The Last Logging Show: A Forestry Family at the End of an Era

A third-generation British Columbia logger returns to the forests of Haida Gwaii, to witness a way of life in the grip of change.

By the time Aaron Williams began learning how to fall a tree, his family had been making clear cuts on BC hillsides for nearly a century. During his father’s generation, the industry started to crumble, and by the time Williams arrived, he knew his future lay elsewhere.

But his father continued in the trade, his work taking him into the forests of Haida Gwaii. There, Williams follows him into a season at Collison Point, where the loggers are increasingly unwelcome visitors to the ancient forests.

The Last Logging Show captures the spectacular setting of Haida Gwaii and the people who call it home. It unravels the lives and dreams of those who log the forests for a living, who have toiled alongside their Haida co-workers for generations—but while old approaches to forestry come to an end, new ways come into being. Thoughtful and compelling, this is a story of connection, community, and the force of fundamental change.

“For 500 years the hardy North American lumberjack was seen as a hero, clearing land for settlement and building the industrial economy. Starting in the late 20th century, the tables began to turn as forestry’s economic importance waned and the logger began to be portrayed as an environmental villain. Born to a logging family but educated in changing values, Aaron Williams sensitively examines both sides of this dichotomy as he chronicles the final days of one of the last independent logging companies on British Columbia’s Haida Gwaii. The Last Logging Show is a vivid and moving tribute to a vanishing way of life.”

“This calm, compelling account of a swath of logging history is also a family tale about a father and son. Aaron Williams treats his subject with the same care that his father brings to his work as a logger. His book is mesmerizing and ultimately haunting as it reckons with a multi-generational livelihood coming to an end.”

“With candour, empathy and unflinching honesty, Williams brings to life the human side of logging without shying away from the often-devastating impacts of the industry. Where trees are “wiley vets,” their root wad, “a great mossy lily pad, rose from the ground” and cedar limbs “curtains of a car wash,” Williams’s gift for detail and evocative prose, together with his compassion for humanity and all living things, make The Last Logging Show a compelling and, at times, heart-rending book.”

“Williams is one hell of a writer, and he's written one hell of a book about the too-often unseen side of an important industry.”