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Ex-logger recalls Vancouver IslandBԪַs War in the Woods in new memoir

Author Bruce Hornidge shares behind-the-lines view in BԪַLoggerheadsBԪַ
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Bruce Hornidge with his memoir, Logger Heads. (SUBMITTED PHOTO)

Thirty years after the War in the Woods in Clayoquot Sound, career tree faller Bruce HornidgeBԪַs memoir of events, Loggerheads, has hit the shelves.

Bruce Hornidge was born in 1948 in Belleville, Ontario, an Air Force BԪַbratBԪַ growing up where his father was stationed in Gimli, Manitoba and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Hornidge finished school in 1967 and joined his brother Brian at MacMillan BloedelBԪַs Kennedy Lake logging division at Ucluelet on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

He was still working as a logger when the BԪַWar in the WoodsBԪַ hit Clayoquot Sound: a series of blockades and protests against clearcutting that drew worldwide mass media attention.

In Loggerheads, published by SaskatchewanBԪַs Endless Sky Books, Hornidge writes from the unique, sometimes humorous and even irreverent point of view of one of the many loggers on the west coast whose forestry careers were cut short on the other side of the demonstratorsBԪַ picket lines.

BԪַFor a decade, the issue of forestland use in British Columbia raged like a forest fire,BԪַ Hornidge writes in the opening pages of Loggerheads. BԪַStarting small, it generated smoke and mirrors and a world media hype that came to hang like a stalled hurricane over a tiny, beautiful corner of the world known as Clayoquot SoundBԪַand the largest act of civil disobedience in Canada to that date.BԪַ

After more than two decades harvesting, Hornidge says he was BԪַloggershamedBԪַ as a BԪַtree-killerBԪַ and faced soul-searing losses of identity and livelihood, part of the human fallout of the inevitable move away from a resource-based economy.

BԪַMy goal was a story that is truthful, personal, and encompasses many of the issues in this complex problem,BԪַ Hornidge says.BԪַThree decades after The War of the Woods, we know what happened, and weBԪַve been told why. ThereBԪַs a lot we were never told.BԪַ

Loggerheads received a warm review from Bill Arnott, author of the Gone Viking series and A Season on Vancouver Island. BԪַPart treatise, part manual, part eco-memoir, Bruce HornidgeBԪַs Loggerheads is a timely, timeless read for lovers of trees,BԪַ Arnott says. BԪַRichly shared in crisp prose, this book stands as a sentinel evergreen to the nature and industry our forests provide.BԪַ

After losing his job as a logger in 1997, Hornidge became a security guard in Campbell River, Vancouver and Vanderhoof, British Columbia. Bruce and his wife, the Rev. Minnie Hornidge, live in Glen Williams, Ontario. There, Bruce gardens and knits. And writes.

Hornidge will be back on the west coast of Vancouver Island this week for a few reading events, starting with a stop at Electric Mermaid: Live Reads at CharBԪַs Landing in Port Alberni on Wednesday, Oct. 25. The event begins at 6 p.m.

On Thursday, Oct. 26, Hornidge will be holding a meet and greet plus book signing at Mobius Books on Argyle Street, starting at 10 a.m.

Hornidge will also head over to Ucluelet on Saturday, Oct. 28 for a reading and signing at the Ucluelet Community Centre from 10 a.m. to noon.

Loggerheads is available from most bookstores, online and off. It can also be purchased directly from or

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Elena Rardon

About the Author: Elena Rardon

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