It is important to remember where we come from so we know where we are going, the old clich茅 goes.
Member of the Sea to Sky Forestry Centre Society (SSFCS) and former mayor Corinne Lonsdale wants residents of the quickly growing 撸奶社区of today to remember the community was built in great part by the forest industry.
One of the society鈥檚 biggest projects to date, in an effort to celebrate and preserve the corridor鈥檚 forest history, is finally just months from fruition.
Log Book Park at the 撸奶社区Adventure Centre will open this spring and will include the district鈥檚 approximately $500,000 gigantic wooden log books that had been in storage for a number of years.
The log books are made up of 28 鈥減ages鈥� carved onto yellow cedar that will be set into 14 cement-bottomed structures. Each page tells a different piece of forest history going right back to the age of the dinosaurs.
鈥淭hey should be on display. It is something that I believe鈥� will be a draw. People will stop and walk through,鈥� Lonsdale told The 撸奶社区.
The pages are currently being stored in a container at another location waiting to be mounted and then wrapped in a protective coating later this month. Each log book weighs 40,000 lb. and the completed display structure will be approximately 14 feet tall.
Because they are so heavy, the books can鈥檛 be put into place beside the Adventure Centre until the weather improves and the ground is drier.
鈥淭he ground is quite soft in that area and it is so wet, and so we can鈥檛 take the chance of anything sinking over there,鈥� Lonsdale said.
The relocation and display of the log books has cost the not-for-profit SSFCS around $70,000, of which $5,000 was raised through sponsorship dedications.
According to Lonsdale, each book will be dedicated to celebrate the life of a prominent person in the local forest industry 鈥� for example, the late Al Hendrickson who, among other things, organized the first聽撸奶社区Loggers Sports Day.
The concept for a public way to preserve and promote the forest industry has been in the works off and on for over a decade. In 2002 the District of 撸奶社区agreed, in theory, to allow a community group to lease land for an educational and cultural facility dedicated to the history of forestry. Since then, ideas have come and gone, but nothing has reached completion, until now.
Though it has been a lot of work, money and time for the society to get to this point, Lonsdale said it has been worth it.
聽鈥淎 lot of the things that are here today that attracted people to the community were funded by the forest industry: Brennan Park, the 撸奶社区Valley Golf course, some of our earlier trail systems 鈥� you could just go on and on,鈥� Lonsdale said.
The next project the society wants to tackle is the planning of a Forestry Centre for near theAdventure Centre; it would be a state-of-the-art building to celebrate the new technologies of the forest industry.
Anyone interested in becoming involved in any of the society鈥檚 projects is encouraged to attend the annual general meeting next Thursday, Dec. 11, at 7 p.m. at the Adventure Centre theatre.
鈥� With files from Rebecca Aldous
