On Saturday, November 5, 2016, the Rotary Club of Whistler welcomed fellow Rotarians and guests at the public unveiling of the Don MacLaurin Forest Sign Project. The clouds parted just long enough for us to learn about the great work that has been completed through this project.
Over the past two years, with the expertise of Peter Ackhurst, the Rotary Club of Whistler has been generously granted two Environmental Legacy Fund grants from the CFOW. With this funding and a collaborative team including RMOW, the Cheakamus Community Forest, Cutting Edge, the Whistler Museum and many volunteers, we have been able to implement and ad-vance the Don MacLaurin Forest Sign Project and honour Don’s legacy.
In 2015, a mapping of the signs was completed, Rotary held a clean up day which was focused on the Discovery Loop closer to the highway, the spacing loop was cleaned up, four small road signs were designed, produced and installed and four large signs were were also designed, produced and installed - these include the Welcome to the Whistler Interpretive Forest sign just off the highway, an Invasive Species Sign which can be found by Loggers Lake, the Don MacLaurin life history sign at MacLaurin’s Crossing and a sign covering the history of the forest which was the example unveiled on Saturday. This year, similar work continued - including more brush work, the removal of old signs, another clean up day and the design, production and installation of more signage.
During the event, we were able to learn about the history and importance of the signage found in our forests from Foresters, John Hammons and Tom Cole. We also welcomed Heather Beresford, RMOW, and Isobel MacLaurin who were able to speak of Don’s passion for the local forests, past work and lasting legacy.The ceremony concluded with all guests gathering for coffee and treats generously provided by and hosted at Cheaky’s Cafe. It was a great gathering recognizing a worthy project!