Publications

Reports

We have published or co-published several reports on the history of the BC Forest Service’s research program.  See the following links to online versions:

The History of Cowichan Lake Research Station

The Aleza Lake Experiment Station (1920's and 1930's)

An Early History of the Research Branch, British Columbia Ministry of Forests and Range

Books

The first person in BC to actually function as an “industrial” forester in the modern sense was Tom Wright, who was employed by Bloedel, Stewart & Welch, Ltd. as a consulting forester in the early 1940s.  Tom was also the Dean of the Faculty of Forestry at UBC, Chief Forester of Canadian Forest Products and owner of Managed Forest Unit No. 1 – the first private woodlot on the south coast.  The book may be ordered from this site:  Tom Wright: recollections of a pioneer forester and tree farmer

The FHABC published a biography of F.D. Mulholland, authored by members Gerry Burch and John Parminter – “Frederick Davison Mulholland P. Eng., B.C.R.F.: The Father of Sustained Yield Forestry in British Columbia.”  Mulholland worked for the BC Forest Service for nearly two decades, designing many of the forest survey field procedures used during the 1920s and 1930s, and he compiled the first provincial inventory of BC’s forest resources in 1937.  This book costs $20, and you can order your own copy by downloading the order form here.

Documents

A bibliography of published works concerning B.C.'s forest history can be found here. The bibliography is current as of December 2009. Most entries are specifically about forest history, many are primarily local or regional histories with some forestry content. Please bring any errors or omissions to our attention at the email address at the bottom of this page.