UBC Forestry’s initiative is strengthening lines of communication between communities, academics and policymakers.
Forestry community extension is making a comeback in British Columbia. The approach clears a path for open lines of communication between academics and broader society to facilitate forest and natural resources initiatives in and with communities.
The concept of community extension originated in the United States in 1862 with the creation of land grant universities. Linking agricultural universities and research stations, by the second decade of the 20th Century, it had grown into a Cooperative Extension System partnership between state land grant universities and local governments. Extension work benefitted farmers, communities and environmental management through greater information sharing, educational pathways and collaboration. It also helped build a network of community forests in the US, kickstarting community-grown solutions and innovations in forest management.
UBC Forestry is looking to establish a similar system here in BC, reinvigorating the extension work spearheaded in the province by the FORREX Forest Research Extension Partnership in the late 1990s. In 2023, UBC Forestry launched the Community Knowledge Extension Office to build closer connections to community forests, says Deb DeLong (BSF’85; MSc(Forestry)’05), Community Extension Officer: “facilitating community engagement, knowledge exchange and the translation of research into practice.”
“Forest practitioners in BC are excited to see the return of a dedicated Extension Office to open up communication pathways and opportunities to engage in forestry, as was the case with FORREX.”
Made possible thanks to a generous donation to UBC Forestry, the Community Knowledge Extension Office’s first year of operations laid the groundwork for ratcheting up programming and community outreach. UBC Forestry graduate
students were introduced to opportunities to engage in community forestry, with 10 students participating in the BC Community Forest Association’s annual general meeting in Kamloops, BC, in June 2023.
“A big win from our first year was establishing a UBC Forestry presence in communities,” notes Dominik Roeser, Assoc. Dean of Research Forests and Community Outreach. “From here, we will build out our knowledge extension networks.”
There are presently 61 Community Forest Agreements in BC, according to the BC Community Forest Association, many of which are located on First Nations lands. The Extension Office has co-signed cooperation agreements with several community forests and First Nations so far, including the Osoyoos Indian Band, West Boundary Community Forest, Westbank First Nation (Ntityix) and Cheakamus Community Forest. These agreements build a two-way knowledge exchange bridge between communities, community forests and UBC Forestry.
Work through the Extension Office will amplify the landscape-level plans that UBC Forestry Master of Sustainable Forest Management (MSFM) students completed with the Osoyoos Indian Band. Work through the Extension Office connected the Cheakamus Community Forest with MSFM student Anna Zarina, who investigated additional valueadded opportunities to expand forest revenues. Additionally, the Extension Office co-launched a comprehensive prescribed fire monitoring program with the Westbank Community Forest (Ntityix), with the potential to inform future practises.
“The Extension Office is a hub for communities to access resources and information that might otherwise be out of reach due to budgetary and staffing constraints,” states Deb. “The challenge is that it can take years to build critical mass.”
An added advantage of working with the Extension Office is the access it affords to a variety of academic institutions, grassroots organizations, levels of government and other community and research forests, such as UBC Forestry’s Malcolm Knapp and Alex Fraser research forests. The knowledge exchange lines of communication opened up through community extension are integral to spurring innovation and expanding expertise throughout the province, notes Dominik.
“We have initiated conversations with the provincial government on key issues, and continue to provide valuable input to such groups as the commercial thinning steering and research groups, and to members of the Silviculture Innovation Program at the Bulkley Valley Research Centre,” says Dominik.
“Through these connections and our community extension partners, we can share knowledge from the field and academia to inform decision-making and shape forestry in the province.”
The next phase of the program will involve further ramping up awareness of extension work and filling Community Extension Officer positions. Planned Community Extension Officers with the newly created UBC Centre for Wildfire Coexistence will connect with wildfire-prone communities, responding to community needs and co-creating wildfire resilience strategies. The program will also continue attracting UBC Forestry students, and co-signing agreements with First Nations and community forests. Coming soon will be a suite of Micro-Certificates on community forestry and community knowledge extension offered through UBC Forestry.
See examples of Community Knowledge Exchange Office activities here
This article was originally published in Branchlines Magazine. Read the magazine here.