: Round 2

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Today I'm excited to have launched a new video which I filmed and edited featuring the Ancient Forest Alliance and Arboreal Collective's second climb up Big Lonely Doug, Canada's 2nd largest Douglas-fir tree! Doug has become the educational mascot of BC’s endangered old-growth forests - his massive size highlights their grandeur, while the dramatic contrast of the surrounding clearcut highlights the threat to them posed by industrial logging. The drone footage, captured using the DJI Phantom 3 Pro, of tree climbers (thanks to Matthew, Aaron, and Elliot!) in this sobering setting will help us raise the public awareness needed to pressure the BC government to protect what remains of the adjacent Eden Grove and endangered old-growth forests across British Columbia, and to ensure a sustainable second-growth forest industry instead.

Capturing the Coast - 2016

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Here's the slideshow I created for Raincoast Education Society's second annual Capturing the Coast photo event in Tofino. It includes images of the many magnificent places I've visited along the west coast of Vancouver Island from Sooke to the Brooks Peninsula and everywhere in between. However, it also highlights the reality that some of these incredible areas are sadly still endangered - a fact I feel can't be ignored. The coastal landscapes of Vancouver Island are among the most beautiful and precious on planet Earth. Let's do all that we can to keep them that way. Music: Gidge - Norrland (https://atomnation.bandcamp.com/album/autumn-bells) Greatest of thanks to Nick Temos at Pacific Northwest Collective for providing the aerial flights as well.

Here's the slideshow I created for Raincoast Education Society's Capturing the Coast 2016 photo event in Tofino! It includes images of the many magnificent places I've visited along the west coast of Vancouver Island from Sooke to the Brooks Peninsula and everywhere in between. It also highlights however the reality that some of these incredible areas are sadly still endangered - a fact that I feel can't be ignored. The coastal landscapes of Vancouver Island are among the most beautiful and precious on planet Earth. Let's do all that we can to keep them that way. *Be sure to watch full screen with sound.
 

Flashback: Gordon River Valley 2009

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In today's digital age there's rarely a shortage of new content to share, but that being said, there's always 100 fold more tucked away in giant hard drives, likely never to see the light of day again. So, as a fun and interesting way to share forgotten photos, stories, and moments from years past, I'll be posting 'Flashbacks' from my archives each Friday.

This set of images here is from late 2009 when I'd bought my first 4wd vehicle, a Subaru Loyale wagon, for $1,500 and began exploring the south island's backroads in my spare time looking for big trees and big stumps. These shots are from up high on logging roads in the Gordon River Valley near Port Renfrew. I was definitely pushing it back in those days with the tiny tires on sharp rocks but curiosity will often take you much further than logic and reason. Watch for more photos and snippets from the past each week.

Looking down the Gordon River Valley towards Port Renfrew from the Bugaboo Main region. The valley bottom old-growth forest - where Big Lonely Doug now stands alone in a clearcut - is still visibly intact in the distant center of this photo. I can't help but think how incredible it would have been to have found it back then...

Exposed: Big Trees & Big Stumps - Camper Creek Headwaters

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In early summer of this year I went for a drive up to the headwaters of Camper Creek in the hills behind Port Renfrew. The road (GR 2000) ended at a deep ditch and a big rock wall but up to the left were signs of recent old-growth logging by Teal-Jones. The cutblock didn't appear like much from the road but upon further inspection it revealed its sad truth. Giant redcedar stumps, some up to 12ft wide, littered the clearcut while slash debris choked the landscape and former creeks. It can be hard to imagine what a forest like this would have looked like just prior to it being logged but a short hike into the neighbouring woods painted a clear picture of the incredible natural beauty and sensitive ecosystem that was lost. Despite current maps and stats that clearly show old-growth forests are highly endangered, the BC Liberal government continues approve cutblocks in forests like these across Vancouver Island and southern BC. And though one can argue that trees will come back, the ensuing second-growth tree plantations (which are typically re-logged every 30-70 years) do not adequately replicate the highly complex and diverse old-growth forests which are lost. Once they're gone, they're gone.

Press: Using Drones for Conservation - Front Cover

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The story of how we're using drone technology to help raise awareness of endangered old-growth forests in the Central Walbran Valley landed on the front cover of The Province newspaper this week! You can read the full story featured on the inside page here: www.theprovince.com/technology/anti+logging+activists+using+drones+fight+information/11394855/story.html  and watch the YouTube clip I filmed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyMPXHOjlK0

Press: Soar Magazine on Avatar Grove, Ancient Forest Alliance, and Tourism in Port Renfrew, BC

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Soar Magazine has featured some photos and quotes from me surrounding old-growth forests and the benefits of eco-tourism to the town of Port Renfrew, BC. From a town who's economy was largely based on logging since the late 1800's, the transition to big tree tourism has been a novel approach, and that after being fully embraced, is truly taking off!

Press: MacLean's Magazine Features Big Lonely Doug Climb

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The 2015 Canada Day edition of MacLean's included a Guide to Being an Awesome Canadian and one of the things they featured was my photo and some words from our epic tree climb up Big Lonely Doug, Canada's second largest Douglas-fir tree. You can spot tree climbers Matthew Beatty (at the base) and Will Koomjian (near the top) for scale. See out a photo gallery with more pictures from the climb here: www.tjwatt.com/big-lonely-doug-climb/ Ascending Big Lonely Doug was an unforgettable experience - both inspiring and heartbreaking. I can now only hope that the awareness he's helped raise across so many media platforms about the threat to BC's ancient forests will help to keep the remaining adjacent forests alive.