TIMBER! Real Lumberjacks Of Canada | TRACKS

[Music] Canada's British Columbia what we notice here first is the trees an immense forest it was written that here men would exploit this world and that it would be at the heart of their economy and their life they had to chop the wood down transport it and then transform it created a whole new type of job the ocean is at the heart of this process to tell the story of the people who lived and sometimes died here one only needs to follow the path of the laws from the forest to the factory [Music] this story begins in the quad see no sound to the north of Vancouver Island a journey that takes 45 minutes and one of silence a story of the forest and of the sea and one which tells the history of British Columbia well it takes a lot of nerve and confidence and if you're gonna sign up for it you better be willing to eat it sleep it and drink it because if you don't take it serious it will take you a dozen men are aboard the boat they find themselves in such a place that they dare not tell their wives that they came you could say that Kirk grew up here [Music] [Music] you have to be there 100% all the time and you better have your game face on because if you don't the game's over [Music] Kirk is a lumberjack and supervisor at Mahato river where the forests are known to be very dangerous for us this is a very foreign world a supervisor at Mahato river ensures that things run smoothly or at least as smoothly as things can possibly go kirk is in charge of appointing men to the different cutting areas there's probably gonna be some hazards in there probably just what I got written here let's see jackpots heavy leaners loaded Lim Lim tied loaded blow down slippery soils check footing possible overhead to breeze block prone to very high winds take caution with all the above contact supervisor if cannot be safely managed plan will be put in place to safely manage this is a new cutting zone [Music] they build a root for the wood but it will also serve the Lumberjacks [Music] the zone is at the top of the hill which is the worst possible place it could be see those trees up along that edge way up there now those won't be very what I call not user-friendly what happens with those is there they could be all rotting around the outside and as you're starting to fall them and you're starting to let them go they could they're very weak on top right and they could collapse if Mahara River is so dangerous it's because the river is on the west coast of Vancouver Island and is sometimes exposed to winds of 200 kilometers an hour coming from the Pacific the trees split break intertwine it looks like a real battlefield and this battlefield is also a magnificent primary forest [Music] [Music] we cut guys like this on a fairly regular basis we've had them up to 20 feet across and they're probably around those ones they're applied be closer to like twelve hundred years old possibly even older so that's pretty old tree but I find them really challenging and I like them because of that reason they're challenging they make me think they keep me on my toes okay so this tree is gonna go that way this tree is probably about 400 years old might be a little lasts a little more been around for a while bouldering me why I'm getting rid of these trees make an opening so we got a place to lay this guy in there to chop down this spruce Kirk clears the area every action has a consequence and there is no place for fallback unexpected happenings for misjudging a situation [Music] you want cheese hooking into other piece it's okay if you're a long far enough away but if you're too close the top will break off as the trees catching it and it bends over the one that's not cut bends over and then it slips through the other tree goes and that one comes back top breaks off or limb comes out gets for your standing bullseye I don't like being bullseye in 2005 43 of British Columbia's 5000 Lumberjacks were killed doing their jobs and just last year there were two fatalities at Mahana River you know I would say any follower in his career is probably had situations where it probably wasn't good and thought maybe he got lucky or maybe he just made that last little move at the last second and got out of the way of harm's way and managed to live yeah I can think of a few times in my career that I should have been squashed like a bug but I didn't [Music] kirk then goes to work on a huge tree in a short space of time half an hour he will chop down a tree 45 meters high and weighing 40 tons the Lumberjacks at mojado River all say that they've had a day when the smallest of movements could have meant the difference between life and death at the moment when the tree comes down [Music] the spruce is down Kirk's job is done in British Columbia the timber industry employs 120,000 people and generates 11 billion dollars in revenues everything begins in these forests here where we chop down the trees replant them and let them grow and we continue the journey of the tree which has now become a trunk also called a log a log which we have brought down the mountain we bring it carefully down to the sea [Music] [Applause] okay I got the picking up on the move here once they're in the water men like John take charge first they sort then they layout and organize the logs they are the raft builders you know different logging companies and then it goes to various Mills its towed down Island to various Mills Campbell River and I'm all back to the cheaper day to bloom it up and and tow it here than it is truck all this one here they can larger amounts would at once more cheaply that's why we loom it all up only in British Columbia do they transport wood in this fashion there are also huge boats but the rafts are still the norm this is where Andy comes into play Andy is the young captain of Hecate Strait a tugboat which has for the past 40 years traveled the waters between Vancouver Island and the mainland with thousands of tons of wood attached there are five men on board Hecate Strait Grayson is just starting out John is a seasoned open sea fisherman and dennis has always lived this way Moreno the tug boat leaves Beaver Cove and heads to the johnston straits losing itself in the maze of islands it takes eight days to get to the destination sometimes 15 as it takes four hours by car each day to cover this distance which follows the coast the average speed of the convoy is one and a half knots nearly three kilometers an hour it's slow very slow but they have to pull a raft the size of six football fields 25 could mean up to 30,000 tons of wood almost a kilometer in length [Music] pulling a raft is just like pulling an iceberg there is much more below the water than a bond known as a boom the concept is simple a frame holding logs in the middle the logs are tied to bundles which float so traveling forward without losing anything is no mean feat considering that just because things are moving slowly doesn't mean there are no problems [Music] [Music] yeah it's a little bit coming I will be in by then some wind coming up but I think we'll be inside by then we won't have to worry about it well you know if it gets pretty ugly you know 20 and over its when it starts getting ugly you know you can tow in it but you'll be taking a ride 35 knots that's uh you don't really want to be tolling in that it's gonna be pretty ugly [Music] when you're hauling 30,000 tons behind you nothing happens fast so you have the time to enjoy the countryside and to think about alternatives but there is only one and that is to get home but there is a place in Johnston straight where it's not so easy some rough seas in this area all along here and if it gets too rough we don't want to be out in it but if we're down here there's nowhere we can really hide we just have to go with it and with the wind and the current pushing on us is going to want to push us past and down so we're gonna have to fight it across or it can push us on the Fanny Island which we don't want to do because we will break her heart oh forget that [Music] is a very big responsibility out there's a lot of wood back there a lot of money it all comes down on me if I get her there in one piece or not yeah a lot of responsibility the next day Andy starts on the famous passage conditions look better than expected everything looks good well almost everything this adorable is that the gold outside there on the port side or is about Oh [Music] Andy has to move fast it's 9 p.m. and once night has fallen he won't be able to gather the log dogs first he has to fetch the trail it's gotta get some ropes ready and tie everything in and five yeah wind pushing us down there [Music] Andy let's the raft drift in the straight he chases down the log bundles separated from the raft the wind has come up again and time is of the essence when you're captain of a ship it's never good to lose some of your cargo John who is the most experienced of the crew jumps on to a lost bundle [Music] he ties them back together [Music] just chop them down off there and then grab a long rope they just running through [Music] Andi brings the stray log bundles back towards the huge raft left floating in the middle of the straight [Music] some of the logs are damaged but that's something to worry about later [Music] for now the logs just need to be attached it's not the time nor the place to make it look good but rather just to make sure it holds so they can get out of here as quickly as possible [Music] and John I was you guys blew some broomsticks no all we just oh okay yeah just go faster three boobs together yours did Andy lose a bundle before he noticed what was happening do they have their entire cargo it's hard to say but if by a stroke of bad luck they are missing a few logs they may not be completely lost yeah looks good it's probably gonna be low float you can see the green on it it's a hemlock we'll see how two floats when it gets in the water I ones a hunk of junk this one a small hemlock hopefully it floats okay we'll pull them off [Music] Eric Hammond is a Beachcomber or to be more exact he's a log salvager he earns a living collecting the logs that have been washed up on the bank he then sells them off he's kind of a scrap dealer of the waters always ready to replenish his stock of wood which he keeps safely tied up [Music] Eric lives in how sound with his wife and two children he's hoping that he'll be able to go looking for logs tonight earlier this afternoon might be swinging around the West Willie's good weather southeast brings rain but out there it's kind of exposed to both sides so you know ideally five to ten would be good but it might be workable we'll make the judgment call as we get that out there I guess but it's not as bad as it could be so let's yeah yeah maybe comes home really late or something but [Music] the conditions are just right and Eric doesn't waste any time when you're a Beachcomber you have to be ready to take off quickly [Music] the faster I go with the more logs I can get if it really get logs it's more incentive to work on a lower tide but I'd like to have as much time that good if I had a full tide all day I'd be working on that speed is efficiency very quickly he finds some logs he's good or maybe just lucky these here this is good these are boomsticks these are the logs that go around the booms they're actually worth a little bit okay that's good it's almost certainly damaged the wood has broken off its raft and ended up here ninety percent of the wood that litters the shores here our logs lost by the industry eric only looks for the best logs and searches high and low along the coast including on people's doorsteps sees most the time they're unhappy about it that kind of trade friendly so that made it easy yeah they think it's their log I don't know they just seem to get angry really easily they don't understand that I have to pay for a license and this is my job they don't they don't understand it's a demanding job firstly very physically demanding and everything has to be done at high speed Eric only has a few hours to gather up as much wood as he can [Music] the life of a Beachcomber is rather solitary he works completely alone which means he has to manage everything alone the boat and the logs which can weigh several times it's a lot more complicated than it looks and he's constantly forced to improvise you never know what you're gonna run into out there some ways it becomes routine but some ways not like I say there's always different challenges come up yeah don't stand there is a riot low brakes when you're a log salvager it's all about the small victories that's going to be a heavy load it's good [Music] tonight the hall has been a good one but that's not always the case even if beachcombers are becoming a rare species the competition isn't so fierce anymore and people aren't know maybe people have changed too I don't know it's not it's not the fierceness to it maybe because there isn't the money behind it that's money makes people do funny things so maybe it was that's it he says we don't get paid as much so you still have incentive to get out there sooner and faster after last night's difficulties the Hector Strait stops it's a good time to repair the damaged raft and here every time the tugboat passes through an Eagle comes to say hello well I just battled them some garlic sausage [Music] what a half a mile back he'll come and land on the tow and then right here at the waterhole he seems to be here every time it must be his home but he comes and hangs out and so what we're gonna do is just push all the wood back tighten it up and we'll bring all that other stuff and put it back in no just because these bundles popped out in the weather we had the other day so it doesn't really happen too often but every once in a while it'll happen they take advantage of the time to repair the wrap and make it more secure they'll sue and have to face the strong currents of the Narrows which is always a delicate place to maneuver through and they need to be ready I can't pull this up man working on the raft is very physical bathrooms a joke just came undone Andy helps them he pushes hundreds of tons of wood with the tugboat while his men are balancing on top of the raft this requires a certain amount of finesse [Music] always gotta be paying attention where they are make sure they're not the relic squad they'll fall in very aware yeah that happened to me a long time ago yeah I fell in between two logs log beams coming together there and I got myself out in time but it ended up catching my leg my shin crack my shin bone yeah didn't feel too good three hours of very tough work then a quick break before setting off again with the tide you have to be a good worker to work on Andy's boat you're gonna want to eat species sorry he's the boss he does what he wants he's done it a long time so he can do what he wants despite his young age Andy is a demanding captain but he's also a captain who has what he calls the tug life the life on board the tugboat a peaceful life full of enjoyable experiences follow away card now it's big enough to eat [Music] the Hecate straits continues its journey soon a small tugboat joins them it's a boat that will stay with them in order to help the journey across the sea more passage also known as the Narrows where only the most experienced captain dares to go with this big a cargo [Music] it was pretty smooth job there everything like good egg yes it's not something anybody can just come to and he's probably been doing this probably a good 10 years now ever since I started coming over working here actually started working with him there's a lot of stuff you need to know right now all the snow and stuff's melting off with the top of the mountain so we got fresh water coming out all day and let's and stuff so it it messes with the tides in certain spots [Music] when I first started you know first few times going through the rapids about myself yeah it was a little overwhelming I guess but you get over it not too much to worry about now there's some tides you know that that'll get you and you know they'll give you that little rush again but [Music] in how sound Eric the Beachcomber has a visitor yeah just start at that in there sometimes I am disappointed I think that a log was gonna be bigger than it was but he has the final say so yeah anyway I've got to kind of make sure that he gets them all so I'll kind of feed them to him as he needs to to see them the visitor is a scaler he assesses the wood and it is his evaluation that turns the wood into money for Eric when he sells it the man is independent he does not directly work for buyers and thus he is impartial it's a mix some of these high floating logs or a good quality wood some of the ones you see that are floating lonely not so good so you have to say well what kind of put it t--'s is a tenth of the size and that's right the species the length the top the black diameter and a grade that's a afforded each log having to do with its value this form and I change all the time according to the price and all of the market I don't know that's right two or three times a year they do an adjustment of the value of the wood according to the market for the next few hours the scaler records each law then he gives his verdict three hundred and seventy pieces 215 meters the assessment isn't great and means less money than Eric expected I don't know for the price but there's 370 pieces and 215 meters so there's definitely less than a meter average per log so yeah but then I guess you could say the average log it gets complicated but I mean price per meter say is 30 bucks so to me it's the beachcombers are the ones that are out there doing the hard work trying to keep our waters clear and there there's just not as much compensation as they should receive for that kind of work that definitely the system is stacked against the beachcombers in my in my estimation but I probably shouldn't be saying that [Music] Eric will make about $6,500 for his lot which is not a lot considering the time he spent collecting the wood he goes home to tell his wife today is 370 pieces 215 meters better none it's out there at least a good question I think because there's no question the khadiyah is a lifestyle there's just no we're probably do different work and make more money doing something else but he loves doing this he'll come home some nights and just be creaming because it was perfect the weather or or the logs or something so he gets excited about it can't really imagine him doing anything else [Music] we often hear about the call of the sea an irresistible urge to go to sea for Eric it's clear that he feels the call of the Beachcomber a need to hunt for logs [Music] however lost wood is becoming more of a rarity fewer forest areas are being chopped down and technological innovation means that there are fewer logs lost at sea rafts are more solid and better designed things are also changing in how sound which was once known as the beach coming mecca of British Columbia definitely a higher end it's very expensive there used to be a lot of cottages along here but they've all been brought up and giant mansions put in their place it seems to me it attitude comes with it I hate to say it that's what I've run into so far kind of crisis these kind of those wheel oh man easily million million dollars easy easy I'm never gonna buy it so I don't need to know but Eric continues fighting literally and metaphorically he doesn't need to go to the gym as working with the wood is a constant workout [Music] you bastard I mean there is a point of diminishing returns of the log isn't worth the time you might as well continue on to easier logs that's just something you have to make that judgment call at the time and just give up or if you are stubborn sometimes you just keep working on it and don't let the log win depends on feeling Eric's a rare breed of Beachcomber as he continues to earn his living the same way his father and grandfather did before it but the way things are going he's becoming more and more comparable to the last of the Mohicans if it the job goes away we'll see oh if I stay sane I would say so yeah I would have to find another job in the water preferably working by myself for myself I don't know what else is out there that does that [Music] [Music] the Hecate Strait arrives in the infamous narrows a dreaded route in the Narrows currents can reach up to 17 knots today they're at nine knots that might not seem like a lot but imagine hauling 30,000 tons around moving along arduously at 3 kilometres an hour and your journey is disturbed by the turbulent eddies which moves six times faster than you yep usually a little bit I guess the Johnston Strait begins to narrow huge masses of water are concentrated here due to the effects of the tides with this cargo and he has to work with the currents to maneuver and avoid disaster the current is pushing him the raft is gathering speed Andy begins his maneuver being a bitchy time the battle is on [Music] I'm pulling really hard this way it's still pushing me really hard now that way I show you clear in there yeah you betcha [Music] I can hear about here the smaller tugboat which helps the boat get through the Narrows comes to help in order to balance things out or at least to try given the inertia of the 30,000 tonnes of wood this is the moment of truth on the radar they're getting dangerously close to the coastline [Music] Andy is worried the raft keeps on drifting [Music] finally it gets back on track the key is to stay toe at all times if your toe passes yeah and you're in trouble yeah hard part's over Andy and the Hecate straights only have to follow the rest of their route from here on out it's plain sailing to their destination the sawmill [Music] John's next job is to supply a sawmill located on the edge of town he's done it all before but today he doesn't have time to joke around today we have a changeover that means one customers cut is finished we start a new one we're a little bit behind well gentlemen how's it going good pinda is his right-hand man and boss on the water the morning begins with a rude awakening but you can't make it we sorted out the tags there's 10 and 50 10 and 5 15 yeah yeah we'll be on time it's we're always on time but it's just one of these days it's a rush everybody has to go fast 6:30 a.m. pinda and John get back on board they're funny little boats it's a type of boat that you'll only find in British Columbia a boom boat a funny name but they're not here to joke around you know sometimes you know enjoy it all watch each other I'm gonna go in that's all wanted we have to watch these guys work the front of me [Music] the race against the clock begins they only have a few hours to collect sorts select and calibrate all the wood which is gathering in the Fraser River at the foot of the somnium just a few hours to supply the factory and free up the zone for the next load which is about to arrive [Music] everything is happening on board this boom boat a sort of maritime bumper car [Music] [Music] go away [Music] first cutting bundle wires pushing [Music] not difficult mid morning they'll take a break and they'll take notes on the logs they've treated and those that are left to do it should be one with 14 bundles and home with 19 bundles will be all right now yeah no we just finished that one right on that okay we're on the 14 mothers yeah 666 yeah now is the best moment to find out a bit more about them midnight Friday night my family like a third generation here and where I born in India when I was a little kid my dad died and he just right over here my brother working for now that's the only thing we look now now the new credible lawyer or doctor or drug dealers the last they used to be quite a few up and down the river they gradually gone away you know there have been shipping them an awful lot of raw logs from Vancouver from Vancouver Island you know ship the logs by freighter overseas so I mean they're just taking jobs away from local people you know if they want to buy wood by the lumber after we process it and the annika economy year would start to grow because know a lot there's a lot less on those now in Vancouver itself we used to be all up and down the river and that no more we're the last one in Vancouver the sawmill industry is not flourishing as it once was but the pace of work here is just as frantic just as the new load appears on the horizon john pinda and the others finally make up for their lost time for seven hours they continuously supply the factory with logs a factory which operates 24/7 365 days a year the logs have survived their long voyage it's here that the journey will end for a 400 year old tree which was chopped down by a lumberjack a long way north on the west coast the Vancouver Island the tree has been transformed into smaller pieces of lumber and will almost certainly end up in another country 90% of the wood from British Columbia is exported and during this time Eric collects the logs which have washed up on the shore during their journey up the river who knows how much longer he can keep on making a living like this but it's sure that he'll continue as long as possible in a job that he loves [Music] as for Andy he's taken on a new role with every voyage he gets more experienced but Johnston Strait is his kingdom in the north of Vancouver Island Kirk chops down trees in the great forest of Mahana River the trees are felled and carried down the mountain to rejoin the river this is the eternal cycle British Columbia you

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Keywords: lumberjack documentary, environmental, climate change, real stories, TRACKS, tracks travel channel, tracks travel, Full length Documentaries, Documentary, TV Shows - Topic, Documentary Movies - Topic, 2018 documentary, Channel 4 documentary, Amazing Stories, Amazing Documentaries, Extraordinary people, 2018, 2018 documentaries, national geographic, nature documentary, natgeo wild, environment documentary, global warming, conflicts of nature, animals - topic

Id: u0AX42Bjx7c

Length: 49min 21sec (2961 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 09 2019