Vancouver Island Section

Recent Events

Tree of Life Awards at the University of Victoria
May, 2008

The mountain pine beetle epidemic in BC is one of the most devastating examples of the negative effects that climate change can have on forests in Canada. While the effects on wood supply, salvage, and ensuing ecological and regeneration issues have received much attention, scientists have only recently quantified the predicted impacts on carbon cycling. Understanding both climate change, and the role of forests in global carbon cycling, is essential to the future health of forest ecosystems, the forest sector, policy makers, and society at large. On Thursday, May 1, 2008, the Vancouver Island Section of the Canadian Institute of Forestry presented the CIF's Tree of Life award to two scientists working in these topical areas: Dr Andrew Weaver of the University of Victoria, and Dr. Werner Kurz of the Pacific Forestry Centre of Natural Resources Canada. Both recipients are prominent members of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that, along with Al Gore, shared a recent Nobel prize; they are also both members of BC's Climate Action Team, which offers expert advice to the province's Committee on Climate Action.

After receiving their awards, Dr. Weaver addressed an audience of over 200 people on "Global warming: The scale of the problem and the path to the solution", and Dr. Kurz spoke on "Can Canada's forests contribute to a climate change mitigation strategy?" [maybe put in: "Both speakers have kindly agreed to make the slides from their presentations publicly available." - or just use hypertext from the titles to link to the pdf files] It was a highly successful event, as it is rare to be able to hear two outstanding and highly-acclaimed experts speak on these related topics, outside of specialized scientific conferences. However, CIF members from across the country will also be able to hear both of these award recipients at the 2009 annual meeting in Nanaimo, BC.

Download the presentations:
Dr. Andrew Weaver - presentation
Dr. Werner Kurz - presentation

Net proceeds from the event were donated to Tree Canada.

For more information:
Dr. Weaver: http://climate.uvic.ca/people/weaver/
Dr. Kurz: http://cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/directory/wkurz
Tree Canada: http://www.treecanada.ca/index_e.htm

Section Photos

Michel Vallee's Forest Techincian class from Malaspina University at a soils lab in the Malaspina douglas-fir forest.

Old-growth douglas fir at Cathedral Grove north of Nanaimo, British Columbia.

Page Updated May 7, 2008
by: Julia Hancock