NORTHWEST INNOVATIVE FORESTRY SUMMIT

SAVE THE DATE: NIFS 2026

We’re excited to share the dates for the 2026 Northwest Innovative Forestry Summit (NIFS)—please mark your calendar for June 10–12, 2026, at Willapa Bay in southwest Washington. 

Hosted at the Ellsworth Creek Preserve (a property of The Nature Conservancy), this year’s summit—Restoring Watersheds, Reimagining Forests—will bring together practitioners, landowners, researchers, Tribal leaders, and others working across the Pacific Northwest to explore approaches to ecological forestry and collaborative land stewardship.

As in past years, the summit will center on shared learning, with a mix of field-based and discussion-oriented sessions. A full-day field tour through the Ellsworth Creek watershed will highlight restoration efforts across a working forest landscape, including topics such as:

  • Old-growth reference conditions
  • Road decommissioning and access trade-offs
  • Stream restoration and engineered log jams
  • Silvicultural strategies for advancing older forest characteristics

Throughout, we’ll explore broader questions around watershed resilience, restoration in working forests, and balancing ecological, operational, and economic goals.

Registration is expected to open the first week of April 2026. In the meantime, we hope you’ll save the date and consider joining us.

NIFS Goals:

  • Foster a diverse and inclusive community of people with an interest in forestry and land management to shape our understanding and stewardship of forests in the region.
  • Empower people to collaborate, engage in active problem-solving, and provide a space for shared learning in an effort to develop adaptive forestry practices.
  • Build excitement and public support for innovative forestry.
  • Understand that partnerships with tribes are essential for success; appreciate the unique role Tribes have played and continue to play in active management, balancing their indigenous traditional ecological knowledge with scientific research.

Check out these photos from the 2025 Summit!

SUMMIT ORGANIZERS

Please email membership (at) forestguild.org if you have questions about the summit or are interested in joining the organizing team.

Past Events

In April 2022 we held a month-long series of virtual sessions that acted as a precursor to the in-person Summit at Pack Forest in the fall. These events were be a mix of presentation and discussion. You can view recordings of the events at the links below.

Living with Change: Discussing Future Challenges and Opportunities

The goal of the session is for participants to share what changes they see on the horizon for forestry, gain an understanding of the associated challenges, and collect ideas how we can best deal with those changes. The session starts with a brief summary of results from a survey about the ecological, economic, and social changes respondents see as challenges or opportunities for our region. Participants will then discuss changes in smaller groups.

The Co-evolving Story and Stewardship of Northwest Forests

Like beauty, ecological integrity and forest productivity are in the eye of the beholder. Those madronas growing among the Douglas-fir — are they competitors or cooperators? That forested park — is it a wildlife refuge or a tinderbox of excess fuel for wildfires? Not only is forest stewardship changing, so are the stories we tell ourselves about the forest and our place in it. This panel will take stock of how the narrative about forestry has shifted both within the forestry community and in the larger public arena.

Diversifying Forest Revenue and Values: What’s the Same and What’s Changing?

Carbon credits, wood-based certifications, non-timber forest products, conservation finance, and ecotourism are some examples of financial opportunities that forest landowners consider to diversify revenue streams – but these opportunities are not always lucrative. How are the opportunities and markets for forest owners changing or staying the same? Join us for a panel discussion on which opportunities are fulfilling their promise to landowners and which are falling short.

Working Together: New Partnerships in Forest Ownership and Conservation

Flux in forest ownership has long been a reality and driving force in the Northwest. We are in a period of relatively rapid ownership transition and the outcomes continue to shape both the forests and forest-dependent communities. All across our region people, organizations, agencies and businesses are finding innovative ways to work cooperatively together toward common goals for forests and human communities. In this session we will explore the role of innovation and lessons learned from case studies, in varying levels of maturation, from across our region. Participants will be invited to consider how these lessons might be applied throughout our region.

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