On July 15, 1995 a severe storm – classified by Environment Canada as a tornado in conjunction with heavy downbursts – descended on Haliburton Forest. Within two minutes, 5,000 acres of forest were devastated or severely damaged.

A large salvage operation began within a few days as we attempted to retrieve as much of the fallen timber as possible. Haliburton Forest is a hardwood forest but along with maple, beech and oak, hemlock logs started to pile on the roadside landings. With little market for hemlock at the time, Haliburton Forest's staff started to look at opportunities to utilize the hemlock logs. They soon stumbled upon hemlock’s most common use as heavy timbers in log and timber frame construction.

To this day, Mennonite farmers in southern Ontario use hemlock almost exclusively in their barn construction. Many of Ontario's oldest barns, some as old as 300 years, were built almost exclusively from hemlock by early farmers and pioneers.

Haliburton Forest decided to build on this established track record of hemlock: it created the EcoLog concept, which uses hemlock trees with superior wood qualities, taking them from the forest to the final, turn-key customer's home. Initially, only smaller cabins and homes were built. Soon, larger homes were being requested and today full-sized buildings in the 3,000 and 4,000 square foot range are not uncommon.

Haliburton Forest remains committed to its sustainable foundation, which demands that hemlock is being managed carefully and sustainably. After being selected and cut one by one, each hemlock bole, some 80' long and over 30 inches in diameter, is skidded to a roadside landing and then transported to our nearby sawmill. This integration of careful forest management, harvesting and milling is extremely efficient and is reflected in EcoLog’s price point, passed on to every customer along with the knowledge that EcoLog buildings do not contribute to any environmental degradation.

WOOD SELECTION
Hemlock - "Ontario's most graceful evergreen."
The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources

There are 14 species of hemlock in North America -- Eastern Hemlock, which grows from the American Midwest to the Atlantic and from North-central Ontario and Quebec to Georgia and Tennessee, is the most common of these species. Historically, eastern hemlock has had many uses. Primarily it was used as heavy timber in frame construction and in crates for transportation. Its bark, which contains very high components of tannin, was used extensively in the leather tanning industry of the early industrial era.

Hemlock wood is light brown in colour, odourless and moderately light. It holds paint and glue well. Once dried, it holds nails extremely well. Unlike hardwood, hemlock burns very fast and hot, leaving few embers and coals. It is therefore a preferred fire-wood for maple sugar producers.

Radial shake, if extensive, can lead to failure of hemlock lumber. However, radial shake can be readily detected and logs affected by it sorted out for other uses. Hemlock knots are extremely hard, to the point where saw blades are known to shatter when sawing into them. Overall, hemlock is considerably harder than pine or spruce. For this reason alone the latter were preferred over hemlock by millers.

Hemlock is very stable. Its tannin content protects it from insect attack and makes it more durable in outdoor applications. Hemlock logs are often stored for several years in log yards before being sawn. By that time, no insect or fungal decay, which would have severely devalued any other conifer as well as most hardwoods, can be detected and the lumber produced is as fresh and stable as the day the tree was harvested from the forest.

EcoLog homes are built exclusively with hemlock. Century old log homes throughout eastern North America have been built with hemlock, a testament to hemlock's durability and strength. To this day, Mennonite barns in southern Ontario are built with hemlock, utilizing the wood’s superior qualities of resilience and stability.

Ecologically, Eastern Hemlock is one of the slowest growing trees as it has amazing ability to endure shade. Often, young hemlocks can sustain themselves for decades, growing one needle at a time, waiting for the opportunity to catch enough light to grow even in later years. Although they look young, three or four foot tall hemlock 'seedlings' are frequently actually 'seniors' of 50, 60, even 70 years of age. It is this slow growth which makes hemlock stronger than even pine or spruce.

Hemlock makes up for its slow growth by its proliferation. The small hemlock seeds are produced by the millions, germinating readily wherever mineral soil is exposed. This explains the frequency of hemlock regeneration along roads where construction has exposed a suitable seedbed.

In central Ontario, Eastern hemlock is the most common of all evergreen or conifer trees. At Haliburton Forest, almost one in every 10 trees growing in the forest is a hemlock and this in spite of an ecological twist which makes the germination of young hemlock seedlings under a mature hemlock canopy very difficult. This natural, biochemical mechanism, where older trees are combating intraspecific competition, is referred to as allelopathy.

Hemlock shoots are highly prized for food by deer in winter. With their dense canopy of needles, supporting a 'roof' of snow, temperatures inside hemlock stands in winter are frequently 10 or more degrees warmer than in the open. Add to this the fact that the snow on the canopy is missing on the ground, making travel for deer much easier and the food provided by hemlock twigs, hemlock forests are the prime homes for deer in winter, referred to as ‘deer yards’.

Peter Schleifenbaum
Haliburton Forest & Wild Life Reserve Ltd.