Newsletter

BC Northern Interior Highlights
Chris Lear (Manager, Forest Education)

An Overview of COFI Northern Operations Forest Education Program

COFI’s Northern Operations Forest Education Program is an exciting program that offers forest education teaching resources and activities to teachers and students across northern BC. Reaching out to some 40,000+ students across eight school districts 3 regional colleges and UNBC the program enables teachers and students to learn more about our rich renewable forest resources and our dynamic world-class forest industry.

At the elementary school level our program is centered around Grade 5 where we provide all teachers in both private and public schools with a comprehensive forest education teaching resource kit complete with a binder filled with exciting lesson plans and activity sheets, videos, CD’s, wood product and tree samples as well as a host of other teaching resources. To complement the resource kit, we have developed a forest education website where students and teachers can go on virtual tours of wood manufacturing facilities, logging operations and nature walks; classify trees using a cool tree key; download lesson plans; learn about the history of forestry in northern BC; and, connect to other exciting forestry related websites. Both of these resources are introduced to teachers through teacher training workshops designed to help teachers integrate forestry into their existing curriculum.

In addition to providing teaching resources, COFI’s Northern Operations Forest Education Program offers each school a variety of school presentations including “A History of Forestry in Northern BC”, “Forestry Today” and “The Mountain Pine Beetle Epidemic”. These interactive presentations help to develop a ‘wood culture’ and keep both teachers and students up to date on issues in the forest industry today.

At the secondary school level, the forest education program is focused on career awareness. Two programs: “Project Natural Resource Management” and “Project Manufacturing” offer strong academic students in grades 10 – 12 and their teachers an opportunity to learn more about careers in the forest industry. Through these two two-day programs hosted across the north, students participate in various hands-on workshops to get an in-depth view of careers in resource management and manufacturing. Careers such as foresters, entomologists, archaeologists, wildlife and fisheries biologists, chemical engineers, accountants, information technologists, sawfilers and millwrights are just a few of the careers that students and their teachers are exposed to by working with professionals drawn from government, industry and post-secondary institutions.

Participating in career fairs, facilitating school tours, giving school presentations and binging in guest speakers is also a big part of the secondary school program ensuring that students and teachers have a wide variety of resources and activities to learn about forestry.

Working with secondary school forestry and forest science teachers is also a big part of the secondary school program. In addition to providing resources to these teachers, COFI’s Northern Operations Forest Education Program hosts an annual Forestry Teachers Convention which brings together high school forestry teachers from across the north to share ideas, meet forestry faculty from post secondary institutions and gain valuable networking opportunities.

Another major component of our forest education program is our ‘Forestry Tours’ offered to all educators as well as community leaders right across our northern region. Scheduled on teachers’ professional development days, these tours offer participants a full day tour of woodlands operations and/or mill operations to give participants a clear understanding of forestry and wood products manufacturing.

There are also special projects, such as video productions and forestry camps, and student contests offered periodically throughout the school year for schools to participate in.

The key to the success of COFI’s Northern Operations Forest Education Program is that it is designed and developed by educators for educators and supported by the forest industry and school districts across the north. It is through input from educators that resources and activities are developed and delivered meeting the needs of both teachers and students living in northern BC. We strongly believe we are:

“Working with Tomorrow’s Leaders Today!”
A teacher receiving a grade 5 teaching kit in Moricetown, BC	Student participation in Project Manufacturing at Canfor’s Mackenzie mill in Mackenzie

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