IFSA-UNBC members Abby Lewis, Nichola Gilbert, and Nick Dormaar are local organizers of the symposium

Prince George, BC – More than 100 forestry students from around the world will stop in Prince George this summer, as part of an international symposium to see first-hand the unique issues surrounding foresty in BC…

BC members of the International Forestry Students' Association (IFSA), in collaboration with UNBC, Thompson Rivers University and UBC, will be hosting the 42nd IFS Symposium this summer.   It will be the first time in several years the gathering has occurred in North America, and the first time it's been held in BC. The two-week itinerary begins with three days at UBC in Vancouver, a visit to Vancouver Island, Williams Lake, four days in Prince George from August 14th to 17th, then on to Kamloops, and Kelowna.

Members of the local organizing committee at UNBC appeared before City Council this evening to draw attention to the event.  "BC has a very rich history in forestry and a lot of it is stemming from the beetle for our particular region," said Nichola Gilbert, a Masters student in Forestry at UNBC.  "So our future is going to be impacted by this and we want to show the world how we're going to deal with that."

The two-week tour will cover a variety of ecosystems, timber operations, sawmills, communities and research forests.  While in Prince George, Nick Dormaar, said symposium participants will tour the Ancient Forest, a number of different mills, and the John Prince Research Forest.  "There will be an opportunity for networking with industry, because they're quite interested in this potential pool of talent that will be coming to BC."

Dormaar said organizers are in the process of promoting the symposium and generating sponsorships – with a number of local and provincial organizations like the Canadian Institute of Forestry and Conifex already stepping up to the plate.