BC Forest Safety Council: Taking Root (Break-Out)
Time: Wednesday 5:30 pm
Speakers: Stephen Chaplin, RFT, CRSP (BC Forest Safety Council), Laura Maguire (BC Forest Safety Council)

Description: The role of forest professionals in cultivating safety culture.

An Introduction to the Canadian Institute of Forestry
Time: 7:30-7:45 am
Speakers: Brian Barber, Mark Kube and John Pineau

A perfect place to sit and have your breakfast! Please join Mark Kube (CIF national president), John Pineau (executive director), and Brian Barber (chair of the CIF Vancouver Island Section) at a presentation highlighting the role and benefits of the CIF. A small video presentation and brief synopsis of the CIF will be followed by Q&A.

The Art of Forestry (Plenary)
Time: Thursday 9 am
Speaker: Rick Monchak, RPF (TimberWest)

Description: Forestry is often defined as an art as well as a science. 'Art' reflects that portion of forestry that cannot be taught. The art of forestry grows uniquely in each individual professional as experience is gained, as skills in problem solving mature, as traditional practices are adopted and challenged, and as relationships with others are developed. This opening preliminary session will challenge all professionals, both new and seasoned, to critically look at how they cultivate and maintain their own personal 'Art of Forestry.'

Bringing Everything to Everyone: The New Professionals (Break-Out)
Time: Thursday 10:15 am
Speakers: Barbara Hawkins, PhD, (UVIC), John Karakatsoulis, PhD, (TRU), John Innes, PhD, (UBC), Doug Corrin, RPF, ATC, (VIU), Paul Sanborn, PhD, (UNBC)

Description: Experts from UBC, UVIC, UNBC, TRU and VIU share their thoughts on the future of professional education programs for forest resource management. They'll discuss succession issues, low enrolment in traditional forestry programs, and The Accreditation Question – what will the education of the new professionals look like?

Forest Practice Board Report on NSR (Break-Out)
Time: Thursday 10:15 am
Speaker: Al Gorley, RPF (Forest Practices Board)

Description: The Forest Practices Board (FPB) is completing a review of the ongoing questions regarding the status of Not Sufficiently Restocked lands in the province. Join this session to hear a summary of the FPB's findings and how the debate over this contentious issue is evolving.

The Science and Art of Seed Transfer (Break-Out)
Time: Thursday 10:15 am
Speaker: Nick Ukrainetz, RPF (Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations)

Description: The implications of poor seed-lot selection include an increase in susceptibility to pests and pathogens and a loss of productivity due to maladaptation which results from poorly adapted seedlings. What are the implications of good and bad seed-lot selection and how do we integrate uncertainty about climate change?

Should You Be Everything to Everyone? Defining Professional Scope of Practice (Break-Out)
Time: Thursday 10:15 am
Speakers: Jacques Corstanje, RPF (BC Timber Sales) and Mike Larock, RPF (ABCFP)

Description: Who is the 'everyone' when it comes to defining the forest team? Where do professional scopes of practice overlap; can they be given sharp lines of division? How far do the scopes of practice for forest engineering (e.g., bridge design), cruising (e.g., inventory) and silviculture (e.g., free-to-grow) extend? What decisions are for RFTs, RPFs, or other professionals to make?

The Art of Advocacy (Break-Out)
Time: Thursday 10:15 am
Speaker: Trevor Swan, RPF (BC Oil & Gas Commission) and Ken Zielke, RPF (Symmetree Consulting Group Ltd.)

Description: What are the roles of the professional and of the association in advocating best practices and supporting professional judgement?

Global Challenges: Certification and the Art of Procurement (Plenary A)
Time: Thursday 3:30 pm
Speakers: Rod Bealing (Private Forest Landowners Association), Darrell Errico, RPF (Nemus Consulting)

Description: The role of certification in global markets has been often touted, but are the hoops really worth it? Are Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) the new "green yardstick"? Do tools such as certification, EPDs and Life Cycle Assessments give private forest lands a market edge? What kind of balance does a big lumber retailer need to strike between consumer demands and product availability? How do they decide who to buy from?

Water, Wind and Fibre: The Art of Renewable Energy (Plenary B)
Time: Thursday 3:30 pm
Speakers:Mike Wise (Syntaris Power Corp.), TBA, Douglas Singbeil (FPInnovations)

Description: Our forests are being marketed as sources of renewable energy. But what forms will this take? How will this impact harvesting plans and land use decisions? Join this session to gain insight into the water, wind, and wood-fibre options being planned for forest lands.

BC Forest Safety Council: Leading Safety - The Shared Responsibility (Break-Out)
Time: Thursday 3:30 pm
Speaker: Peter Lineen, CRSP (BC Forest Safety Council), Reynold Hert (BC Forest Safety Council)

Description: How does planning a forest operation influence hazard, risk and ultimately a safety culture? This session will probe into key aspects of leadership, shared responsibility and the chain of custody that exists in the field of planning a safe operation.

Keynote Speaker: The Leap (Plenary)
Time: Friday 8 am
Speaker: Chris Turner, Author of The Leap: How to Survive and Thrive in the Sustainable Economy and The Geography of Hope

Description: Forest professionals are grappling with 'surviving in the sustainable economy' because forests are carbon sinks, sources of renewable energy and green products, and ecological factories producing air, water, raw materials, and food. Every forest professional buys into a 'geography of hope' when they make decisions whose results (and impacts) will only be experienced by future generations. Climate change competes with market trends for priority in forest management decisions. Join Chris Turner to hear about 'The Leap' forest professionals must make, as individuals and as professionals to bring 'old world forestry' into the new sustainable economy. Learn about the trends we should get behind and the ones we should leave behind.

BC Forest Safety Council (Option to Plenary)
Time: Friday 9 am
Speaker: Marius Jacobs, SAFEmap North America

Description: Delusional approaches in contemporary safety management. Your role as a forest professional and how you can influence change in behaviour.

Big Industry's New Forestry (Break-Out)
Time: Friday 10:30 am
Speakers: Ric Slaco (International Forest Products Ltd.), Kerry McGourlick (Western Forest Products), Bill Waugh (Island Timberlands)

Description: This panel session invites the industry-leading chief foresters from Interfor, Western Forest Products and Island Timberlands to discuss the balance that industrial Chief Foresters must strike between stewardship and the product market decisions of the company. This is a unique opportunity to hear their insights as they reflect on how the past few years of political and economic turmoil have affected forest practices. Is certification just market stimulation? How does it truly affect stewardship? Mill closures and developing alternative wood product markets are in the news; come listen to what innovative approaches companies have been taking to keep afloat in the tides of recession.

Changing Horses: The Transition Between Two Economies (Break-Out)
Time: Friday 10:30 am
Speakers: Bruce Fraser, PhD, ABCFP Honourary Member, Ben Parfitt, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

Description: There are Two Economies, one fading and one emerging. As our fading economy of exploitation slows and heads us towards environmental collapse, will the emerging sustainable economy be ready to take over? Are we ready to take the reins? Are we already struggling to make the transition with 'bridging' fossil fuels such as natural gas and a questionable carbon credit market? Join Bruce and Ben to learn about the threats, imperatives and initiatives that can help us make the leap.

Healthy Forests, Healthy Communities: The Dialogue on BC Forests (Break-Out)
Time: Friday 10:30 am
Speaker: Bill Bourgeois, PhD, RPF (New Directions Resource Management Ltd.)

Description: Healthy Forests, Healthy Communities is a grass roots initiative that has completed dialogue sessions across the province. Join this session to find out the results of these sessions and what Vision and Action the communities of BC are asking of our leaders to guide the future management of BC forests.

When Everything to Everyone is Not Enough: Non-Statutory Expectations (Break-Out)
Time: Friday 10:30 am
Speaker: Bob Craven, RPF (International Forest Products Ltd.), John Dunford, RPF (Tolko Industries Ltd.)

Description: What are the unwritten rules? How do they become part of the professional's decision framework?

Dealing Effectively with Aboriginal Peoples (Break-Out)
Time: Friday 10:30 am
Speaker:Bob Joseph, Indigenous Corporate Training Inc

Description: Frustrated by an ineffective consultation process? Having trouble arranging a first meeting with First Nations? Don't know who to invite? This is an opportunity to experience what Bob Joseph's Indigenous Corporate Training (ICT) can bring to your organization. Since 1994 ICT's mission is to help individuals and organizations work effectively with Aboriginal Peoples.

The Art of Managing People (Break-Out)
Time: Friday 10:30 am
Speaker: Sarah Hood, BComm, MALT, CHRP (Capital Regional District)

Description: Have you made the transition from working in the field to running field crews? Spending more time in the office, professionals often find that they are managing people more than managing forests. What are the tenets of effective leadership? How can you take your technical and scientific skills and parlay them into the HR and people skills needed for managing staff? How can you become the leader your profession expects you to be?

From Pixels to Trees: Remote Sensing in the Digital Age (Break-Out)
Time: Friday 1:30 pm
Speaker: Albert Nussbaum, RPF (Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations)

Description: Learn about the newest advances in remote sensing for forest inventory purposes – LIDAR and LANDSAT change detection. How are they helping to inform the questions around mid-term timber supply?

The Art of Professional Reliance (Break Out)
Time: Friday 1:30 pm
Speaker: Brian Barber, RPF, Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations

Description: Where have we come from, where are we going? Join this session for a facilitated discussion of professional reliance, what has been done to move this initiative forward and what should be done next?

Forest Management in BC: Reflections of BC's 15th Chief Forester
Time: Friday 2:15 pm
Speaker: Jim Snetsinger, RPF (Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations)

Description: In our poignant closing session, join Jim Snetsinger as he looks back on his high profile career in the public service. If any professional has felt the pull to be "everything to everyone" the province's Chief Forester tops the list. In a final personal address to forest professionals Jim will touch on the successes, missed opportunities, and the years of feast (the bugs) and famine (the markets) that he presided over. He will also give a closing charge to the profession and a final contemplation on the Art of Forestry. Moderated by former BC Chief Forester Larry Pederson, there will be a Q&A after the talk.