Haliburton’s Malcolm Cockwell won The Forests Canada Award for “his outstanding achievements in, and contributions to, the field of forestry in Canada and beyond,” at the Forests Canada conference in Mississauga Feb. 19-20.
A Registered Professional Forester who holds a Bachelor of Science and a PhD from the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Forestry, Cockwell is the managing director of the Haliburton Forest & Wild Life Reserve, and served on the Forests Canada board for more than 10 years, including as chair.
Forests Canada said Cockwell is also a leader within the forest sector, acting as chair of Acadian Timber Corp., acquiring several Canadian forest businesses, and bringing global innovations to Canada.
“He was instrumental in helping to shape the national direction for Forests Canada and was valued for his time, experience, and knowledge, as well as the important business lens he brought to the organization.”
Cockwell told The Highlander March 18, that serving on the board of directors of Forests Canada over the past decade had been a highlight of his career. He added spending five of those years as chair was “very rewarding, as we secured additional resources for the organization’s tree planting and community outreach initiatives and embraced a national mandate to operate across the entire country.”
Looking ahead, he said, “Forests Canada is in great shape, with an exceptional team led by Jessica Kaknevicius as the CEO and Christine Leduc as the new chair. I am proud of what the organization has accomplished and will continue supporting its programs as a member.”
As for the award, Cockwell said he was deeply honoured. “It was humbling to receive the award because previous recipients include many of the ‘greats’ in Canadian forestry, such as Harvey Anderson, who is arguably the godfather of modern hardwood silviculture in Ontario, as well as the team of forestry professionals who developed the provincial tree marking program.”
The conference brought experts from different fields together to talk about how to conserve, restore, and grow Canada’s forests.
See more at ForestsCanada.ca/Conference
