British Columbia’s climate is changing, characterized by warming temperatures and unpredictable precipitation events. This variation in climate yields changes in photosynthetic activity in forests and therefore changes in productivity and fibre characteristics. Wood and cellular-level wood properties are changing in response to climate change and there is uncertainty regarding what this may mean to wood product manufacturing and forest management. Furthermore, there is limited information available about second growth wood characteristics and the response of second growth stands to changes in climate.
The objective of this research was to identify the response of first rotation (natural growth) and second rotation (planted or seeded stock) fibre properties to changes in climate parameters over the past 50 years.
This project was funded by NRCan - Canadian Wood and Fibre Centre’s Forest Innovation Program and Canfor Pulp Ltd. and aimed to provide an increased understanding of the principal fibre attributes of BC's forests and ultimately to better understand wood fibre characteristics.

The Natural Resources & Environmental Studies Institute (NRESi) at UNBC hosts a weekly lecture series at the Prince George campus. Anyone from the university or wider community with interest in the topic area is welcome to attend. This presentation will be made available to remote participants through Blue Jeans only due to a scheduling conflict with LiveStream system use. Go to http://www.unbc.ca/nres-institute/colloquium-webcasts to view the presentation remotely.

Past NRESi colloquium presentations and special lectures can be viewed on our video archive, available here.