2019 Conference in Mission

Thank You Mission Municipal Forest for hosting a wonderful event, attended by a record number of registrants!

We are grateful to all of our participants, speakers, sponsors, exhibitors, BCCFA board and staff for their involvement, networking and support for the positive future of community forestry . 

On the unceded, ancestral and shared territory of the Coast Salish Sto:lo People, the 16^th annual BCCFA event was hosted by the Mission Municipal Forest.

CONFERENCE PROGRAM 

Wednesday, June 12th
9:00-3:30     Field trip to the Mission Municipal Forest featuring their efforts to operate a working forest, and to collaborate with First Nation interests and the multiple recreational users and overlapping tenures on the land base. 

6:00-10:00   Opening Reception and Local Craft Brew Sampling  – Welcome from the BCCFA board and staff, sponsors and special guests. 

Thursday, June 13th
8:30-4:30    The day will include sessions on First Nations partnerships, ecosystem resiliency, adapting to a changing climate, community wildfire protection, community investment cooperatives, news on key government initiatives and informal dialogue sessions for managers and community forest boards. 

6:00-10:00  BCCFA Annual Banquet and Awards

Friday, June 14th
8:00-2:00    The day will begin with the BCCFA AGM, followed by a special session on Reconciliation through Education and Understanding where we will host The KAIROS Blanket Exercise™ . The Blanket Exercise is a unique, participatory history lesson – developed in collaboration with Indigenous Elders, knowledge keepers and educators – that fosters truth, understanding, respect and reconciliation among Indigenous and non-indigenous peoples.

The Mission Tree Farm Licence #26, also known as the Mission Municipal Forest, has been a member of the BCCFA since inception in 2002. It was formed in 1958 as an outcome of the report from Gordon Sloan and the Royal Commission on the Forest Resources of British Columbia of 1945, where there was a recommendation that municipalities manage the local forests. Operating for over 60 years, Mission will share their experiences of addressing the challenges of managing their area based working forest in the lower mainland, access management, recreational interests, educational programming and deepening relations with their First Nations neighbours.