Cedar Welsh is a forest ecologist whose main research area focuses on the impacts of natural disturbances and climate variability on forest dynamics. Cedar Welsh completed her Honours B.Sc. degree in biology at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario. In 2007, she received her M.Sc. from the University of Northern British Columbia.Her master's research evaluated the temporal and spatial outbreak dynamics of Dothistroma needle blight in lodgepole pine-dominated forests of northwest BC. The results of her study highlight the unpredictable nature of climate change on forest ecosystems and the need to quantify the effects of climate variability on disease occurrence to allow better predictions of future impacts of climate change on forest health. Cedar has worked as researcher for university, government, and industry. She is an enrolled member for the Association of Professional Biologists of British Columbia.