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2010 Podiums put B.C. Wood in the World Spotlight

February 2, 2010

VANCOUVER – British Columbia wood will share the spotlight with the world’s best athletes thanks to 23 stunning podiums built from timber donated by communities, First Nations, and businesses from across the Province, Premier Gordon Campbell announced today.

“Built from wood donated by communities, First Nations, businesses and individuals across the province, each one of these podiums has a story to tell about the people and places that make up British Columbia and about the forest industry that is the heart of so much of our culture and history,” said Premier Campbell. “We hope all the athletes feel this connection and are inspired by this close connection to the people of British Columbia when they step up to receive their medals on these incredible platforms.”

The podiums are built from one of 18 different wood types. The wood for each podium was harvested from a specific area or community, which makes it easy to link the specific podiums to the people and communities that provided the wood. For example, the podium that will be used at Whistler Creekside for Alpine Skiing events is built from Western Red Cedar harvested in the Revelstoke Community Forest.

“We asked British Columbians to donate wood for the podium construction and the response was overwhelming,” said Forests and Range Minister Pat Bell. “It is clear that our communities take great pride in their local forests and are eager to share the Spirit of 2010 with the rest of the world.”

The wood podiums highlight the importance of forestry in British Columbia. The province is a global leader in sustainable forest management and the world’s largest exporter of softwood lumber, paper and bio-energy products that help mitigate climate change and provide innovative solutions to green building and energy needs.

Profiles with information about the people, community and wood of each of the 23 podiums, and high-definition clips of construction and interviews with donors are available for re-broadcast at www.gov.bc.ca/for

A schedule of events and medal ceremonies is available at www.vancouver2010.com.

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BACKGROUNDER

The Wood Podiums of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games

23 wood podiums will be at 11 venues to support individual and team victory ceremonies. Each podium was built from one of 18 different wood types, harvested and donated by communities, First Nations, companies and individuals from across British Columbia. Thirteen were built from wood donated by community forests, two from family run woodlots, two from cities, six from businesses, and five from First Nations.

The podiums range from 480cm to 1525 cm in length, 170 to 500 cm in depth and 30 to 60 cm in height. The lightest podium, built of Western Red Cedar, weighs approximately 200 kilograms. Each podium is assembled from more than 200 wooden pieces.

The wood was harvested near communities as small as a few hundred (Cheslatta Carrier Nation) to cities with more than 80,000 residents (Kamloops), as far north as Fort St. James to Clayquot Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island and from as far south and east as the Ktunaxa Nation near Cranbrook.

British Columbia’s Ministry of Forests and Range sourced the wood and co-ordinated podium production. The rough lumber was converted to panels at Metro Vancouver’s Bayview Millworks, a high-end wood product manufacturer and distributor.

The panels were cut into complex shapes using sophisticated computer controlled machinery at the University of British Columbia's state-of-the-art Centre for Advanced Wood Processing. The University is a world leader in providing high-tech training and assistance to industry, and prepares students through an award-winning B.Sc. Wood Products Processing Program.

The podiums were assembled at Canadian hardware retail leader RONA’s Vancouver 2010 Fabrication Shop, a community-based training centre that teaches carpentry skills to new Canadians and at-risk youth.

Individual profiles of each of the 23 podiums, including community contact information and high-definition clips of construction and interviews with donors are available for re-broadcast at www.gov.bc.ca/for

Venue & Event	Wood Type	Community & Donor
B.C. Place Victory Ceremonies	Coastal Western Red Cedar	Clayoquot Sound Iisaak Forest Resources
B.C. Place Team Victory Ceremonies	Coastal Douglas-fir	District of Mission Mission Municipal Forest
Cypress Mountain Freestyle Skiing Snowboard	Lodgepole Pine	Westbank First Nation Westbank First Nation Community Forest
Cypress Mountain Freestyle Skiing Snowboard	Amabilis Fir	Port Hardy Burgess Family
Pacific Coliseum Figure Skating Short Track Speed Skating	Blue-Stained Lodgepole Pine	Prince George Prince George Community Forest Lakeland Mills
Pacific Coliseum Pairs Figure Skating Team Short Track Speed Skating	Western Larch	Ktunaxa Nation Ktunaxa Nation Community Forest
Richmond Olympic Oval Speed Skating	Coastal Douglas-fir	Powell River Powell River Community Forest
Richmond Olympic Oval Team Speed Skating	Yellow Cedar	Campbell River Western Forest Products
Vancouver Olympic Centre Curling	Interior Douglas-fir	Community of Likely, Xat’sull First Nation Likely-Xat'sull Community Forest
Vancouver Paralympic Centre Wheelchair Curling	Paper Birch	Clearwater Wells Grey Community Forest
Whistler Creekside Alpine Skiing	Interior Western Red Cedar	Revelstoke Revelstoke Community Forest Downie Timber
Whistler Creekside Paralympic Alpine Skiing	Subalpine Fir	Williams Lake West Fraser Timber Company

Whistler Olympic Park Biathlon	Grand Fir	The Kootenays Interior Lumber Manufacturers’ Association
Whistler Olympic Park Cross-Country Skiing	White Spruce	Fort St. James District of Fort St. James Community Forest
Whistler Olympic Park Ski Jumping	Blue-Stained Ponderosa Pine	City of Kamloops
Whistler Olympic Park Team Biathlon Team Cross-Country Team Nordic Combined	Coastal Western Red Cedar	Williams Lake Pioneer Log Homes
Whistler Olympic Park Team Biathlon Team Nordic Combined Team Ski jumping	Coastal Western Red Cedar	Sechelt Sunshine Coast Community Forest
Whistler Medals Plaza Victory Ceremonies	Western Hemlock	McBride McBride Community Forest
Whistler Medals Plaza Team Victory Ceremonies	Sitka Spruce	Bella Coola Valley The Bella Coola Resource Society Community Forest
Whistler Medals Plaza Paralympic Victory Ceremonies	Interior Douglas-fir	The Cariboo Cariboo Woodlot Association Blake Family Brown-John Family
Whistler Paralympic Park Biathlon Cross-Country Skiing	Engelmann Spruce	Merritt Aspen Planers
Whistler Paralympic Park Team Biathlon Team Cross-Country	Underwater Lodgepole Pine	Cheslatta Carrier Nation Cheslatta Community Forest
Whistler Sliding Centre Bobsleigh Luge Skeleton	Lodgepole Pine	Houston Dungate Community Forest

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