Grant: Industrial Research Chairs for Colleges Grants

The College of New Caledonia and the regional forest industry in central British Columbia are partnering to establish a long-term NSERC Industrial Research Chair for Colleges in Forest Health. The Chair will work closely with forest companies and collaborating scientists from government and academia to develop innovative tools that will help mitigate the impacts of forest diseases on the productivity and resilience of young managed forests in British Columbia. The Chair, Richard Reich, has conducted extensive research and development in forest pathology over the past 26 years, and will focus initial research on stem rust diseases on lodgepole pine trees, and armillaria root disease. These diseases are rapidly increasing in some regions of the province and pose serious business and management challenges to the forest industry. The Chair will also work with SME companies who are developing technology-based geospatial solutions that will help forest companies remotely detect forest health problems using unmanned aerial vehicles and high-resolution digital imagery. The Chair's research activities will involve the faculty, staff and students from the College's Natural Resources and Environmental Technology program, as well as Biology and other educational programs. Students involved in this research will learn innovative technologies in the fields of forest health, silviculture, unmanned aerial vehicles, geographic information systems and remote sensing. This will provide students with enhanced skillsets to foster innovation in the Canadian forest sector.