| Check
out the WoW!
by
Tara Nelson
Logging is an integral part of Pacific Northwest history.
Those who would like to learn about the historical aspects
of logging as well as modern forest practices should check
out the Black Mountain Forestry Center in the foothills
of Mt. Baker.
The center is located three miles east of Maple Falls on
Silver Lake Road and is celebrating its sixth year of operation.
It was the brainchild of Wayne Beech, a former employee with
the U.S. Forest Service, who hoped to bring together environmentalism
and the need for sustainable management of renewable resources.
Unfortunately, Beech died shortly before the center opened
in 2000. He was 59 years old. His daughter, Becky Beech-Raney,
and wife, Danna, however, continue to operate the center
together with the help of numerous volunteers.
“Logging gets such a bad rep,”said Bev Zinder,
one of the volunteers there. “They have better methods
of forest harvesting now. That’s what we try to show
people here.”
Danna Beech said the center was started with her late husband’s
initial contribution of $10,000 and the help of a three-year
grant of $35,099 from the U.S. Forest Service, but since
then, the center has operated without government funding
thanks to the help of volunteers and donations. The Crown-Pacific
Corporation has also allowed the center to use its neighboring
20,000 acres of land for their educational tours.
In 2003, the U.S. Forest Service honored the center for
its volunteer efforts in offering forestry courses at Mt.
Baker high school. The center also earned the Rural Community
Assistance Award, which is only given to 15 recipients nationally,
each year.
The Gerdrum museum was originally a homestead built in 1893
by Norwegian immigrants Embret and Nellie Gerdrum using a
single hand-planed cedar tree. Inside the cabin,well-preserved
tin cans and even a half-full bottle of Mrs. Stewart’s
Bluing sit above a wood fire stove in the kitchen carefully
arranged to emulate the era in which the Gerdrums lived.
Outside, several small wood buildings offer a tour of the
process by which paper is made and display modern forestry
products,among other things.
In the field nestled between Black Mountain and the hills
behind Silver Lake, an eclectic array of archaic logging
equipment lie in the grass. Items include a steam donkey,
or a raft used to haul logs, a Skagit tower, a 105-foot lead
tower developed in Skagit County and used to haul logs onto
trucks, and a collection of antique chain saws.
For those of us who aren’t exactly savvy on the history
of chain saws, the modern form of chain saw first came to
the United States from Germany after World War II. Stihl,
the company that manufactured the machine, originally called
it a tree-felling machine. Other more awkward machines, however,
had been previously used in experiments in the United States.
The earliest account of a chain saw was in 1905 with the
use of a two-cylinder, water-cooled marine-type engine in
Eureka, California, according to an October 1949 issue of
The Timberman magazine. Before chain saws, loggers used long,
crosscut saws and axes to cut trees. Then came the drag saw – a
motorized version of the crosscut saw – which moved
the saw blade back and forth across the log. Still, however,
these saws were cumbersome and made it difficult for logging
companies to harvest timber faster than it could regrow.
The lighter, gasoline-powered chain-saws marked huge improvements
in efficiency and safety.
Beech said the center offers a variety of tours including
their “High Country Tour,” a two-hour excursion
to the top of Black Mountain,every Sunday at 1 p.m. Cost
is approximately $10 and lunch is available for an extra
$5. Other tours are also available, she said.
“We’ll do just about anything by appointment,” Beech
said.
The Black Mountain Forestry Center is open every Saturday
and Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. during the summer. Also, check
out The World of Wood Festival, a festival of logging history
on Saturday and Sunday, August 27 and 28.
For more information call 360/599-2623. |
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