‘The Future of Forests’ community discussion coming to Fort St. John

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — Residents of Northeast B.C. will soon have an opportunity to weigh in on the future of forests in the province. 

On April 30th, starting at 6 p.m., researchers from Simon Fraser University and the University of Northern British Columbia will be hosting an event titled “The Future of Forests” at the Northern Rockies Regional Recreation Centre in Fort Nelson. 

On May 2nd, 2026 from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m., the event will come to Northern Lights College in Fort St. John.

The events will include food and beverages for attendees. Childcare will be provided for registered participants. 

Registration is available for the Northern Lights College event on the EventBrite page.

Chris Buse, assistant professor with the faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University, is one of the organizers of the event, and says there are a number of issues currently impacting forests. 

“We know that wildfires are starting earlier in the year, they’re longer with greater intensity [and] having greater human impact,” said Buse. 

“There’s increased conversations around tariffs from south of the border. We’re seeing a really huge softwood lumber siege in terms of markets here in B.C., and we know that industry is in decline.” 

Buse said conversations around these issues are long overdue. 

“We think the time to have this conversation was probably 20 years ago, to be totally blunt… but it’s really important, especially for northern communities that are more sensitive to some of these impacts than other parts of the province, that we engage in a holistic conversation.”

Prior to this event, Buse said they had been in contact with people involved with forests.

“Over the last couple months, our research team has been reaching out to who I would kind of call the usual suspects in this space,”  he said.

“We’ve talked to folks who work in [the forestry] industry and folks who work in conservation.” 

Buse encourages anyone who is interested in the event to attend. 

“If you are someone who cares about the future of this particular region, if you are somebody who works in forestry, if you’ve got a connection to that local landscape, we want to hear from you.