Within the next three weeks, residents will see a story taking shape on the lawn of the Squamish Adventure Centre.
Fourteen large tree trunks carved with descriptions of the province’s forestry history will again call the centre home. The nine-foot-tall “log books” were originally displayed at the Al McIntosh Squamish Days Loggers Sports Grounds before being stored at the Adventure Centre in 2007.
“We have to do some site preparation,” said Mike Wallace, president of the Sea to Sky Forestry Centre Society.
The logging industry has shown its support for the project, he noted. A lot of the community’s “old logging families” have sponsored the move and set up of the structures that were created by artist Glenn Greensides in 2003.
The initiative is one of a handful of undertakings the society has on the go. The organization is also placing seven historical pieces of equipment along an interpretive trail that explores the community’s logging history. Four artifacts are being placed across from the Squamish Adventure Centre, two at the Brennan Park Community Centre and three at the loggers sports grounds.
A logging company from south of the border is taking an interest in the project. Squamish is home to one of two steam-powered logging cranes in the world. Built in the 1913, the crane was used by the East Indian Logging Co. The U.S. company originally built the crane and is interested in bringing it back to working condition, Wallace said.
Plans for the Squamish Forestry Centre are moving forward, he noted. The society has two building drafts they are reviewing.
“We have to start building something within two years,” Wallace said.
In May, District of Squamish officials voted to entertain an offer to lease land to the Sea to Sky Forest Centre Society.
The organization has until March 2017 to complete a site layout, business plan and architectural drafts of the centre, municipal real estate manager Neil Plumb told council earlier this year. Once council approves the centre’s final design, the district and society will enter a 25-year lease agreement.
