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

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.

Feb. 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.

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.

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