In this talk, I will introduce the idea of The Mother Tree Network. Working with a circle of collaborators and Indigenous partners, we are creating this network to help protect, manage, and restore the critical forests of Western Canada. It is rooted in the Mother Tree Project that is developing ecosystem-based management practices for protecting and restoring forests in the midst of the climate crisis. With research, collaborations with local communities, and emerging regenerative frameworks, the Mother Tree Network will work to protect the forests of this region and accelerate an ecological transition from extractive to a regenerative  economy. The goals of the Mother Tree Network are: 1. Protect large forest landscapes with a particular focus on old growth trees, the largest and oldest living beings on earth. 2. Support Indigenous peoples and forest-based communities to restore ecological, social, and economic resilience using a variety of financing and legislative mechanisms. 3. Establish learning communities focused on collaborative conservation, education, healing, and research. 4. Develop and support practices of sustainable, ecosystem-based management. 5. Change forest valuation from expedient products to long-term health of forests.
Can we do this? I think we can.

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. Presentations are also made available to remote participants through Zoom Webinar. 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.