Society Constitution and By-Laws

British Columbia Community Forest Association

Incorporated under the BC Society Act on April 8, 2002

CONSTITUTION

1. The name of the society is British Columbia Community Forest Association
2. The purposes of the Society are:

• • To work to ensure the viability of community forest initiatives.
  • To provide education on community forestry issues.
  • To assist community forest practitioners in accessing resources required to succeed.
  • To promote community forest management as a strategy for ecosystem resilience and community economic development.

Change to the Purposes of the BCCFA

June 14, 2019

The BCCFA was established in 2002. Over the course of the past 17 years, we have observed climate changes and increased risk to communities from wildfire. The special resolution adopted by the membership to change the purposes in the BCCFA constitution demonstrates leadership in a changing climate. The new language is a bold recognition of the important role that community forests play in adapting to climate change and mitigating the risk of catastrophic wildfire, thereby promoting more resilient ecosystems and human communities.

The purposes of the BCCFA have been changed (bold below) to read as follows:

• Work to ensure the viability of community forest initiatives
• Provide education on community forestry issues
• Assist community forest practitioners in accessing resources required to succeed
• Promote community forestry as a strategy for ecosystem resilience and community economic development.

A resilient landscape is defined as one that can continue to provide resources and ecological functions over time as climates change, although the species composition and structure of that ecosystem may change. Managing for resiliency also provides assurance that tree species selected for reforestation are adapted to current as well as future climates, and both plant and animal species can migrate as their habitat shifts with climate change.

BY-LAWS

The provincial government required all societies to comply with the new Societies Act by November 2018. At the 2018 BCCFA AGM in Burns Lake, the membership approved an updated set of bylaws that meet the compliance requirements and reflect some unique approaches of the BCCFA, such as voting members are organizations and a guide for consensus decision making for the board of directors.

Link to the BCCFA Bylaws