The newsroom is a busy place these days.
Between balancing community events and monumental achievements, and with the Haida law coming into place, it feels like we haven’t had a chance to breathe.
We are not complaining. This is what we all signed up for when we started this venture.
Between our local summer events, council meetings, and the many other activities that come with having a toddler in the home, I was invited to join a Taan Forest media tour last week.
This topic is close to many islanders’ lives and has shaped these islands over generations.
Talking to the local artists who depend on the Taan Forest’s monumental wood program to create their totem poles, canoes, and other carvings was inspirational and opened my eyes to a side of forestry I had never considered.
I am excited to have deeper conversations with all stakeholders in the forestry industry here on Haida Gwaii.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to get that story into this edition but be prepared to see a lengthy forestry story in future pages.
Knowing how it used to be, how it is today, and the possibilities of changes in the future, I can say that I don’t think we will be getting a swimming pool out of any of the logging companies, Taan included.
Pools aside, many islanders enjoyed a full wood shed this year thanks to Taan.
On the topic of forestry, we know there would be no forestry industry without the men and women who are on the ground doing the hard work of falling trees.
Sandspit celebrated them all day at last weekend’s Loggers Sports Day event.
Watching the men and women take turns showing off their skills in handling large logs and saws was a sight to behold.
After all the Loggers Sports fun, the ferry line added two to three more hours onto an already long day. The locals rallied and made room for a stranded family of tourists who would be missing the big boat if they didn’t make that particular sailing.
In the end, BC Ferries added another sailing between 7 and 10 p.m. so the stranded Graham islanders wondering where they would be sleeping could get home that night. The notification came about halfway across on the 7 p.m. sailing when people had already abandoned their initial plans, left spouses on the Moresby side, and found other means to get home at a reasonable hour.
Not that we aren’t thankful to have our later sailings back, but it makes us ask why we can’t plan on special events and work alongside BC Ferries to add sailings before the panic sets in on the day of.
Stacey