BC Forest Discovery Centre

BC Forest Discovery Centre

Coordinates: 48°48′07″N 123°42′55″W / 48.80194°N 123.71528°W / 48.80194; -123.71528

BC Forest Discovery Centre

Hillcrest Lumber Company #1,
a class B Shay locomotive
Established 1964
Location 2892 Drinkwater Road[1],
Duncan, British Columbia
Type Forestry Museum
Director Vicky Holman
Curator Aimee Greenaway
Website www.bcforestmuseum.com

The BC Forest Discovery Centre, located in Duncan, chronicles the history of logging in British Columbia, Canada. Its mission is to be British Columbia's foremost interpreter and presenter of the forest community – past, present and future. It is a 100 acre site with 3 km of operational narrow gauge railway.

Contents

History

G.E. (Gerry) Wellburn, a collector, was the founder of the Centre which opened in 1964 as the Cowichan Valley Forest Museum. It was later known for a time as the BC Forest Museum.

Collection

There are indoor and outdoor exhibits spread over a 100-acre (40 ha) site, including operating steam and gas rail equipment plus logging trucks. There are forest and nature trails, picnic area, playground, gift shop and a concession. At the Centre visitors can explore a reconstructed logging camp, forest fire lookout tower and the ranger's station.

The Centre has its own heritage railway, a train pulled by a century old steam locomotive which was once used in the filling in of the North Vancouver harbour. Along the route is one of the first pre-fabricated school houses, a trestle over Somenos Lake and an operational waterwheel.

The Forest Discovery Center has seven steam locomotives in its collection.[2]

  1. Mayo Lumber Company #3 Shay (class B) (was on loan to Kettle Valley Steam Railway 1995-2009) [[3] [4] [5]
  2. Hillcrest Lumber Company #1 Shay (class B) (3 ft /914 mm gauge) [6]
  3. Bloedel Stuart & Welch Shay (class B) #1 (4 ft 8 12 in/1,435 mm standard gauge) [7]
  4. Shawnigan Lake Lumber #2 Climax (class B) (4 ft 8 12 in/1,435 mm standard gauge) [8]
  5. Hillcrest Lumber Company #9 Climax (class B) (4 ft 8 12 in/1,435 mm standard gauge) - the only operational Climax locomotive in Canada) [9]
  6. Cowichan Valley Railway #24 Vulcan 0-4-0T "Suzie" (3 ft /914 mm gauge) [10]
  7. Cowichan Valley Railway #25 Vulcan 0-4-0T "Samson" (3 ft /914 mm gauge) [11]

In addition, these diesel locomotives are also part of the collection:

  1. Cowichan Valley Railway #23 "Sandy" Plymouth 8-ton [12]
  2. Cowichan Valley Railway #27 "Handy Andy" speeder [13]
  3. British Columbia Forest Products #9 Whitcomb Locomotive Works (80-ton 0-4-4-0 diesel) [14]

Site

The site has a reconstructed fire watch tower, which offers a commanding view of the site and nearby Somenos Marsh.

The Centre borders the Somenos Marsh Wildlife Refuge and Ducks Unlimited pond. Many types of water fowl and other birds can be found in this area. Red-Eared Slider turtles can be found sunning in the field next to the marsh.

Two bald eagles have built a nest in the stand of trees west of the North Cowichan Station at the Centre's lower grounds. These eagles successfully raised eaglets in 2006 after relocating from a previous nest site along the South Forester's Walk the previous summer. There are currently three eaglets in their nest. The nest is best viewed by standing at the flag pole outside the Wellburn Building at the lower grounds.

See also

References

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Discovery District —   Neighbourhood   Princess Margaret Hospital, one of a number of hospitals in the area …   Wikipedia

  • Discovery Park (Hong Kong) — Discovery Park (Chinese: 愉景新城) is a residential development in Hong Kong, located at 398 Castle Peak Road, Tsuen Wan in the New Territories. The whole estate including the residential flats and the shopping centre spans over 2,700,000 square feet …   Wikipedia

  • Forest — This article is about a community of trees. For other uses, see Forest (disambiguation). A conifer forest in the Swiss Alps (National Park) …   Wikipedia

  • Swinley Forest — Track through Swinley Forest Swinley Forest is a large expanse of English Crown Estate woodland mainly within the civil parishes of Windlesham in Surrey and Winkfield and Crowthorne in Berkshire …   Wikipedia

  • National Forest, England — Conkers Discovery Centre at Moira in the heart of the N …   Wikipedia

  • Interpretive centre — Ein interpretive centre oder interpretation centre, in den USA häufiger center, ist eine Institution, deren Zielsetzung darin besteht, Wissen und Kenntnisse über bestimmte Ausschnitte der Natur und Kulturwissenschaften zu vermitteln, sowie über… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Atlantic Forest — Discovery Coast Atlantic Forest Reserves * UNESCO World Heritage Site Virgin Mata Atlântica in Pernambuco …   Wikipedia

  • Shoshone National Forest — Forêt nationale de Shoshone Forêt nationale de Shoshone Catégorie VI de la CMAP (Zone de gestion de ressources protégées) …   Wikipédia en Français

  • North York Centre — This article is about the city district. For the TTC subway stop, see North York Centre (TTC). North York Centre   Neighbourhood   Photograph of …   Wikipedia

  • Ashdown Forest — Geobox Protected Area name = Ashdown Forest native name = other name = other name1 = category local = category iucn = image size = 300 image caption = Ashdown Forest near Greenwood Gate Clump country = England region = East Sussex region type =… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”