Applicants to Master’s and Doctoral degrees are not affected by the recently announced cap on study permits. Review more details
The Faculty of Forestry is one of the top institutions globally in forest-related education and research. The unique breadth of expertise we possess allows us to integrate new knowledge across many disciplines. Offering both master’s and doctoral programs, our graduate students learn from a dynamic and diverse group of researchers from around the world.
The Forest Sciences Centre is a showcase for construction using Canadian forest products, and was architecturally designed to mimic the landscape of British Columbia: towering trees, mountains, and blue-green waters. The 17,505-square-metre Forest Sciences complex has 11 classrooms, 2 lecture theatres, teaching laboratories, office space, computer labs, study areas, and a cafeteria, and houses the Faculty’s three departments.
Built alongside the Forest Sciences Centre is the 3,730-square-metre Centre for Advanced Wood Processing. It is Canada’s national centre of excellence for education and research related to wood products processing and advanced wood products manufacturing, and works to advance knowledge that fosters job creation, stabilizes forest-dependent communities, encourages increased value recovery, and ensures the sustainable management of Canada’s forests. This building includes two 25-seat classrooms, a machine lab, a simulator lab and a computer lab.
Within the Faculty of Forestry, there are also several research groups. Visit the website of each project to find out more.
Off-campus facilities include two Research Forests: the Malcolm Knapp Research Forest in Maple Ridge and the Alex Fraser Research Forest near Williams Lake. These are working forests located throughout the province where students and faculty can study in an outdoor setting. Fish and wildlife, silviculture, forest harvesting, forest ecology, forest management, and resources management figure prominently in these field studies.
UBC Forestry is turning out a new generation of foresters, and faculty are committed to meeting future challenges in forestry through in-depth, cutting edge research. In fact, UBC Forestry receives the highest level of forestry research funding of any forestry faculty in Canada.
In the 2017/2018 fiscal year, members of the Faculty Forestry were awarded a total of over $12 million in research funding.
Our wide breadth of research includes topics such as tree rings, integrated remote sensing, bioenergy, forest conservation genetics, landscape visualizations, African forest conservation and development, alpine studies, climate change, and advanced wood processing.
This is an incomplete sample of recent publications in chronological order by UBC faculty members with a primary appointment in the Faculty of Forestry.
| Year | Citation | Program |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Dr. Ismail investigated the level of population structure of black cottonwood in British Columbia. He found three main groups of populations classified as north, interior, and south, with high level of gene flow. In comparison with other poplar species, Ismail found low level of nucleotide diversity. These results will assist in designing association genetics studies for economically important traits. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2010 | Dr. Cockle studied how the production and loss of tree cavities influences how cavity-nesting bird communities are organized. She showed that maintaining a diverse tropical bird community will require changing forestry practices to conserve large old living trees where natural decay processes create deep cavities used over multiple years. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2010 | Dr. Alexiadis studied environmental concern and behaviour of house occupants in Canada. He created a theoretical model that summarises the principal factors that guide environmental housing behaviour. This research enhances understanding of environmental behaviour and can assist in minimising housing impacts on the natural environment. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2010 | Dr. Rosin developed, evaluated, and applied hydrologic models that make spatially-distributed predictions of how land-use change affects streamflow. The models may be used to predict effects of the mountain pine beetle infestation on peak flows in watersheds of British Columbia. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2010 | Dr. DiGuistini developed methods and coordinated genome sequencing and analysis for the Mountain Pine Beetle-fungus Grosmannia clavigera. This research has potential to support development of new approaches for managing MPB outbreaks and highlights the possibilities for usng new sequencing technologies for studying non-model biological systems. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2010 | Dr. Fairhurst developed a computerized approach for assessing and controlling the risks of damaging scenic resources. His cumulative illumination technique maps the incidence angles from each viewpoint to each land plane, allowing planners and managers to more easily, reliably, and economically meet public expectations for the scenic landscape. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2010 | Dr. Maloney showed how the gene Korrigan is important for the intricate ultra-structure of the secondary cell-walls in poplar and spruce trees. She subsequently revealed that Korrigan is functionally conserved between gymnosperms and angiosperms, thereby increasing what is known in regards to cell-wall synthesis in plants. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2010 | Dr. Sajedi studied the effects of excessive soil moisture on processes involved with carbon and nitrogen mineralization, plant species distribution and forest productivity. In her research, she also assessed the impact of clearcutting and drainage on site productivity and soil carbon storage as potential management strategies in wet forest ecosystems. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2010 | Dr. Brooks developed new methods for linking microbial community structure to soil functions in forests. Dr. Brooks developed novel techniques to visualize fine-scale soil enzyme activity in forests and identify the species of symbiotic fungi and bacteria associated with enzyme activity, and how these change as forests age. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2010 | Dr. Krzyzanowski examined the cumulative impacts of air pollution in British Columbia's Treaty 8 traditional territory. Air pollution levels were found capable of impacting forests, freshwater ecosystems and forest dependent communities. Community-based monitoring and comprehensive emission's reporting were recommended to minimise and manage the impacts of air pollution in northeast BC. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |