Newsroom

CNC receives largest research grant in college’s history

nsercCNC officially received its largest research grant ever Thursday, which will see more than $2 Million invested into forestry innovation in central BC.

The college received $1.88 million from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and $200,000 from the CNC Research Forest Society to research innovations in the forestry industry.

“Our goal is to help the forest industry become more innovative and competitive, while giving our students opportunities to work on cutting-edge technology and innovation opportunities facing the sector today,” said Hardy Griesbauer, CNC’s Director of Applied Research and Innovation. “The forest industry faces a number of challenges, including reduced timber supply from the mountain pine beetle, a skilled labour shortage, and a range of impacts from climate change.  At the same time, emerging technologies and information may be able to help forest companies overcome these challenges.”

“We would like to thank NSERC and our partners for this very large investment in applied research at CNC.”

Click here to view the entire news release.

Public Consultation on Area Based Tenure

public_consultationThe provincial government has appointed former Chief Forester, Jim Snetsinger, to undertake public consultation regarding passing legislation that would allow the conversion of an existing volume-based tenure to an area-based tenure. Dunkley Lumber applauds the government’s decision to seek public input on this issue.

Dunkley has held Tree Farm Licence 53, an area-based tenure, since 1989. Having an area-based tenure has encouraged us to take a longer term view of harvesting and silviculture practices since we will be the ones coming back to harvest and reforest the same area again in the future. That continuity of management is not guaranteed with volume-based tenure.

Regardless of the form of tenure, the forest resources managed under that tenure remain public. Holding any form of tenure puts an obligation on the licensee, and the professional foresters who manage the tenure, to plan and act in ways that support the stewardship of all of the values in the forest.

In addition to carefully managing the timber resource, Dunkley has worked hard on Tree Farm Licence 53 to maintain or improve public access to recreational opportunities including fishing, hunting and camping. We have also taken initiatives that support healthy wildlife populations including aggressive replanting and the rehabilitation of in-block roads to return more of the land-base to forest and to provide addition habitat for wildlife.

While area-based tenures may not be appropriate everywhere or for every licensee, we believe that they can add value to the public forest when thoughtfully deployed and carefully managed.