Students in the Alberni Valley will return to McLean Mill for a series of activities to celebrate National Forestry Week. The school program was paused during the coronavirus pandemic, and this is the first year a large-scale event has been planned, says Ryan Price of BC Timber Sales.
Price is one of several forestry professionals, including the South Island office of the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, working together to bring the curriculum-based event to more than 250 Grade 5 students in School District 70 (Pacific Rim).
"We're trying to restore it to its former glory," he said.
The program will be tailored to curriculum that is already in place, as well as bringing awareness to forestry in general.
Price said eight of 10 area schools have signed up to participate on National Forestry Day, Sept. 25. Students will rotate through several stations at the invitation-only event.
Some of the stations will include tree and vegetation identification with Tsawak-qin, information on how karst and forestry work together from an NIC representative, salmon enhancement with the Port Alberni Hatchery, fish habitat with Reddfish, wildfire prevention and management from B.C. Wildfire Service and remote sensing and computer-aided work in forestry from Forsite. Professionals from Mosaic Forest Management company will talk about drone technology and how it is used in forestry.
The event lends itself naturally to the National Forestry Week 2024 theme, which is "Two-Eyed Seeing: welcoming all knowledge to sustain our forests."
"Forestry isn't just logging," says Price. "Logging is a piece of forestry. There's a vast array of careers within forestry and there's much to learn and much to appreciate about forests and what we do.
"Forestry professionals have all these interesting, exciting and intriguing things to share. It comes down to people who have passion" for forestry and what they offer, he added.
