Heli-logging on Vancouver Island.

Heli-logging, an expensive way of timber removal from areas where road building would be even more expensive. The helicopter we've seen in use the most frequently is an Air-Crane Sikorsky S-64 as seen in the picture, here it's at the refueling/staging area alongside a mainline logging road in the southern part of Vancouver Island. In the mid 1980's a massive Russian helicopter (and Russian support team) was used in the Gordon River area for a few years. Well worth checking out the videos at the link I provided to see just how versatile this machine is. Timber harvesting, fire suppression, and a variety of heavy lift operations can be viewed. As for the trees, nowhere's safe anymore!

Star Surfers

Three of Linda Heslops' watercolor paintings on one sheet. Obviously enough there's two similar views of sea stars and one expansive scene of surfers at Long Beach in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve (still only a reserve 35 years after the boundaries were drawn up!). This area is extremely popular with the surfing crowd though wetsuits are mandatory for the cold water, a 'Surf Jamboree' takes place at nearby Cox Bay usually in October. Lindas' artwork is carried at several galleries in the communities of Ucluelet and Tofino located at the south and north ends of the park. The Wikaninnish Interpretive Centre (the parks visitor centre) also carries her work and is a good place to spend an hour or so learning about the local environment.

Tricksters

 

Today a pair of ravens dropped by and surveyed things from the top of a sequoia opposite our home. Not uncommon for them to be in the city but not an everyday occurrence either. First Nations people knew the raven as 'the trickster', a most appropriate name for this very intelligent bird. The recent snowfalls across Vancouver Island have brought hardship to birds, particularly those used to hunting for prey or scavenging in the forest as there's been sufficient snow to obscure their food supplies. As a result of this, the bald eagles have taken to scavenging from garbage dumps in large numbers competing with the resident seagulls and crows. Ahh, how the mighty have fallen!

Hoe Chuckers, the modern way to decimate the forest.

Three views of  hoe chuckers on Vancouver Island, some scale is apparent as I drove by the parked one. Very expensive machinery that processes timber to size and species for the mills requirements via computer software updated each day. The lower photograph shows one stacking timber into a coldpile at the roadside for removal by logging trucks, should the logs need moving more than three times to get to the road, then it becomes cheaper to build a new road.  Smaller trees can be handled right from the harvesting stage as can be seen in this video of one at work. Pretty amazing equipment, just too bad it puts so many of people out of work.

Stones and barnacles.

A watercolor depicting stones and barnacles trapped in a small tide pool. This image is called 'Castaways' and is available in several print formats, a better view of the print can be seen here http://www.fullcirclestudio.ca/linda/lindaheslopprints.html.

Snolar Bear.

For the first time since 1971 Canada is blanketed with snow from coast to coast to coast (yes, Canada has three coasts). Fortunately for us Victoria typically missed the worst of it, though we did get unusually cold temperatures and snow is still in the forecast for tomorrow and Christmas Day. Anyway, with typical Linda Heslop creativity, we now have a 'Snolar Bear' on our front lawn!

Dock Stars.

A watercolor image called "Dock Stars" showing an abundance of sea stars and anemones, along with the ever present barnacles, awaiting the tides return. A common scene around the pilings of the Vancouver Island docks and jetties.