With their mossy and fern-draped branches, luxuriant green understories, and giant meandering trunks, BC's spectacular ancient bigleaf maple forests resemble those of fairy tales.

Unlike other renowned old-growth forests that have all been coniferous (needle-leaf trees), old growth deciduous (broad-leaf) rainforests like these are little known by the public. Bigleaf maples can grow up to 3 meters (10 feet) in trunk diameter and live to over 300 years, making them among the largest deciduous trees in North America. 

They are also among the mossiest trees on Earth, covered from bottom to top in hanging plants. 

Some Vancouver Island farms and woodlots have recently begun tapping bigleaf maples to make BC maple syrup, creating an economic incentive to keep our maple groves standing. Currently the demand for bigleaf maple syrup far surpasses the supply. 

One ancient bigleaf maple forest, the unprotected "Mossy Maple Rainforest" was recently located by the Ancient Forest Alliance campaigners near Cowichan Lake on Vancouver Island. It has also been nicknamed "Fangorn Forest" in reference to the ancient forest in the Lord of the Rings. It is in the traditional territory of the Hul'qumi'num First Nations, whose Land Use Plan calls for the protection of the remaining old-growth forest in their territory. 

The Mossy Maple Rainforest consists of two ancient groves, one on private lands (owned by the BC Investment Management Corporation) and another on nearby Crown land. Dozens of the mossiest and ferniest old-growth and second-growth maples harbour a rich plant understory and support elk, deer, bears, wolves, and cougars. 

The Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) is a new British Columbian organization working to protect the endangered old-growth forests of BC and to ensure sustainable forestry jobs in the province. It was founded in January of 2010 by former Western Canada Wilderness Committee activists Ken Wu, TJ Watt, and others, and by Vancouver old-growth activist Michelle Connolly.

For more information about this campaign, to sign the petition, and to take further action on protecting old growth forests in BC, please go to: http://www.ancientforestalliance.org/