Boreal Forest Conference held in Cochrane includes visit to Moose Factory
Cochrane holds global conference
Michael Peeling - Monday, October 02, 2006
A place that's home to a boreal forest will play host to a conference on the subject.
The first annual Boreal Conference began Sunday night at Cochrane's new Tim Horton Event Centre, with opening ceremonies to welcome 250 delegates from around the world and talk about the boreal forests of North America.
The three-day conference, hosted by Lake Abitibi Model Forest and the Canadian Institute of Forestry focuses on the science behind the forest as experts on the subject speak about their "real-life experiences in planning, operations and policy-making from across the North American boreal forest," according to the event's agenda. "There are a lot of dynamics in our forests; factors affecting our forests such as climate change, globalization in the marketplace and competitiveness" said Wayne Young, general manager of Lake Abitibi Model Forest.
"We see a lot of dynamic change in the boreal forest. We thought it was a great opportunity to hold a conference here in the actual boreal forest to discuss the issues around the boreal forest."
Young said conferences like this are usually held in Toronto and Montreal. The most recent he attended was the 10th annual National Forest Congress in Gatineau, Que.
Two years ago, Young sat down with an advisory panel of about nine people to develop topic ideas and discuss possible venues.
The panel grew into an organizing committee of 12, which includes Peggy Smith of the faculty of forestry at Lakehead University, Rob Galloway, regional director of the Ministry of Natural Resources in South Porcupine, and George Bruemmer, formerly of Tembec, executive director of Natural Resources Canada's Canadian Forest Service-sponsored Fibre Centre.
As one of the hosts of the event, the Canadian Institute of Forestry decided to hold its annual general meeting at Cedar Meadows to coincide with the first Boreal Conference.
Young said the conference will focus on four main themes, the first being climate change, which will be the first topic of discussion this morning with talks by experts including professor David Pearson of Laurentian University and associate professor Debra Davidson of University of Alberta.
"We see climate change as one of the biggest challenges facing the boreal forest," Young said. "Not only the forests themselves, but the communities associated with the forest."
The second set of sessions, held this afternoon, will explore globalization and community sustainability in the boreal forest with the guidance of the likes of Professor Luc Bouthillier of Laval University and Chief Tammy Cook-Searson of Lac La Ronge Indian Band in Saskatchewan.
"With a changing marketplace, we're seeing mill closures ... so how do we deal with globalization in the marketplace and the (affected) communities like Smooth Rock Falls," Young said.
Tuesday's themes will be natural disturbance-based management - meaning how should forestry experts deal with factors such as fire, wind, diseases and insects that affect the boreal forest - and balancing protection and use, which looks at whether or not we are protecting enough of the forest and if we have enough forest to produce enough commercial fibre for the mills.
"I think we're unique in this conference in that we've scheduled 45 minutes for group discussions from the floor," Young said.
"What we're hoping to do is generate some dialogue within the forest community from across Canada, not only about what the issues are, but to find out what we can do about them."
The 250 delegates attending the conference include foresters, forest managers, forest researchers from all 10 provinces, industrial forest managers from Abitibi-Consolidated and Tembec, First Nations leaders, community leaders such as Cochrane mayor Lawrence Martin and 50 forestry students from University of Toronto and Lakehead University.
"We've got a good youth contingency coming to the conference ... young people that will ultimately make the decisions in the future," Young said. "Hopefully they'll have an opportunity to learn and put that to good use in the future."
On Wednesday all of the delegates will be treated to a ride on the Polar Bear Express train from Cochrane to Moose Factory so that they "can experience a traditional First Nation community and (eat) a meal of moose and goose.
"We'll have speakers who can talk about what the delegates see out the windows of the train as it travels through a good chunk of the boreal forest."
Details about the Boreal Conference 2006 can be found at www.borealconference2006.ca