A trail named for him

<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Nanaimo resident David Smith recently had a pleasant surprise during a walk through the Malaspina University-College Forest off of Jingle Pot Road.

The retired forestry instructor was taking his dog for his usual walk through the “Manager’s Trail” of Malaspina’s 3,250 acre managed woodlot when he came across a new wooden sign with his name carved into it -- “Smith’s Trail”.

“I was tickled pink when I saw the sign,” said Smith.

Unknown to Smith, Paul Lucas, Malaspina Forest Superintendent, was responsible for the sign. He’d put it up a day earlier, planning for a dramatic unveiling within a few days.

“If David hadn’t put in the application (for the woodlot license) in 1987 and followed through with it, we wouldn’t have this living laboratory we have today,” said Lucas of Smith’s contributions.

Although Lucas didn’t get to do the unveiling, he’s just as pleased with Smith’s response – a big smile of thanks.

Smith started at Malaspina in 1970 as an instructor in the one-year Forest Products Transfer Program. For the next 33 years he worked hard to develop the program into what it is today – a successful Forest Resources Technology Program. He lobbied to get a woodlot license for Malaspina so his students could gain valuable hands-on experience managing and harvesting a forest. In 1989 Malaspina was awarded a woodlot license by the Ministry of Forests and 3,250 acres of Crown and private land stretching across the slopes of Mount Benson to the Lantzville foothills.

After seeing his vision for the program become a reality, Smith retired in 2003 but still takes an active interest in the woodlot he helped create.

While other post-secondary schools with forestry technology programs have active woodlots, none of them are as large or as convenient as Malaspina’s, which is located 10 minutes from the Nanaimo campus.

“Ours is large enough and close enough that it is used by staff and students year round,” said Lucas.

“Hundreds of people are up there everyday enjoying the area because we’re right beside Nanaimo.”

Smith’s Trail goes through the first harvested area on the woodlot. Some of the trees now growing there were planted by Malaspina students 16 years ago. The trail leads down to a rich eco-area full of first and second growth trees and a diversity of habitats and species. The entrance to the trail is off Galloway Gulch Road in the Jingle Pot area. The public is welcome to walk through the forest on foot.

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