The Centre for Applied Conservation Research (CACR) at the University of British Columbia is a multidisciplinary research centre in applied conservation research.

INCREASING DEMAND for natural resources makes the maintenance of healthy, sustainable forests a key challenge for the future. To address this challenge, Dr. Fred Bunnell and Dean Clark Binkley established the Centre for Applied Conservation Biology in 1991. Over the past 15 years, our faculty, post doctoral fellows and graduate students have build a reputation for excellence in biodiversity conservation research. In 2001 we became the Centre for Applied Conservation Research (CACR) under the direction of Dr. John Innes, reflecting a broader mandate to incorporate social and economic issues into applied conservation research. Dr. Peter Arcese and Dr. Sarah Gergel now share CACR directorship and draw from across campus, and other universities, for collaborations improving the conservation of species and ecosystems and responsible use of natural resources.

The centres key goal is to identify, develop and propose solutions to interdisciplinary problems in natural resource conservation with innovative, novel and unbiased research and stakeholder engagement.

Membership includes more than 70 faculty, research scientists, and graduate students covering a broad mandate incorporating ecological, biological, and social sciences and economics into applied conservation research.

Faculty-level membership is primarily from the Faculty of Forestry but also includes scientists from other Faculties within UBC (Animal Science, Geography, Zoology, Botany, the School of Community and Regional Planning, Resource Management and Environmental Studies, Fisheries Centre, Centre for Biodiversity Research and from other universities (Simon Fraser University – Centre for Wildlife Ecology).