Pacific Forestry Centre

The Pacific Forestry Centre (PFC) is one of five research centres within the Canadian Forest Service. Its research priorities include:

Forest entomology and pathology – Studying various aspects of biology, population dynamics and management options in order to minimize the damage from forest pests such as the mountain pine beetle.

Fire management – Assessing the risks posed by fire and developing forecasting tools for emergency fire response so that fire-related damages can be minimized. PFC researchers are leading the development of the National Fire Management Resource Demand Model.

Forest inventory and monitoring – Using the latest technology, research efforts are developing tools to monitor and assess change in Canada’s forests. This work supports continued improvements in the National Forest Inventory, which provides information on Canada’s forests and knowledge of forest ecosystem change for national and international reporting commitments, contributes to forest sustainability policy and provides national information for risk analysis modelling.

Climate change – Research conducted as part of the National Forest Carbon Accounting Program, focused on improving the measurement of carbon additions and removals from the atmosphere. This research is important in determining the role that Canada’s forests play in the carbon cycle, meeting international climate change reporting requirements, and finding new ways to reduce Canada’s greenhouse emissions.

Economic and market research – Analyzing forest sector trends, emerging markets and export opportunities. The PFC works extensively with partners in government and academia to explore new ways to keep Canada’s forest sector globally competitive.