Kurt Niquidet

Kurt Niquidet grew up in Williams Lake, a place shaped by forestry. When he speaks about it, it’s from the perspective of someone who knows. “I grew up in Williams Lake and really a forestry-dependent community,” he says. Kurt Niquidet is vice-president and chief economist at the BC Council of Forest Industries, with a career that bridges policy, academia, and central banking. He holds a PhD in natural resource economics and policy from the University of Groningen and has worked at the Bank of Canada and the University of British Columbia. He also serves as an adjunct professor at UBC’s Faculty of Forestry and has published widely on B.C. forest policy. Now, he is applying that perspective to new data on the sector’s reach across British Columbia. His latest report, Rooted in BC: Economic Impact of Forestry, tracks forestry’s economic footprint across the province. The findings challenge a common assumption. Forestry is not just a rural story.