Inside B.C.’s Perilous Forestry Industry

By Jadine Ngan
Macleans Magazine
March 17, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

A tree felled in B.C.’s coastal rainforest, is towed by tugboat to lumber mills along waterways like the Fraser River. It’s difficult work. In the cold months, gales tear through inlets and the river ices over; tides and storms can yank logs out of formation all year round. For decades, beachcombers salvaged escaped logs and sold them back into use. But fuel and boat costs are rising, and beachcombers’ ranks are thinning. Reave Dennison is sometimes a tugboat worker, sometimes a beachcomber and sometimes even an arborist, doing maintenance work on trees. …Over the last 10 years, he’s assembled a collection of photographs that document the beauty he sees while toiling in the field. …As part of this year’s Capture Photography Festival in Vancouver, Dennison’s images will be displayed at the Pale Fire art gallery from March 19 to May 9. The exhibit, called Tree Work, folds three of his projects into one. 

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