A new History Channel series, Big Timber, will showcase how one Island family takes on the treacherous task of logging high up in the steep slopes of Klitsa Mountain.
Wenstob Timber is a small family-owned sawmill and logging business in Sooke. Led by Kevin Wenstob, the team does their own logging on the mountain, transportation down, and cutting into lumber back at their sawmill.
“We’ve been doing this for pretty close to thirty years,” said Wenstob, owner of the business. “And it’s been a long uphill slope, so we’re further up the mountain now than we were at the beginning.”
Big Timber follows Wenstob and his team as they go to extremes to keep their family sawmill alive. The timber claim he’s after on Klitsa has a thousand truckloads waiting, but his goal in the first season of the show is to get 200 truckloads off the mountain before winter hits. If he doesn’t, Wenstob’s entire business is at risk. But it’s no easy task.
“Our biggest challenge is making sure everyone stays safe and everybody is going home at the end of the day complete,” Wenstob said. “You know, you get [some] scratches and bruises and stuff like that, and that’s as far as we want to go with injuries. But there’s a lot of things that can go sideways.”
It’s dangerous and one wrong move, he explained, can be deadly. While Wenstob takes care of the logging operations, his wife Sarah Fleming is the lead back at the sawmill.
Being on TV is a vision Wenstob has had for a while, she said. The day-to-day conflict and challenges with their business seemed like a natural fit for the small screen.
“Kevin’s been doing a lot of filming with what I call his handycam for many years,” Fleming explained, smiling. “And he went to Banff media festival a couple years ago and pitched his ideas and we got picked up.”
When production crews arrived in September last year, Fleming said it felt a little strange at first.
“I was amazed at how much equipment and how many people there were,” she explained. “There’s quite a few cameramen [for] all different angles and the sound guys were great. The story producers were fabulous to work with. It definitely became easier as the time went by.”
Shooting wrapped in January and the show is set to premiere this week. Now, Fleming and her husband are excited to see their work showcased to a larger audience.
“It’s been a long haul and it’s good to see it finally get there,” said Wenstob. “It’s going to be very fun.”
Big Timber will air on the History Channel at 10 p.m. on Oct. 8, 2020.
Jasmine Bala
