Researchers from across Canada will be meeting at UNBC next week, sharing information on how climate change may be affecting British Columbia's forests. Climate Change in the Western and Northern Forests of Canada will be the first workshop of its kind, assessing the impacts of climate change, and how communities and industries must respond. The workshop will run February 17-19 at UNBC.

"An issue like climate change requires that we separate what we know from what we suspect," says UNBC Forestry professor Art Fredeen, co-organizer of the workshop. "We know that winter and spring temperatures in many northern regions have been on an upward trend for decades, but we don't know the extent of change that is directly due to human activities. While it's impossible to say that phenomena like the mountain pine beetle infestation are directly caused by climate change, such events are consistent with what we can predict."

The workshop will begin on Monday evening with a panel presentation on climate change trends and impacts. The session will be in the UNBC Canfor Theatre and begin at 7pm. On February 18 and 19, technical sessions will provide researchers with opportunities to share their results. While the majority of delegates are from BC and Alberta, presenters are coming from as far away as Ontario and Washington. The schedule of presentations can be found at www.res.unbc.ca/climatechange. Morning sessions, beginning at 8:30am on the 18th and 19th, are also open to the public free of charge.

"The purpose of this event is to raise awareness and share information among the research community," says Dr Fredeen. "There is much at stake for many northern communities. Communities across the north are often dependent on the forest industry and if climate change impacts forests, it impacts communities. We should all be thinking about what we can do now to adapt to potential impacts in the future, or work to slow the trends."

The workshop is sponsored by the Canadian Climate Impacts and Adaptation Research Network, UNBC, the BC Ministry of Water, Land, and Air Protection, the BC Ministry of Forests, Natural Resources Canada - Canadian Forest Service, McGregor Model Forest, and the Sustainable Forest Management Network at the University of Alberta.