When speaking with Canadians from other provinces about British Columbia’s economy, the logging industry is usually one of the first areas brought up. We have a long history of cutting down our forests, but have we gone too far?

The above trailer for a forthcoming documentary series by Daniel Pierce, Heartwood, examines the question, and shows the future of the industry is as difficult to penetrate as an old-growth forest from the 1800s.

The trailer contends that since pre-logging days, 90 per cent of Vancouver Island’s old-growth forests worth harvesting have been already harvested.

As one interviewee in Heartwood states, “How can you teach your children how to build a canoe out of these big cedar trees when there are no longer cedar trees?”

It also touches on employment, noting the number of jobs in the forestry sector has steadily decreased since 1994.

Heartwood looks to examine the politics, science, history, and economics of the logging industry in B.C. It also aims to answer big questions such as, “We have to make money, but can we do it in a way that doesn’t destroy the island?”

Learn more about Heartwood here.