1. Working in the Woods Today - a photo exhibition at the Campbell River Museum

    from hanspetermeyer

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    In 2005 I was commissioned by Mike Hamilton Logging to create a "crew album." In 2008 I was commissioned by BenWest Logging to do a similar project. These led to the current project: to create a photographic and oral history of what it means to be working in BC's coastal forest industry in the 21st century. The photographs in this video are part an exhibition of large images that was hosted by the Campbell River Museum January - April 2012. For…

    # vimeo.com/39538495 Uploaded 40 Plays / / 0 Comments

  2. Sarah Mukai is a silviculture forester with Interfor, based in Campbell River. In this, the first of 2 short interviews I did with her in Johnson Bay, she talks about the works she is supervising in this remote part of BC's mid-coast. I was in the Johnson Bay area in mid-August 2011, taking photographs and talking to people working in the woods. For more on the Coastal Forest Industry Project, please visit www.CoastalForestIndustryProject.com. To…

    # vimeo.com/28491624 Uploaded 76 Plays / / 0 Comments

  3. Sarah Mukai is a forester with Interfor, based in Campbell River. In this, my second interview with Sarah, she talks about what got her, as a young woman growing up in Vancouver, into BC's forest industry. We were sitting on the barge next to a floating camp in Johnson Bay, just off Rivers Inlet on BC's mid-coast region. This camp was in place to host a crew of "brushers" - people who go into a regenerating forest and "weed" the new forest of species…

    # vimeo.com/28489387 Uploaded 68 Plays / / 0 Comments

  4. Hardy Inlet is in the Rivers Inlet network of mainland fjords on BC's mid-coast region. Otto Schulte is the Interfor forest engineer over-seeing a current logging operation by Ironside Contracting. Hardy Inlet is a relatively small area in a remote area. Otto describes what is being cut, and a bit of his history with the area. I was in the Hardy Inlet operation in early August 2011, taking photographs and talking to people working in the woods. For…

    # vimeo.com/27455871 Uploaded 110 Plays / / 0 Comments

  5. Knight Inlet has seen large scale industrial logging since the 1960s. Interfor currently manages the Klinaklini River basin, with Wahkash Contracting as the active logging operator. I was in the Knight Inlet operation in late July 2011, taking photographs and talking to people working in the woods. I recorded this short interview with Interfor forestry engineer Kirby Jacques after looking at some of the wood that's being taken out of the watershed.…

    # vimeo.com/27125519 Uploaded 95 Plays / / 0 Comments

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Working in the Woods Today: the Coastal Forest Industry Project

Created by hanspetermeyer

We have a wealth of images and stories from the "glory days" of logging – when large format cameras went in search of the larger than life characters who were taking down the larger than life ancient forests that fuelled BC's social and economic growth during most of the 20th century. We do not, however, have a clear picture of what it looks like to be "harvesting fibre" from the coastal forest in the 21st century. These videos,

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We have a wealth of images and stories from the "glory days" of logging – when large format cameras went in search of the larger than life characters who were taking down the larger than life ancient forests that fuelled BC's social and economic growth during most of the 20th century. We do not, however, have a clear picture of what it looks like to be "harvesting fibre" from the coastal forest in the 21st century. These videos, and the images and stories I'm collecting at CoastalForestIndustryProject.com, are an effort to change that.

The coastal industry has been subject to considerable criticism for the way it has managed (or mismanaged) our forests and even its own business. Much has changed in the past 25 years. No doubt, much will continue to change. However you feel, and whatever you think, about the forest industry on BC's coast, the men and women who work in the woods are still responsible for the high standard of living most of us enjoy. My work is to give the rest of us a picture of what it looks like to be working in the woods today.

Sponsors
I am grateful to a number of industry personalities for their personal and organizational support of this project. The list is long, and I can't list everyone here. I do, however, want to highlight the significant support I am receiving from Interfor (thanks to Otto Schulte and Harry Barret and their team), and to Mike Hamilton's initiation of a project in 2005 that kickstarted this current work.

My background
I've been around BC's coastal forest industry since I was a kid. My dad started setting chokers as a young immigrant, "fresh off the boat," in 1956. As a teen, many of my friends went into the "bush" to work hard and make good money in the industry's "golden age" in the 1970s. I worked (very briefly) as a chokerman, chaser, and then boomman after graduating, and before going to college and university.

In 2004 I started photographing and writing about the industry. First for the Truck Loggers' Association of BC magazine, then doing crew books for independent loggers like Mike Hamilton Logging Ltd. and BenWest Logging Ltd. For a number of years I've wanted to document what it's like to be working in the woods today. Thanks to the support of a handful of individuals, I'm now able to start on this project.

If you're interested in supporting this project, please be in touch.

hanspetermeyer / July 2011
connect@hanspetermeyer.com

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