Wild Island Tour - Summer 2010

After 43 years the Festival of Forestry is trying something new! Instead of taking you out in the rain and snow, we are holding our first ever SUMMER forestry tour and we want you to join us.

How can you bring geography, social studies and science to life in your classroom? Bring the forest back to your classroom. Our three day tour will provide teachers of all levels and subject areas with curriculum-based, hands-on teaching tools.

The Wild Island tour will start in Chemainus with a tug boat tour of Jones Marine Services. Tugs are an important part of the forest sector in BC. From here we head to Mesachie Lake to the historic Forestry Research Centre, and a tour of old-growth and second growth Doug-fir stands. The next morning, the tour travels to Duncan for a visit to the BC Forest Discovery Centre. This open-air museum tells the story of BC’s forest industry through a variety of exhibits. This stop will set the stage for the rest of the tour. As we travel North to Nanaimo, we will visit Yellow Point Propagation (seed production for reforestation) and Coastland Wood Industries, a veneer production facility. The following morning we will visit Harmac Pacific, an employee owned pulp mill and local success story. After lunch the entire afternoon will be spent in the forest where Island Timberlands and VIU Forestry will host the forest management aspect of the tour. Each evening will feature dinner at Vancouver Island University, presentations and a social for teachers. And the entire experience is absolutely FREE!

There will be opportunities to talk with First Nations, government, biologists, foresters, harvesters, and others. It’s not just about trees and forests, the ecosystems include a wide range of values and along the way we will also visit related natural resource sites.