Prince George, B.C.- This weekend, the history of forestry is front and centre at a special event. The Forest History Association of B.C. is holding it’s 2009 conference in Prince George.

At a time when forestry is taking some hard hits because of the economic downturn, the mountain pine beetle and the high value of our dollar, one might think this is not the right to focus on forestry. Nothing could be further from the truth says organizer Melanie Carjala of the Aleza Lake Research Forest Society “This is a good time to reflect on the history of forestry and we can rest assured that these difficult times have happened before.”

While the history buffs will be huddling tomorrow through Saturday, the public can learn more about the history of forestry in the Saturday “Heritage Fair” at the Bentley Centre at UNBC.

The theme of the conference is “Exploring our Roots, Forest History in our Communities”. It is a theme Carjala says reflects the broad values held by many cities and towns in the province, “These are communities that are using forestry resources to add better value to those communities.”

In addition to taking in displays, the public can sign up to take a field trip to the Upper Fraser, an area Carjala calls the heartland of forestry operations in B.C.

The conference is taking place at UNBC.