Developing Forest Management Strategies to Conserve Wildlife Habitat: A look back over 25 years

About this presentation

Kari will present a variety of results from her work over the past 25 years that has influenced forest management in parts of BC. Research topics include songbird community response to varying levels of tree retention in cutblocks, logging practices necessary to effectively protect badger burrows, the identification and management of areas of exceptional conservation value, reducing sediment impacts to streams, best management practices for fire salvage, using stand structural characteristics to define early seral stands for ungulate winter range rather than age, and the results-to-date of a project using recent technology (LiDAR) data to develop an index of old growth quality for forest stands.

About Kari Stuart-Smith

Kari Stuart-Smith (PhD, RPBio, PBiol) Kari is the Manager of Biodiversity and Wildlife for Canfor’s Canadian woodlands operations. She has over 25 years of experience in the forestry industry in Western Canada, and holds a PhD in Forest Science from Oregon State University and an MSc in Wildlife Biology from the University of Alberta. Kari has an extensive history of successful collaboration and project leadership with Government, Indigenous Nations, industry, academia, and stakeholders throughout BC in the development of evidence-based legislation and forest management strategies to conserve biodiversity and wildlife habitat. She has authored numerous scientific publications on wildlife, including moose, mountain goat, caribou, northern goshawk, and songbirds. She was appointed to BC’s first Minister’s Wildlife Advisory Council last year.

ACCESS: Current BVRC members will receive a Zoom invite; non-members can email info@bvcentre.ca for the link.