The Forester Panel at the 2026 COFI Convention — titled Predictable and Economic Access to Wood — brought together five practitioners and researchers for a discussion moderated by Michael Armstrong, COFI Senior Vice President and Chief Forester. The panel covered the triad or three-zone forest management model, the gap between BC’s harvest targets, inter-jurisdictional comparisons, coastal forestry challenges, First Nations forest operations, and biomass. Panelists were Cheryl Hodder, Chief Forester of Wood Products Canada at Canfor; David Elstone, Managing Director of SparTree Group; Shannon Janzen, Principal of Hypha Consulting; Percy Guichon, CEO of Central Chilcotin Rehabilitation; and Christian Messier, Professor at the University of Quebec and co-founder of Habitat. Armstrong opened by displaying a chart showing BC’s interior and coastal sawmill production declining by approximately 50% since 2017 while other Canadian provinces have remained relatively flat.

The fireside chat on wildfire prevention and resilience at the 2026 COFI Convention brought together Dr. Jill Harvey, Canada Research Chair in Fire Ecology at Thompson Rivers University, and Leonard Joe, CEO of the BC First Nations Forestry Council. Harvey presented research findings from several active projects before the session moved into a Q&A format moderated by Joe. Harvey opened by placing the current wildfire crisis in historical context, drawing on fire scar records from interior Douglas fir trees that carry evidence of fire events stretching back 400 years. She described tree ring data from the Churn Creek protected area showing fire occurring on a 15-to-25-year cycle from 1620 through 1896 — evidence, she said, of deliberate, knowledge-informed land stewardship by Indigenous peoples over centuries. After 1896, fire activity in those records essentially ceases, reflecting the onset of industrial-era fire suppression. The result, she said, is a landscape now laden with fuel accumulated over more than a century with little natural or managed release.

The Value Chain panel at the 2026 COFI Convention brought together perspectives from across the sector’s supply chain, with participants including Nick Arkle, CEO of Gorman Group; Kelly Marciniw, Chief Operating Officer of Zirnhelt Timber Frames and Chair of BC Wood Specialties Group; Todd Chamberlain, General Manager of the Interior Logging Association; and Blair Dickerson, Vice President of Public Affairs Canada at Domtar. The session was moderated by Sonya Zeitler Fletcher, Vice President of Market Development at Forestry Innovation Investment. Asked by Zeitler Fletcher about where Gorman Group is moving as it relates to a regional cluster, Arkle described an approach to bringing together First Nations, communities, manufacturers, and value-added producers within a defined geographic area around a shared and secure fibre supply.

The State of the Forest Economy panel opened Day 2 of the 2026 COFI Convention with a data-driven examination of trade diversification, housing demand, investment attractiveness, and BC’s declining competitive position relative to other Canadian and North American jurisdictions. The session was moderated by Kurt Niquidet, COFI’s Vice President and Chief Economist, who noted that COFI’s latest economic impact study — released earlier in the week and available at cofi.org — underscores that even during a period of contraction, forestry remains an indispensable pillar of the BC economy. Panelists were Hamir Patel, Executive Director and Paper & Forest Products Analyst at CIBC; Claire Huxtable, Senior Analyst at ERA Forest Products Research; and Jason Krips, President and CEO of the Alberta Forest Products Association.

Trevor Halford, Interim Leader of the Official Opposition and MLA for Surrey-White Rock, opened the second day of the 2026 COFI Convention with remarks that acknowledged the sector’s challenges directly and outlined what he said a Conservative government would prioritize. Halford said he is not a forestry expert but has spent considerable time listening to those who are, and singled out Conservative forestry critic Ward Stamer — who he said began his career in the bush 50 years ago — as someone who understands the industry through direct experience. He said the caucus hears clearly what the sector needs: secure access to fibre, streamlined permitting processes, strong Indigenous partnerships, investment in value-added and sustainable innovation, and lower costs.