Purpose – overall focus – Moving toward community resiliency
BC forest professionals are mandated to protect the public interest in the stewardship of the BC Forest Asset (BC forests). The governance and practices to achieve this goal must be modified to a significant extent to meet the public demands of the 21st Century. The overall focus is  moving toward community resiliency.

The purpose of the Healthy Forest-Healthy Communities (HFHC) initiative is to provide decision-makers and those concerned about the future of the BC forest sector with independent information and opinions to assist in creating vibrant, dynamic forest dependent, and resilient communities. The focus is on long-term forest stewardship and sustainable utilization of the local/regional BC Forest Asset.

The HFHC vision is to encourage Government and forest sector decision-makers to adopt a 21st Century vision for the BC Forest Asset as a significant contributor to community resiliency but does not involve major negative impacts to communities and the forest sector. A strategic plan (Framework) is presented in https://www.bcforestconversation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Moving-toward-community-resiliency-specific-actions-1.pdf.

Achieving this vision within the described Framework will take several years of dedicated and collaborative work by all members of the forest sector, Government, the bureaucracy, and Indigenous and Non-Indigenous communities. Dedication and perseverance will be required over more than one electoral mandate of Provincial and Municipal Governments. This is a journey not an event!

Community resilience definition is the capability to anticipate risk, limit impact, and bounce back rapidly through survival, adaptability, evolution, and growth in the face of turbulent change. Ref: Community & Regional Resilience Institute, 2013.