Wildfire impacts on community forests will be the focus of a provincial workshop taking place in Williams Lake next month, according to a report in the Williams Lake Tribune
Alex Fraser Research Forest manager Stephanie Ewen said they will be hosting the seminar with the British Columbia Community Forest Association from March 11 to 13 and already many people are expressing an interest in attending.
“I’m excited about the number of people who want to attend, despite how overwhelmed I think people are with dealing with these issues, such as wildfires,” Ewen said. “I’m also excited about the fact they are willing to come together and learn collectively on how to manage for wildfire, how to recover from wildfire and new ways of thinking about our forests going forward.”
Having Williams Lake be the centre of that type of training is a good thing for the community because it reflects well on some of the positive things that are going on within the local forest industry — some of the innovations and thoughtfulness that’s happening in the area with respect to those challenges, Ewen said.
Registration opened on Wednesday, Feb. 13, and it is estimated 100 people will attend.
“We are more concerned about our maximum capacity than getting enough people to show up,” she added.
There will be a welcoming reception during the evening of Monday, March 11 at the Tourism Discovery Centre and the two-day workshop will be held at the Cariboo Memorial Complex’s Gibraltar Room.
The second day will focus on changing the ways of thinking about forest management on the land base and potentially creating areas for future innovation and research, Ewen said.
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