National Forest Week

September 23 to September 29th, 2007

Forest Trivia – Did you know...?

• Explorer Captain Cook was the first European to make use of B.C.’s forest products. Sailing masts were fashioned from the tallest Douglas-firs.
• B.C. lumber was used for trestles, ties and bridges on the Canadian Pacific Railway.
• B.C.’s first sawmill was built in 1847 at Esquimalt Harbour.
• B.C. is the world’s largest exporter of softwood lumber.
• Less than 1% of forest land is harvested each year.
• B.C. is Canada’s most ecologically diverse province, with temperate rainforests, dry pine forests, alpine meadows and more.
• B.C. has more than 40 different species of native trees.
• B.C. spruce was used to build British Mosquito fighter bombers during the Second World War.
• The masts and booms of the famous Bluenose schooner, pictured on the dime, were made from B.C. Douglas-fir.
• One metric tonne of dry wood pulp will make...1 tonne of newspaper, 1,400 lbs of magazine paper and 0.9 tonne of toilet paper.
• Sawmills use computers and lasers to get the most value out of every log.
• Roofing shakes are made from blocks of wood too small to cut into lumber.
• An average house requires 15,000 board feet of lumber.
• Tree cellulose is a thickening ingredient in ketchup, ice cream and thousands of common foods.
• Disposable medical lab coats are made from the woven fibres of western redcedar.
• Wood is the only renewable, biodegradable, natural and non-toxic building material in the world.
• B.C. planted its five billionth tree in 2002.
• The first lumber sawn in B.C. was floor planks for a Vancouver Island dairy farm.
• B.C.’s first pulp mill was built in 1894 at Port Alberni.
• More than half of B.C.’s old growth forests are protected in parks or otherwise off-limits to harvesting.