Keynote Speaker: John Kennedy Naysmith

John Kennedy Naysmith is currently Professor Emeritus Forestry, Lakehead University. His public career has included serving as Founding Chair of Ontario’s Forestry Futures Trust; Executive Director of the Task Force on Northern Conservation for the Yukon and Northwest Territories; Associate Director Water, Forest and Lands Division, Northern Program, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development Canada; and negotiator on behalf of the Government of Canada for the Inuvialuit Western Arctic Land Claim.

Dr. Naysmith’s work, projects and assignments have taken him to western and northern Canada, South America, Asia and Africa. In the late 1980’s he became Director of Lakehead University’s School of Forestry. In 1994 when the School of Forestry was elevated to the Faculty of Forestry he was named Founding Dean.  A Registered Professional Forester, he has a forestry degree from the University of New Brunswick and graduate degrees from Harvard University and the University of British Columbia.
A consistent theme underlying his work and publications is the importance of recognizing the human component, that is the people who may be affected, when developing natural resource management and policy initiatives. In 1972 John had the honour of presenting a paper at the Seventh World Forestry Congress in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In 2003 he was again invited to present a paper at the Twelfth World Forestry Congress held in Quebec City. In 1996 John received the Canadian Institute of Forestry Award for Outstanding Achievement in International Forestry and in 1967 was named a Charles Bullard Fellow in Forest Science by Harvard University.

The title of Dr.Naysmith’s address is “People And The Forest: Forestry Extension In Stimulating Times”.