Blowing across the British Columbian coast, moisture-laden ocean air masses from as far away as Hawaii are forced upwards by the massive ramparts of the Rocky Mountains. Rising, the balmy westerly breezes cool rapidly, deposit an annual 40-100 inches of warm rain upon the slopes below, nurturing a 200,000-square-mile forest of precious, straight-standing tall timber. Providing half British Columbia's total economy, forest production from this rich tree farm of nature has nearly doubled, over the last decade, to an annual $850,000,000. Meeting the growing demand for lumber, west coast loggers use modern techniques to bring giant-sized logs to the lumber mills. From 15-foot-diameter Douglas firs towering up 300 feet (which produce, pound-for-pound, structural timbers stronger than steel or concrete) to fine-grained delicate white pine, trees of coastal and interior forests are carefully felled, trucked to tidewater, transported to highly-mechanized mills. From there Canada's western lumber products are shipped around the globe, adding the versatility and beauty of natural wood to the architectural advances of the modern world.