Friday 10 March 2023

The World That Disappeared


    When BC’s Provincial Government closed the McBride District Forestry Office in March of 2003, a huge chunk of my life disappeared.  As I said in yesterday’s blog, I really enjoyed my work.  I was a “Mapping Technician”, using a dual monitor computer to make legal maps for logging, road-building, recreation sites, and other designated special areas.  I also updated the “Forest Cover” maps that showed what kind of trees grew where throughout our huge forest district.  When something happened to those trees (logging, forest fires, or trees planted in logged areas) I had to change those maps.  

    I also had to do a lot of graphic arts, designing signs like the one on yesterday’s blog, making posters for public presentations, and even drawing a few cartoons for the Forest Service.

    I was in charge of all of our office’s maps and air photos.  (This was a time before Google Earth), so I was able to help a lot of local people who came in wanting to see properties from the air.  I made them prints and copies of our maps and air photos.  I got some memos from “Upper Management” saying that I shouldn’t be giving copies of our maps and photos out to the public, but as a “Public Servant”, I felt like those things shouldn’t be secret, and they were paying for them with their taxes and so I kept helping them out.

    Below is the area of the office showing the many cabinets that held the district’s maps, you can’s see the long row of air photo cabinets that were arraigned along the right side of this photo.   All of this stuff disappeared



View my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

 

No comments:

Post a Comment