A scholar activism initiative

Changing Forestry Practices in British Columbia

How it started

This project took shape during the BCCI Strategic Planning workshop in July 2022, emerging as a powerful example of "scholar activism" for the years 2022-2023.

A dedicated working group, composed of university and community members, developed a work plan centred around three interconnected components focused on the theme of forestry practices in BC:

Workshops and events centred around:

  • Organized by Shawnigan Basin Society (SBS), in collaborations with BCCI, the first of three meetings about Sustaining Healthy Forests took place in the SBS meeting room in Shawnigan Lake on October 17th.

    In addition to SBS and BCCI, other groups included the Cowichan Estuary Restoration & Conservation Association (CERCA), the Cowichan Land Trust, Wildwood Ecoforest, the Cowichan Valley Naturalist’s Society, and the Koksilah Watershed Working Group.

    Learn more on the BCCI website

  • On April 13, 2023, a workshop was held where respected members of Cowichan Tribes shared indigenous knowledge on forest health and invited Cowichan Valley community members (and beyond) to participate in learning and discussion.

    Learn more on the BCCI website

Learn more about how the “Changing Forestry Practices in BC” project started by visiting the BCCI website

Cowichan Environmental Groups collaborating on Sustaining Healthy Forests in October 17th, 2022

Recent Developments

March 2024 Update

This project was initiated in July 2023 as a BCCI “scholarly activism” initiative. Some of the key project outcomes updates, as of March 2024 include:

  • Examples include a group of environmental organizations in the Cowichan Valley sub-district, and more recently a partnership that brings together a community organization (Shawnigan Basin Society-SBS), a university (U.Victoria Centre for Forest Biology) and the Malahat First Nation.

  • The lead partner for this component is the Ecoforestry Institute Society (EIS), a registered nonprofit charitable society, that also is the trustee of the Wildwood Ecoforest. The EIS is developing a major Ecoforestry Educational Materials Development Program.

  • Both the SBS and the EIS are active examples of promoters of local ecoforestry management. In addition, we are supporting and learning from the BC Community Forest Association

  • The project has developed learning resources that include case studies, annotated bibliographies, and advocacy resources.

Project Resources