The Cariboo Wood Innovation Training Hub is hosting a speaker series with Dr. Harry Nelson of the University of British Columbia's (UBC) Faculty of Forestry.
Dr. Nelson will be discussing the impacts of tariffs on the softwood lumber industry and how to create new opportunities in the value-added sector.
The event will be hosted on Friday, May 23 from 10 a.m. until noon in City Hall Council Chambers, is free to attend and open to the public.
In his bio on the UBC website, Nelson shares the following:
"My long-term research interest is in analyzing natural and environmental resource policy with an emphasis on forestry and in developing new policy options that can help enhance the long run sustainability of Canadian forests and the communities and businesses that rely upon them.
The forest sector itself is undergoing a structural transformation as the industry has to adapt to changing markets and new opportunities and risks; at the same time, there is an increasing emphasis being placed on the non-market values of those forests, spurred by changing public expectations on how those forests should be managed. Climate change makes the challenges even more complex.
I currently am investigating what role ecosystem services could provide as an alternative business model for indigenous groups managing forest lands in B.C. I continue to work on assessing the impacts of climate change on how we manage our forests and exploring adaptation options."
The Cariboo Wood Innovation Training Hub has been established to help advance value-added wood manufacturing in the Cariboo.
"The concept for a wood innovation training hub emerged from several years of discussions among leaders in forestry, education and value-added wood industries. Their common interest is to bridge the gap between traditional wood production and higher quality, value-added and sustainable opportunities," notes the hub's website. "The hub will help support labour force development as well as collaborative, regional action to diversify the local forest economy."
