The Future of Forestry project, part of the overarching Regional Workforce Development in Rural BC program, is focused on better understanding the fundamental issues facing the forestry sector today. One of the project’s objectives is to provide a comparison between the two study areas: the Columbia Basin-Boundary region of British Columbia and Scotland.

Between August and December 2017, 30 targeted interviews were completed with participants from the forestry sector in the Columbia-Basin Boundary region of British Columbia (BC), Canada (18) and Scotland, United Kingdom (12). Participants included representation from academic, government, industry, and other civil organizations (e.g., professional bodies). Participants were asked a range of questions related to their personal experience, the general state of the forest sector, training and education, and technology and innovation.

This document has two objectives:
1) To summarize the initial impressions of the data specifically related to the cross-case study comparison; and
2) To provide these initial impressions to participants for their review and comment.

This initial impressions document includes preliminary feedback from research participants.