In place for two years, the IISMA program was designed to ensure top Indonesian students have opportunities to take university classes not typically offered in their own country as well as further develop leadership skills in a multicultural setting. The incoming group is the second cohort UBC Forestry & Environmental Stewardship has hosted.
In addition to the competition students face when applying for the program, universities around the world have the same challenge.
“Our global world ranking, award-winning faculty and experience with hosting international students were pivotal deciding factors in determining we would be selected for this wonderful opportunity,” says Neuvonen.
A total of 73 universities from 30 different countries were named to host the students. The University of Waterloo was the only other Canadian university chosen to take part in the program.
“While the students are attending UBC Forestry & Environmental Stewardship classes, the plan is they will also engage in cross-cultural experiences,” says Neuvonen.
For my first Co-op work term, I have been working at Canfor’s Elko sawmill. My main task has been working with simulations to determine the ideal log diameters for a new sorting system. Over my work term, I have gained knowledge of the machinery, terminology, and processes involved in wood processing operations. I highly recommend the Co-op program to everyone, especially in forestry. The skills I have learned will not only help me in my future job search but will also enable me to apply what I learned to my classes back at UBC
Junior Forestry Technician with Integrated ProAction Corp. in Kamloops, BC
For my first Co-op term, I have been working at Integrated ProAction Corp (IPAC) as a Junior Forestry Technician. During this term I have become familiar in various areas of site assessment such as stream and old growth deferral area classification. I have also gained experience with ecosystem mapping which includes creating site plan plots and mapping areas based on silviculture prescription plot information. Another area within forestry that has been a key point of my focus while working at IPAC has been layout and development. This includes cut block and road layout along with timber cruising. Within cut blocks, I work on riparian management zones based on forest stewardship plans and forest planning and practices regulations requirements. I also perform timber cruises and old growth deferral area classification cruising. This Co-op term has allowed me to improve skills in areas such as road layout and cruising that I learned in classes at UBC and explore the different areas of forestry that I would be interested in pursuing in the future.
AUTHORS: J. Aeyelts, J. Bulkan, D. Roeser (Faculty of Forestry & Environmental Stewardship), X. Bi, R. Clift and H. Wang (Faculty of Applied Science Chemical & Biological Engineering) University of British Columbia
In British Columbia (BC) roughly 64 million m³ of logs are harvested annually. Market conditions and government taxes dictate which logs are harvested by forestry companies.
AUTHORS: J. Aeyelts, J. Bulkan, D. Roeser (Faculty of Forestry & Environmental Stewardship), X. Bi, R. Clift and H. Wang (Faculty of Applied Science Chemical & Biological Engineering) University of British Columbia
The practice of burning harvest residuals is deeply embedded in British Columbia’s (BC) forestry sector. While this was a logical practice when first mandated in 1938, global and local circumstances have evolved and so must forestry practices.
The Fraser is the largest salmon-bearing river in British Columbia, supporting 54 unique populations, known as Conservation Units (CUs), of wild Pacific salmon, 19 of which breed in the lower Fraser River.
A new open-access study by the Martin Conservation Decisions Lab found that all 19 of these CUs are on a declining trajectory over the next 25 years.
The popular series is addressing some of the most important topics of conversation surrounding Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
Whether taking the form of discrimination in the workplace or microaggressions woven into a casual conversation, at the core of racism are discriminatory acts against people based on their skin colour, religious views or cultural practices.
To help confront and address the root causes and histories that perpetuate racist and anti-Indigenous beliefs and acts into the 21st Century, UBC Forestry & Environmental Stewardship has launched a number of initiatives, including a webinar, podcast and the Forest(Reads) book club. UBC Forestry & Environmental Stewardship has also created an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Council to address policies and structures within the Faculty, says UBC Forestry & Environmental Stewardship Assoc. Prof. and Assoc. Dean, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Hisham Zerriffi.
These initiatives were spearheaded by the former Assoc. Dean, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, UBC Forestry & Environmental Stewardship Professor Sarah Gergel; Estefanía Milla-Moreno, a graduate student in the Faculty; and Hisham, who previously chaired the council.
The last couple of years have brought to the fore many challenges to be addressed, notes Hisham. The global COVID-19 pandemic “raised all sorts of equity questions and concerns: from health impacts to employment and family issues that were often experienced to a greater extent among marginalized groups.”
The tragic murder of African American George Floyd at the hands of a white police officer in May 2020 raised new questions and topics of discussion and spurred the genesis of various public initiatives.
“Our justice, equity, diversity and inclusion (JEDI) approach to EDI makes clear that we also want to address issues of justice and power,” says Hisham. “Some of the topics we discuss can be uncomfortable or even controversial. At the same time, they are greatly needed to bring forward more marginalized voices that wouldn’t ordinarily be in the spotlight or heard.”
Forest(Reads) introduces UBC Forestry & Environmental Stewardship faculty, staff, students and interested members of the public to JEDI topics through a literary lens. The inaugural Forest(Reads), coordinated by graduate student Arial Eatherton, involved events and talks surrounding Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer. Conversations touched on the author’s examination of how scientific and Indigenous knowledge intersect in a world where many of us have lost touch with the life forces found within our natural environment.
Topics of black identity and belonging in parks and other outdoor spaces were explored in the 2022 Forest(Reads) book selection coordinated by graduate student Jaylen Bastos, Black Faces, White Spaces by cultural geographer Dr. Carolyn Finney.
“The book covers some of the deep roots of racism within the environmental movement in North America in terms of the legacy of how parks and park-related organizations were created, and how that history may be reinforcing the exclusion of members of some minority groups,” says Hisham.
Along with encouraging faculty, staff and students to read the book and attend the events, Hisham hopes the initiative “will spark more conversations and a deeper understanding of how to realize greater justice, equity, diversity and inclusion in our lives.”
Branchlines
Led by our very own Development and Alumni Engagement Office, and shaped by valuable feedback from our alumni community, the Spring 2022 issue of Branchlines showcases the dynamic and multifaceted fields of forestry.
UBC’s Faculty of Forestry & Environmental Stewardship’s Future Forests Fellowship (FFF), one of the largest single awards in the world given to an incoming doctoral student in forestry, is once again available in 2022.
Made possible by a private Canadian foundation, the award, amounting to $280,000 over four years, was created to underscore just how much forestry research impacts global current and emerging ecological issues. It is awarded to a student who demonstrates leadership skills and who’s intended studies fit within one of the Faculty’s areas of research excellence.
“Once again, we are so grateful to the foundation for this extraordinary opportunity to attract outstanding candidates from all over the world,” says Emma Tully, UBC Forestry & Environmental Stewardship Assistant Dean, Development, Alumni and External Relations. “We are looking for future leaders who are able to think critically about the many environmental challenges our planet faces and provide imaginative solutions that tackle those issues head-on.”
Sara Barron
Past award recipients include current fellow PhD candidate Sarah Dickson-Hoyle whose research examines questions around collaborative wildfire management and community-led restoration. She aims to identify solutions for improving collaboration between First Nations and the provincial government across all stages of wildfire management and planning.
The inaugural FFF award recipient was Sara Barron whose research explored how future urban forests can be designed to be climate-ready, support local ecosystem services and improve the health and well-being of local residents. Today, Barron is the program director for both the faculty’s undergraduate and graduate urban forestry programs.
Applications are open to both domestic and international doctoral students who intend to register for programs beginning September 2023. Application submissions will open on Monday, August 1, 2022 and will be accepted until Friday, November 25, 2022 at 4 pm PST.
After years of research, a wood scientist, mechanical engineer, and chemical engineer have invented a new way to protect cities from climate change: turning buildings into giant trees. Or at least, their invention can make some buildings do some of the things that trees can.
They tower over our heads and inspire thoughts of prehistory. Big trees are a quintessential feature of the West Coast, stretching nearly 100 meters into the sky, and sometimes aging over 2,000 years.
Their sheer size makes old-growth trees not only a spectacular sight to behold but also a wellspring for cultural practices, ecological diversity, climate regulation, clean drinking water and timber. However, within the past two centuries in British Columbia (BC), they have also become rarer as they helped build thriving communities and drive economic activity in the province.
“Big trees are a culturally, economically and ecologically important component of our forests,” says Ira Sutherland (BSF’12).
As the landscape shifted with logging practices and development, many people have taken on the task of documenting the largest remaining stands in the forest. In the 1980s, BC naturalist and conservationist Randy Stoltmann started a register of big trees as a way to raise awareness and encourage people to visit and conserve them.
Stoltmann’s careful records of the locations of giant Douglas-firs and western redcedars passed hands a few times before finding a home at UBC’s Faculty of Forestry & Environmental Stewardship in 2010. Now known as the BC Big Tree Registry, the online portal houses data on the size and location of the biggest trees around the province, as discovered and measured by community members and the forest industry.
“We’ve built the registry to be inclusive so that anybody who wants to participate and nominate a tree can do so, but we also carefully verify each measurement,” says Ira Sutherland, who chairs the BC Big Tree Registry Committee and is pursuing a Ph.D. in historical ecology at UBC Forestry & Environmental Stewardship under Assoc. Prof. Jeanine Rhemtulla.
“We’re really trying to operate as a community science-driven initiative to improve information about the distribution and sizes of special trees across all of BC.” The number of trees in the registry has doubled in recent years, with many new giants of numerous species identified, measured and cataloged.
“Since 2014, the registry has grown from about 250 to 600 trees,” says Christine Chourmouzis, registrar with the Big Tree Registry. “In 2021 alone, almost 200 trees were nominated. Last year, the registry received nominations for seven interior trees that are the largest of their kind, including champion ponderosa pine, western redcedar, grand fir, subalpine fir, subalpine larch, western white pine and western hemlock.”
Technology has also moved the dial on identifying big trees, Ira adds. “Airborne laser scanning (ALS) can now give us a fairly precise estimate of tree height. We recently accepted nominations for many exceptionally large trees that were identified by Western Forest Products on Vancouver Island using ALS data, and who knows what the future may hold.”
Part of Ira’s vision for the registry involves bringing more stakeholders to the table.
“My big project right now is to create a bridge between entities that are doing tree monitoring, including industry (e.g., BC Timber Sales), environmental non-governmental organizations, (e.g., Raincoast Conservation Foundation), the BC provincial government and First Nations,” says Ira. “The goal is to form a network that will connect all the different people out there who are trying to find big trees.”
An important task of the network is to discuss how to define big trees or otherwise special trees that warrant protection under the province’s new Special Tree Protection Regulation, which is part of the Forest and Range Practices Act.
“Currently, big trees, or specified trees as they are referred to under BC’s Special Tree Protection Regulation, are defined based on their diameter at breast height (DBH), which is set based on analyzing the size distribution of big trees,” says Ira. “Trees that exceed that size can qualify for special protections.”
“However, the thresholds are set very high and most site conditions are unlikely to produce such large trees. This means that the largest stands on those sites would never be protected.”
For example, Ira notes that the threshold for protecting a coastal Douglas-fir is 2.7 meters DBH, “but there are relatively few locations and site conditions in BC where we find such large Douglas-fir.”
“There’s a huge information gap about big trees, and the registry can support setting and evaluating science-based policies about which trees should qualify for specified tree status.”
Ira also believes more emphasis should be placed on understanding the cultural and social value of big trees. In the future, he would like to create more opportunities within the registry or through other networks for people to share why big trees are important to them.
Led by our very own Development and Alumni Engagement Office, and shaped by valuable feedback from our alumni community, the Spring 2022 issue of Branchlines showcases the dynamic and multifaceted fields of forestry.
