The Forest Bioeconomy Symposium: From Fire Risk to Circular Stewardship brings together approximately 250 leaders on September 29–30, 2026, at the Bear River Band of Rohnerville Rancheria's Tish Non Community Center in Loleta, California, immediately preceding the California Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force Meeting in neighboring Fortuna, California.

This two-day working gathering convenes state and federal policymakers, elected officials, tribal economic development leaders, philanthropic funders, investors, regional manufacturers, and university partners around a single goal: catalyzing the market infrastructure, investment relationships, and policy pathways needed to build a thriving circular forest stewardship economy in the Redwood Region.

Day One: Field Visit

Tuesday, September 29th - Southern Humboldt, Arcata & Samoa, and HWY 299 Corridor

Three Field Visit options trace the full arc of the current regional forest bioeconomy. Field Visits will run concurrently in Southern Humboldt, Arcata & Samoa Peninsula and the Hwy 299 Corridor. Lunch is provided.

Day Two: Symposium

Wednesday, September 30th - Bear River Band of Rohnerville Rancheria's Tish-Non Community Center in Loleta, California

The day starts with remarks from Patrick Wright, Director of the California Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force, followed by an international keynote (see below), a regional asset and vision overview, and afternoon working sessions. Lunch will be provided.

Post-war Germany faced a version of the challenge the Redwood Region knows well: an abundance of forest material the existing economy had no good way to value, infrastructure and systems that left enormous potential on the table, and an urgent need to rebuild. The answer was innovation and 80 years later, Fraunhofer WKI stands as one of the world's leading wood product research institutions, having turned that untapped potential into a thriving global industry. Prof. Dr. Raoul Klingner, WKI's Director, Professor at Technical University Braunschweig, and newly appointed chair of Germany's national ministerial advisory group on forest and wood research, brings that story and its direct lessons here. His keynote will cover the materials WKI has developed, the policy investment that made it possible, the EU's newly released 2025 Bioeconomy Framework, and what WKI's current wildfire-resilient materials research means for California's construction markets and building codes. This session is also an opening move, a direct invitation to Cal Poly Humboldt, regional manufacturers, and economic development partners to explore what a formal transatlantic research relationship could look like. Come ready to listen, and to introduce yourself.

More speaker announcements coming soon.

From Low-Value Wood to High-Tech Materials and Resilient Value Chains: 80 Years of Forest Bioeconomy Innovation and the Redwood Region Opportunity

Prof. Dr. Raoul Klingner, Director, Fraunhofer WKI Institute for Wood Research, Braunschweig, Germany