B.C. hasn’t taken $50 million federal offer for old-growth forest protections - News Article (The Narwhal)

November 14, 2022 Ken Wu

**Endangered Ecosystems Alliance Executive Director Ken Wu on a cedar stump in the Walbran Valley on Vancouver Island. Photo: TJ Watt**

The federal government has budgeted $2.3 billion to expand the protected areas system in Canada - of which BC's share would be between $200 to $400 million - including $55 million specifically allocated to prioritize protecting the most at-risk old-growth stands, contingent on a matching BC commitment.

That is, if BC provided matching funds of between $200 to $400 million, including $55 million of its own to help save the best old-growth stands, it would result in a total funding pot of between $400 to $800 million to expand protected areas in BC, with $110 million focused on protecting the best old-growth forests (still not enough mind you to protect all such stands, but the rest of the funds worth hundreds of millions of dollars can also be used to protect old-growth forests, along with other ecosystems). Additional funds from private sources and environmental groups, like the Nature-Based Solutions Foundation, could top it up by hundreds of millions. The total funding of $600 to $1 billion if targeted correctly would be a game-changer to protect much of the old-growth forests in BC and other vital ecosystems.

Media Release: Spin-filled Announcement Reveals BC Government’s Failure to Ensure Net Gains in Old-Growth Logging Deferrals

November 3, 2022 Ken Wu

**An ancient redcedar cut in the Caycuse Valley in 2021 on southern Vancouver Island in Ditidaht territory. Photo by TJ Watt**

Yesterday, the BC government released new and misleading statistics about old-growth logging on the one year anniversary of its science panel’s recommendations that logging should be deferred on millions of hectares of the most at-risk old-growth forests in BC. In November of 2021, the province’s independent science panel, the Technical Advisory Panel, recommended that the rarest, grandest, and oldest fraction of the remaining unprotected old-growth forests in BC, totalling 2.6 million hectares, be deferred from logging, while the province developed new management policies and legislation based on its Old-Growth Strategic Review panel’s recommendations.

Conservation group buys stand of majestic old-growth as gift for First Nation - News Article (National Observer)

October 13, 2022 Ken Wu

**Photo**: Garth Asham, Kanaka Lands Department Assistant by an ancient Interior Douglas-fir tree on the newly acquired private property by the Nature-Based Solutions Foundation.

Read an article in the National Observer about our work at the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance in our collaboration with the Kanaka Bar Indian Band, the Nature-Based Solutions Foundation and the Ancient Forest Alliance to help protect the old-growth forests and native ecosystems in Kanaka Bar territory, via the Nature-Based Solutions Foundation.

Media Release: Conservation group buys one of BC’s most diverse Old-Growth Forests for First Nations

October 11, 2022 Ken Wu

***Kanaka Bar leaders and conservationists, from left to right:*** Kanaka Bar CEO Greg Grayson, Kanaka Bar Lands Manager Sean O'Rourke, Kanaka Bar Chief Jordan Spinks, Endangered Ecosystems Alliance Outreach Director Celina Starnes, Nature-Based Solutions Foundation Co-Founder Ken Wu, Nature-Based Solutions Foundation National Coordinator Hania Peper, Ancient Forest Alliance Campaigner TJ Watt. Photo by TJ Watt.

One of our partner organizations, the Nature-Based Solutions Foundation (NBSF), has just completed the purchase of perhaps the most diverse old-growth forest in BC - with both dry-adapted old-growth Ponderosa pine and wet-adapted western redcedar growing side-by-side - to be gifted with a conservation covenant to the Kanaka Bar Indian Band whose unceded territory it is on.

Read their press release here.

B.C. Indigenous conservation plan gets private backing - News Article (The Globe and Mail)

October 11, 2022 Ken Wu

Celina Starnes of the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance stands under an old-growth Western redcedar near Kanaka Bar Indian Band, home to the T’eqt’’aqtn’mux, in British Columbia this past Sept. 21.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAFAL GERSZAK/THE GLOBE AND MAIL

Here is a new article in the Globe and Mail by Justine Hunter about the Nature-Based Solutions Foundation's (NBSF) purchase last week of potentially the most diverse old-growth forest in BC - with both dry-adapted old-growth Ponderosa pine and wet-adapted western redcedar growing side-by-side - on private lands, to be given back with a conservation covenant to the Kanaka Bar Indian Band south of Lytton. It also features the Kanaka Bar's Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area (IPCA) proposal that we are also supporting on Crown/ unceded Kanaka Bar lands, that would protect about 350 square kilometres of land in their territory, including 125 square kilometers of old-growth forests.

2022 EEA Year End Fundraising Progress Tracker!

September 9, 2022 Ken Wu

Collage, top-left to bottom right: American badger, old-growth woods, Carolinian swamp, grasslands

We are aiming to raise $200,000 as part of our year-end fundraising drive between September 1st to December 31st this year, so we can continue to expand our impact via major outreach to key parties and stakeholders, news and social media engagement campaigns to reach millions of Canadians, the development of our mini-documentary Amazing Ecosystems of Canada series, the coordination of the BC Old-Growth Solutions Initiative, and much more.

Kanaka Bar Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area (IPCA) Supported by the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance - News Article (Black Press)

July 20, 2022 Ken Wu

Read a new article about the amazing 35,000 hectare Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area (IPCA), which will protect 12,500 hectares of some of the rarest and least represented old-growth forests in BC, planned by the Kanaka Bar Band (a Nlaka'pamux First Nation) in the Fraser Canyon near Lytton.

The Nature-Based Solutions Foundation (NBSF), Endangered Ecosystems Alliance (EEA), and Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) have been supporting this initiative as part of our Old-Growth Solutions Initiative to help protect old-growth forests across BC.

Kanaka Bar Indian Band to Protect Unique Old-Growth Forests and Endangered Ecosystems in Proposed T'eqt'aqtn Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area

July 8, 2022 Ken Wu

Over 12,500 hectares of some of BC’s most endangered and diverse old-growth forests will be protected in in the territory of the Kanaka Bar Band, a Nlaka'pamux First Nation in the Fraser Canyon near Lytton, when a major new Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area (IPCA) is finalized. The Kanaka Bar Band announced their vision today to protect a total of about 35,000 hectares of their unceded lands in British Columbia in this IPCA.

Earth Day observations: On Hope, Positive Solutions and Branching Out

April 22, 2022 Ken Wu

I’m writing this piece on Earth Day, with a belief that going forward in 2022 – with much of the world in the throes of a seemingly never-ending pandemic, expanding climate chaos, and now the potential prospects of World War 3 – that there is big appetite for hope and positive solutions. Plus, I believe this is the best approach in general.

Toronto Star: Mosaic defers logging of old-growth on Vancouver Island and Haida Gwaii

April 7, 2022 Ken Wu

British Columbia’s largest private landowner, Mosaic Forest Management, is halting logging in nearly 100,000 acres of old-growth forest for the next 25 years.

The forestry company announced the deferral on March 16 and said it’s transitioning to a carbon credit program, which is expected to generate several hundred million dollars in revenue.

1.05 Million Hectares of the Most At-Risk Old-Growth Forests in B.C. Now Under Logging Deferrals

April 1, 2022 Ken Wu

Today a big step towards saving old-growth forests in BC was announced - with a significant way yet to go. An area about the size of Jasper National Park, about 1.05 million hectares of the priority, unprotected, most at-risk old-growth forests (the grandest, oldest and rarest stands), have now been placed under deferral from logging - with First Nations and the province having added 480,000 hectares recently, announced today.

CTV Vancouver Island: B.C. defers logging in additional 1.7 million hectares of at-risk old growth

April 1, 2022 Ken Wu

British Columbia's forests minister says the province has worked with First Nations to defer logging across more than a million hectares of at-risk old-growth forests, an area greater than 4,100 Stanley Parks.

Vancouver Sun: Environmental group gives guarded support for company's B.C. old-growth forest plan

March 26, 2022 Ken Wu

Mosaic Forest Management, which oversees the private lands of logging companies TimberWest and Island Timberlands, announced the deferral last week along with intentions to finance the plan through a carbon credit program that is expected to raise several hundred million dollars by 2047.

Media Release: Major Old-Growth Logging Deferrals on Mosaic's Private Lands on Vancouver Island and Haida Gwaii

March 25, 2022 Ken Wu

The largest private landowner in British Columbia, Mosaic Forest Management, is moving to defer 40,000 hectares (400 square kilometers) of old-growth and older second-growth stands from logging on their private lands for the next 25 years, via a carbon credit program. The lands are mainly located on southeastern Vancouver Island, with a few scattered stands on other parts of Vancouver Island and Haida Gwaii.

It's International Day of Forests!

March 21, 2022 Ken Wu

Today (March 21st) is International Day of Forests!

On this day it is worth taking an overview of some progress in forest conservation, driven by millions of concerned citizens who have spoken up - including tens of thousands of Endangered Ecosystems Alliance (EEA) supporters! And by recognizing progress when it happens, it fuels everyone to keep going, to ensure more progress - because what we all do makes a difference!

Good News for Old-Growth in BC's Provincial Budget - A Step Forward

February 24, 2022 Ken Wu

For those of you concerned about the fate of old-growth forests in BC:

Yesterday, for the first time the BC government dedicated a significant sum in the provincial budget - $185 million over 3 years - to help protect old-growth forests in BC!

The National Observer: Conservation cash vital to securing B.C.’s old-growth deferrals

January 17, 2022 Ken Wu

A new conservation foundation is working to provide Indigenous and other land-based communities with funds to protect endangered ecosystems and build economic alternatives to the logging of at-risk old-growth forests.

It’s unjust and impractical to expect communities that rely on revenue from activities such as forestry, ranching or resource extraction to bear the financial burden of shifting their local economy on their own to protect areas for the benefit of all, said Ken Wu, chair of the recently established Nature-Based Solutions Foundation (NBSF).

Case in point is the current old-growth deferral process underway in B.C., where the provincial government has asked First Nations to consider putting logging on hold in at-risk old-growth forests but hasn’t offered any compensation to do so, said Wu, also executive director of the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance.

Rochelle Baker, The National Observer, Jan 13th, 2022

Recent Progress and Opportunities for Nature Protection in Canada – there is Hope!

December 31, 2021 Ken Wu

EEA's Staff — The Endangered Ecosystems Alliance team - Left: Ken Wu (Executive Director) by an old-growth Ponderosa pine in the proposed South Okanagan National Park Reserve. Top Right: Celina Starnes (Outreach and Operations Director) by the Alberta badlands along the Red Deer River. Bottom Right: Nick Davis (Administrative Coordinator) in the Carolinian forest of the Rouge Valley Urban National Park.

There’s no doubt that these last couple of years have been particularly tough for most people - not only of course due to the pandemic, but also because of the ever-expanding environmental crisis partly experienced via extreme weather events, and compounded by pervasive anti-science and alternative-facts movement divorced from reality among certain segments of society .

But in this article instead of shoveling more unhappy dung your way for the New Year, I want to focus on some recent good news and progress with nature protection in Canada and some opportunities for further progress in 2022.

EEA's Grassroots Fundraising Targets for the 2021 Holiday Season/Year End

December 18, 2021 Ken Wu

Our goal is to raise $60,000 by the end of 2021

Can you help us? As a young organization (founded just 3 years ago, in late 2018) but with major experience, dedication and influence far beyond our size, we need the resources to grow the most powerful campaigns to protect endangered ecosystems across Canada, from temperate rainforests to grasslands, from southern deciduous forests to northern boreal forests!

Riverdale star fundraising for B.C. environmental groups with sale of his photo prints

December 13, 2021 Ken Wu

The actor who plays Jughead Jones in the Archie Comics’ spin-off show Riverdale is selling prints of his own nature photography to fundraise for two B.C. environmental organizations.

By Victoria News Staff, originally published Dec 1

Our goal is to raise $60,000 by the end of 2021

Sign up for our newsletter to learn about upcoming hikes & events, and to stay up to date on our progress and successes!