http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYHntcqx ... _embedded#VANCOUVER - British Columbia’s forests are being celebrated on Tuesday at the Olympics with water bomber demonstrations at Coal Harbour and a gift to the province of an ocean-going cedar canoe.
The Martin Mars flying boat is scheduled to fly over the city at 1 p.m., dropping its load of water over Coal Harbour.
The B.C. Ministry of Forests says the best viewing area will be Harbour Green Park, at the foot of Bute Street downtown.
The 66-year-old behemoth was originally designed to cross the Pacific and bomb enemy targets during the Second World War. It never flew such missions, but instead was used as a troop transport.
The Mars was converted to firefighting duties in the 1960s, and has been a fixture of British Columbia wildfire fighting since then. The Mars is the world’s largest operational flying boat, with a wingspan of 61 metres.
Earlier in the day, members of the Nanwakolas First Nation are to arrive at Harbour Green in a carved, 11.3-metre cedar canoe, which they are presenting to the province at 10 a.m. in celebration of the historic Coast Land Use Plan. The plan protects one of the world’s greatest ecological gems, the Great Bear Rainforest.
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