A panel of three emerging forestry leaders offered a ground-level perspective on the sector’s challenges and opportunities at the 2026 COFI Convention, in a session moderated by Natalie McGladrey, Strategic Business Advisor at Canfor. The panelists were Anna McNally, Manager of Cedar Sales at Western Forest Products; Georgina Clarke-Magnus, RPF and Planning Forester at A&A Trading Ltd.; and Mark Roller, RPF and General Manager of Woodlands at Sinclar Group Forest Products.
Each described arriving in forestry by a non-linear path — Clarke-Magnus through urban roots and a pivot from psychology, Roller after a carpentry career in Alberta and a formative canoe trip with a forester father-in-law, and McNally after arriving from Ireland and taking a reception position at Western Forest Products that turned into a decade-long career. All three cited the people in the sector and the complexity of the work as what keeps them engaged.
McNally, whose role involves working directly with US customers, said the two dominant themes she hears from American buyers are stability and long-term supply confidence. She said US retailers are increasingly being pushed toward domestic supply and some have dropped cedar entirely because it has become too difficult to plan around. She said BC needs to show it is taking steps to avoid further closures and stabilize supply — and that when customers visit BC operations and see the science and care behind reforestation, their perception of the industry changes dramatically. The story is there to tell, she said, but the industry does not tell it well enough.
Clarke-Magnus said the primary friction point she sees on the ground is the layering of processes with different players on misaligned timelines — watershed assessments, referrals, log handling permits — that force projects to be re-engineered multiple times, often with little industry involvement in the policy changes driving those shifts. She said what is actually working is collaborative First Nations partnerships that go beyond transactional relationships to landscape-level planning, where both parties are involved early and the decisions reflect local realities.
Roller described the most significant change underway as a shift in where decisions are being made — increasingly at the local level, with people who live with the consequences. He said the sector’s path forward in 20 years looks like one with policy certainty, decision-making expectations that are clear and grounded in operational and market realities, and an industry that is valued by the public as a solution to the challenges BC faces.
On technology, LiDAR was identified by both Clarke-Magnus and Roller as a transformational tool for ground-level planning and assessment, with both noting significant gaps in coverage across operating areas. McNally pointed to thermally modified kiln technology as a near-term example of value-added innovation at Western Forest Products, enabling new applications for hemlock.
McNally also raised the concept of biophilia — the human instinct to seek connection with nature and natural building materials — as an underutilized opportunity for the sector. She cited research showing measurable benefits to human well-being from exposure to natural materials, and pointed to the redesign of Portland Airport’s security area, where real wood structures and living trees were deliberately introduced to reduce traveller stress. She said the sector is not simply selling building material — it is positively impacting human well-being — and that this is a story the industry should be telling more aggressively.
Drafted with the assistance of digital tools to streamline the process.