Sunshine Coast Forest District Photo Gallery

We are fortunate to live and work in a very beautiful and varied environment. Our District's diversity ranges from: summer cottages and sandy beaches, to alpine meadows and icy glaciers; from raging rocky mountain creeks; to slow winding river valleys, estuaries and countless lakes; from snow capped mountain ranges, to idyllic islands; from rocks, to rich fluvial soils.

Summer Cottages		Palm Beach
Summer Flowers		Homathko Glacier
Brem River Source		Paradise River
Homathko River		Southgate River
Quatam River Estuary		Goat and Powell Lakes
The Coast Mountains		Looking into the Interior
Savary Island		Looking south from Bute Inlet

Here are some of the larger animals that live in our diverse ecosystems.

Deer Fawn		Black Bear
Brown Bear		Elk Herd
Deer Family		Coastal Blacktail
Mountain Goats		Goats in a Cave
		(©Photo by Jared Hobbs)
Grizzly Bear		Grizzly Feeding
(©Photo by Jared Hobbs)		(©Photo by Jared Hobbs)
Grizzly Looking for Lunch		Adult Grizzly
Eagle's Nest		Adult Bald Eagle

From Howe Sound to Bute Inlet, the Ministry of Forests personnel require a great variety of transportation methods to manage the forests. We even take a ferry to our field office in Sechelt!.

Pick-up		Boat
Hughes 500		Float Plane
Long Ranger		Fixed Wing
Astar		BC Ferry

Harvesting takes place in our District in many different areas using a great variety of equipment. High up on the mountains, or in steep or sensitive areas, helicopters are often used. The fallers are flown into these locations and the trees that they cut are lifted by helicopter to the nearest road, or to the ocean.

Crew Transportation		Heli-drop
Heli-logging		Bute Inlet Heli
Heli-block		The drop

Some wood in our District is harvested from old cedar logs that are dead and lying on the ground. These are sawn into chunks called blocks that will be manufactured into cedar shakes and shingles for house roofs. Sometimes these shingles are shipped as far away as California.

Cedar Blocks		Loading Blocks

Other trees that are blown down during windstorms are harvested with smaller helicopters like this Bell 214.

Bell 214		Salvage Landing

In lower areas, backhoes or feller-bunchers can be used to cut and move the logs to the trucks waiting at the road. Still in other areas that are steeper, cable machines bring the logs to the roads or landings. The logs are then loaded on to trucks and driven to the log dump at the ocean. At the log dump heavy cables are tied around the whole load which is then pushed in the water. The boat then pushed these log bundles together in a boom to tow them to a dry land sort, like Stillwater. There the bundles are pulled out of the water and sorted according to species and grade. They are then re-bundled for towing to a sawmill that could be on the Fraser River.

Feller Buncher		Feller Buncher Working
Back Hoe		Hoe-Chucking
Cable Logging		Skyline Cables
Loading		Self-Loading
Log Truck		Loaded!!
Ready...		Dump!!
Camp Dump		Ready to Tow
Towing		Stillwater Sort

Fire has always been a part of forest ecosystems in British Columbia. Occasionally when there is little risk to humans, animals, and timber, we let nature take its course. But usually we try to control fire so that the trees, animals, creeks, soils, and air don't get damaged.

Bishop River		Freda Creek Fire
DC 6		Martin Mars

Fire fighting is very difficult and dangerous work that can sometimes carry on into the late evening hours. Working with people, planes, helicopters, and trucks we try to stop fires before they get too large. Most times we are successful. Sometimes, because of high winds, or very hot dry conditions, wildfires can be very difficult to control.

Night Work		Texada Island 1987
Trout Lake Spot Fire		Toba Inlet 1987
Quick Action		Lois River 1987
Attack!		Savary Beach Fire

In order to harvest trees for lumber and paper, we need to build roads and bridges which can also be used for public recreation. Some of these roads have to go near rock where rock drills and explosives are used to break up the rock. The broken material is then used to stabalize the roadbed or it is crushed up for gravel for the log trucks to run on. If there wasn't rock in the road bed the loaded logging trucks, which weigh about 43,000kg., would sink into the soil. Logging roads usually need to settle for a year to harden up before they can support a loaded logging truck.

Finished Road		Duck Lake
Rock Drill		Drilling
Powder in		Blasted Rock
Spreading Rock		Good Base
Gravel Capped		Completed Road

For short-term use, bridges are usually built from logs, and then they are removed when they are no longer needed. New long-term bridges are built from steel and concrete which will last a long time and need very little maintenance to keep it safe for all kinds of traffic.

Bridge installations are carried out in August when the Dept. of Fisheries and the Ministry of Environment permit the machines to work around the creeks. Silt traps of various designs are used to prevent any fine soils from entering the creek. When old log bridges are removed, a large apron goes under the bridge to catch any debris before it enters the creek.

Here is a visual story of an old bridge being removed at Suicide Creek and the installation of a new steel bridge with a concrete running surface.

Log Bridge		Steel Bridge
Bridge Removal		A Silt Fence
Downstream Silt Fences		More stream Protection
Rock Prep		Digging Footings
Hand Prep		Footings
Pipe Columns		Fill Added
Bridge Arrives		Placed on Pipes
Ballast Walls		Concrete Deck
Railings		Fill Approach
Rails Complete		Deck Complete
Bridge complete		A High Elevation Bridge

This whole process took four to five days. The planning, budgeting, and tendering can take 2 years. Road building and maintenance are the biggest costs in extracting timber. If it is done well it can serve the logging industry and the public for many years.

 The Sunshine Coast Forest District has hosted numerous visits from delegates from around the world. These tours are intended to show our international guests examples of B.C.'s forest practices. Delegates including media, government, industry and environmental representatives are shown all phases of our forest management. We believe our practices are some of the best in the world and we welcome the international scrutiny these tours provide.

2006 UK Forest Tour- May 2006		2006 UK Forest Tour - May 2006
Canada Tsuga Tour- June 2005		Hemlock Dedication to Champion Sumo - June 2005
Japanese Wood Buyers- Sept 2004		Japanese Wood Buyers- Sept 2004
Japanese Delegation of Academics, Industry, Media, Enviros- Sept 2004		Japanese Delegation of Academics, Industry, Media, Enviros- Sept 2004
German Forester Visit- Sept 2004		German Forester Visit- Sept 2004
Japanese Tour 2004		Japanese Tour 2004
Italian Delegation 2003
Staples (USA) Tour 2003		Staples (USA) Tour 2003
Scottish Delegation 2002		Scottish Delegation 2002
Dutch Delegation 2002		Dutch Delegation 2002
Japanese Delegation 2002		Japanese Delegation 2002
British Columbia Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) Delegation 2002
British Delegation 2002		British Delegation 2002
British Minister Delegation 2002		British Minister Delegation 2002
German Delegation 2001		German Delegation 2001
British Delegation 2001		British Delegation 2001
Russian Delegation 2001		Russian Delegation 2001
Russian Delegation 2001		Economic Council of Europe Delegation 2000
Japanese Delegation 2000		Japanese Delegation 2000