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Society preserves industrys past

Rustic layout mirrors contents on display
Andy Rice

Forest green double doors divide the centre façade of a long, rectangular building on the south shore of Willingdon Beach. They open wide as if to welcome the approaching tide and above them hangs a large sign, fashioned from the branded cross-section of a rustic log. It reads: Forestry Museum.

Inside, symbols of silviculture are everywhere. Dimly lit and full of cedar paneling and partitions, the building even somewhat evokes the smell and feel of a forest. The location, however, boasts an accessibility not found in the backwoods of British Columbia and the view sure isn’t anything to shake a stick at either.

On this particular day, attendant-on-duty Morgan Robinson is enjoying an especially breathtaking outlook over the Strait of Georgia, its waters glistening in the afternoon sun. He is joined by Powell River Forestry Museum Society’s vice president Dave Florence and past president Rudi van Zwaaij, on site to offer a tour.

A quick look around makes it clear that the museum aims to offer something for everyone. Both sides of the building are partitioned into several individual displays, each of them filled with artifacts, maps, photos, models and memories.

The first booth past a childrens’ colouring station is one devoted to forest management and was put together by van Zwaaij himself. Sections of raw-cut logs are mounted to the walls, alongside the finished products they become through manufacturing. “This is an interesting thing for people, to find out which types of tree species we have [in this area] and which ones have commercial value,” he said.

Several feet away, a niche dedicated to forest fires has been assembled, complete with photos of both fight and flame. “We have a lot of fire history in Powell River,” said van Zwaaij. “Back in the 1800s there were huge fires that burned everything around Powell Lake and then in the 1920s one of our large railway camps in Stillwater burned up, the largest railway camp that we had.” Most recently, in 2004, a blaze at Mowat Bay devoured a visible portion of the hillside. Photos of that incident make up a prominent portion of the display.

Moving clockwise around the room, there is even more to see, including a booth devoted to forest recreation assembled by PRPAWS (Powell River Parks and Wilderness Society) and a collection of uniforms and decommissioned monitoring equipment donated by the ministry of forests.

Further along is an actual loggers’ bunkhouse, disassembled at Nanton Lake and recreated to exact size in an alcove on the museum’s north wall. Another replica exists on site as well, although in a miniature size. Several years ago with the aid of historic photos, society member and secretary Peter Sansburn created a model of a 1920s railway camp in the Theodosia valley.

The museum’s newest display takes centre stage in the building’s left wing and is one that van Zwaaij and Florence are particularly excited about. “We’ve been working with Betty Wilson who’s a language specialist, among other things like cedar bark weaving,” said Florence. Wilson has provided translations for several birds, artifacts and wood products in the Tla’Amin (Sliammon) First Nation traditional language, as well as miniature recreations of cedar baskets and other woven items. “This display only went up in the last month and we want to build on that,” he said.

Partnerships with others in the community are in the works as well and the forestry museum society is always encouraging local organizations to create and maintain displays. The focus does remain on forestry and forest history, however. “We like to complement what they’re doing across the street [at Powell River Historical Museum and Archives] and not compete with them,” said Florence.

A blacksmith shop runs along the south wall, adjacent to a large collection of chainsaws. Across the room, a television flickers in the background, showing forest-themed films in a small viewing area. Communications equipment from past decades fills shelving on the upper half of the walls, while larger pieces make their sturdy footprints on the cement floor. The place has a certain rustic layout that mirrors its subject matter. Artifacts seem to have built up naturally over time, not unlike trees on the forest floor.

“A lot of people like this more than other museums,” said Florence. “It’s rough in certain aspects…but we’ve found that nobody seems to be bored with that. They seem to like the clutter and are happy to sort through it.”

People have different interests, Florence added. “Some people will come in and stop at one particular booth and stand there for an hour reading it in depth. Other people will just walk right by that same booth and watch videos for a whole hour instead.”

The response of children tends to vary as well. While some prefer to simply shade in pictures of trees in the colouring station near the door, others are quite interested in receiving the grand tour right alongside their parents. “The other day, I had a couple and their kids come in here,” said Robinson. “They actually spent over two hours going through each exhibit and making sure their children really understood what was going on.”

“That’s what keeps us here,” said Florence. “It’s the people who thoroughly appreciate the visit.” By “us,” he is referring not only to himself, van Zwaaij and Robinson, but to the nearly 35 members involved in keeping the society active through various projects, including the maintenance of both the museum and the Willingdon Beach trail.

A new off-site project is in the works as well—a miniature railway at Paradise Valley Exhibition Grounds in partnership with Dan Parsons, another active member. “We’re just taking tentative steps to see if we’re going to do it,” said Florence, adding that with any luck, a portion of the project could be in operation as early as the fall fair this September.

Back at the forestry museum, however, time is limited this summer. With an unheated building, July and August are its only regular months of operation and in just a week, those forest green double doors will close for the season. For those who would like to take a look around before they do, the saying rings true—chop chop.

Powell River Forestry Museum is open daily from 12:30 to 4:30 pm until Wednesday, August 31. More information is available on the society’s website,  www.prforestrymuseum.org or by contacting Florence at info@prforestrymuseum.org.