TWO CYCLISTS explore the Seymour Demonstration

NEWS photo Neil Lucente

Forest along one of the

many stretches of logging roads throughout the area.

& 1875: The Moodyville sawmill operation obtains a
200-hectare (494-acre) timber lease on the east bank
of the Seymour River. Selective logging of Douglas
fir for Pacific Rim spar markets begins.

€1 1888: Gold is discovered along Seymour River,
and a mine is excavated four kilometres upstream
from the river’s mouth.
8 1905: Vancouver Mayor Buscombe urges that the
Seymour River be secured as a second source of
domestic water for the growing communities of the
Lower Mainland. The Capilano water system had
supplied Vancouver with water since 1889. An ex-
tensive survey of the Seymour water system is car-
ried out.
BH Oct. t4, 1908: The first water from the Seymour
system flows into Vancouver through a combination
f wood and cast iron pipeline system runaing across
the Second Narrows bridge. The daily capacity is
13.6 million litres.
@ 1914: Another survey of the Seymour watershed
) —- the largest catchment basin in the North Shore ~
is undertaken due to fears increased logging threat-
ens the water quality. Results of survey confirm
this danger.
$4 1922: E.A. Cleveland, B.C.'s comptroller of water
j rights, deems that logging and watershed activities
are not compatible.
¥ Wi 1924: Construction of a one metre dam is com-
E pleted at the fower intake level.
7 & 1926: The newly created Greater Vancouver Water
District (GVWD), with Cleveland at the helm, closes

all North Shore watersheds to logging, though ex-
isting logging lease remain workable.

@ 1928: The Seymour Falls Dam, a concrete dam,
132 metres long and 6.6 metres high, is completed.
1936; All logging operations have ceased A small
settlement of six houses and one store remains in
watershed land.

11956: 334% of the Seymour watershed is covered
with mature and overmature timber, A consultant
recommends gradual replacement of the mature to
overmature forest with even-aged stands of young
trees. These stands are less prone to insect infesta-
tion and disease.

BW Jan. 1961: The new Seymour Falls Dam project is
completed, creating a six kilometre long Seymour
Lake.

Feb. 1963: Logging of dead snags, mature, over-
mature and diseased timber and the planting of
young trees is approved by the G¥YWD

& 1967: The Balloon Transport Co. experiments with
ballon logging in tae Lyin Ridge area.

1975: 10,624 hectares in the Seymour watershed
are classified as Watershed Reserve (no logging
permitted), and 5,748 hectares are deemed Forest
Management Areas.

G& 1979: A salmonoid hatchery begins operation just
south of the Seymour Falls Dam.

@ 1980s: The trend to manage increasingly smaller
units for timber harvesting continues.

& Aug. 1987: The area south of the Seymour Falls
Darn is opened to the public as a Demonstration
Forest.

RIVE NORTH
Capilano College,

on Lillooet

Road “past ‘
through the North Van-..

couver cemetery, and onto a gravel road. At
the end of that five-kilometre stretch sits the North
Shore’s best kept outdoor secret.

A hike, bike or puddle
theoaugh the Seymour
Demonstration Forest: offers a
weekend explorer a glimpse in-
fo the Seymour watershed’s pi-
oneer past and a hint of the
future of B.C. forest manage-
ment techaiques.

The Greater Vancouver
Regional District (GYRD)
opened the demonstration
forest to the public in August
1987 to serve as an educational
facility promoting integrated
resource manzgement, | ‘

Integrated resource
management refers to & system
of allocating resource use that

‘ best serves. the. economic and-
social needs of the present and
“way — range in distance from;

the future.
“In its first” two years of.
public ‘access, an. estimated

250,000. people visited “‘the™

5, 600- hectare (13, 837-acre)
' forest.

The forests of. the lower

“Seymour Valley are now. 2

managed, shared resource for

\ forestry, . watershed, recre-
ational and educational pur-
poses. oy

XPLORING THE the’

forest. on the 40

kilometres; of legging...
trails:

roads and:
° throughort the ‘lower waiter

“shed, one. ‘comes : across old, *
stumps “with ..
Springboard marks, remnants
“of ‘old water. pipes cand kome-*-
“steads: all) reminders that. this.
, seemingly ” isolated . area’. was”
“ once’. bustling’. with “activities.

“gkid:: roads,’

‘ranging: from logging. to mining.
‘for gold. -
Other means of. exploring the

cycling (weekends: only),
: na kayaking (phon

Coliseum
Mountain
(1448 m)

The
Neadies

soa

Att

Dow oncept on
WeAKONCE

By A.P, McCredie
News Reporter

urea at) Rive Lake, but at
various. times organized tours
are allowed access lo the
Seymour Falls Dam.

What. really sets. the
demonstration forest apart
from other trail oriented recre-
ation arcas are the interpretive
trail programs and the forest
harvesting and, reforesting
demonstrations.

The interpretive | trails —
complete with’ pamphlets pro-

viding a step-by-step commen. -

tary of the resources, wildlife
ond demonstrations along: the

the Forest Ecology loop ‘trai

'- (406m) to. the self-guiding route’.

to Seymour. Falis' Dam (22-km® -
roundtrip). Many ‘of -¢the : trails’.
are wheelchair accessible, :

“T guess the” best”:.way.: ‘to
describe what..we. want: the
demonstration forest to. become
is a ‘working laboratory’. that
is open to the public,’’ sald ‘the
forest. ‘ coordinator ‘Valerie

“Cameron,

Cameren; added ‘thateca

‘number of. the: forest: manuge-

ment: technique sexperiiaenta
‘wndertakea ta | thé Seymour,’ wo

‘Since taking’ the job of plo
ting’ the’ future projects:of: the
demionstraion edie : Cameron:

SEYMOUA FALLS OAM
SEYMOUR RIVER
HATCHERY

MOUNT
SEYMOUR
PROVINCIAL

SEYMOUR
DEMONSTRATION
FOREST

Suspension
Bridge