CNC 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.

The 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.

CNC signed a 10 year agreement Friday that will see Dunkley Lumber continuing to develop and manage the college’s Research Forest as well as expand partnership activities in support of students.

“Dunkley lumber generously made contributions that were over and above what we expected during our first five year agreement, so we were delighted to continue that commitement with them” said Catherine Wishart, CNC vice-president, community and student services.

Click here to view the news release.

2014 awards event in B.C. celebrates the best in wood building and design

10 years of Wood Design Awards in B.C. were celebrated by more than 350 distinguished design and building professionals on Monday, March 3rd, 2014 at the Vancouver Convention Centre (West), including architects, structural engineers, project teams, local government, industry sponsors and guests. Nominees and winners of the Wood WORKS! BC 2014 Wood Design Awards were honoured and recognized, as were those who have participated in the Wood Design Awards in B.C. during the past decade.

Click here to view a photo video of the winning projects

Click here to view a photo gallery at the Journal of Commerce

Click here for more information from Wood WORKS! BC

Photo: MGA – Michael Green Architecture
http://mg-architecture.ca

This November, Dunkley Lumber VP, Jason Fisher, got a chance to tour the first two floors of the Wood Innovation and Design Centre in Prince George, which began construction in September. He came away impressed with the variety of wood products going into the construction, the speed with which these different wooden components could be installed and the beauty of the structural pieces, most of which will be left uncovered in the finished building. Jason is also happy to report that he spotted Dunkley Lumber 2×6 being used to construct infill walls. If you want innovation, you need to start with quality!

When finished, this will be the tallest wood-structure building in North America. As described by COFI, this innovative building “features an all-wood structure on top of a concrete foundation, utilizing glulam beams, cross-laminated timber panels, and other wood products. UNBC will occupy nearly half of the building, providing Engineering classrooms, offices, a lecture theatre and research/teaching lab.”

For more information please check out this link to the University of Northern British Columbia’s website, which features two live-cams showing the ongoing construction: http://www.unbc.ca/engineering

Dunkley Lumber and the College of New Caledonia are pleased to announce that they have entered into a long term agreement to jointly manage CNC’s research forest.  The agreement will see Dunkley work with CNC to manage the research forest through 2023.  This agreement helps support CNC’s vision to have an economically self-sustaining and environmentally sustainable Research Forest.

The research forest provides CNC with opportunities to conduct research that will be of benefit to the forest industry and help British Columbians better understand our forest resources.  It also provides students with an opportunity to apply the knowledge they are gaining in the classroom into a real world setting.  Finally, money earned from the sale of timber from the research forest will help to support the Natural Resources and Environmental technology program for years to come.

Jason Fisher, Vice President of Dunkley Lumber: “We are excited about the opportunity to contribute to and work with CNC, an iconic institution in the northern interior.  CNC has provided valuable knowledge and skills to many of our employees.  In addition, CNC grads are out in the communities providing the services that make the northern interior such an attractive place to live and work.”

The CNC Research Forest Society has oversight of the Forest and research activities, and is composed of a number of committed and engaged industry, government and First Nations representatives.

More information can be found about the Research Forest at: http://www.cnc.bc.ca/research-forest.htm

The Council of Forest Industries (COFI) Board of Directors has announced the appointment of James Gorman as President and Chief Executive Officer effective September 23, 2013.

Gorman brings extensive public policy and senior management
experience to his new role. He most recently served the Government of British Columbia as the Deputy Minister of Advanced Education and prior to that as Deputy of Education (K-12) and the BC Public Service Agency.

His accomplishments include transforming the BC Public Service into a top employer; expanding the province’s K-12 education brand into international markets; and managing complex labor relations files on behalf of government.

“We are exceptionally pleased to have James joining us”, stated Nick Arkle, COFI Board Chair, “as his experience at the highest levels of the public service will be instrumental in helping us shape an exciting and productive future for our forest industry and the employees and communities that depend upon it.”

Gorman has a Masters Degree in Political Science from McGill University and a Bachelors Degree from the University of British Columbia.

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