Castlegar mayor Maria McFaddin appointed to lead Forestry Works for BC

Castlegar Mayor Maria McFaddin has been appointed executive director of Forestry Works for BC, effective September 2026.

Photo: City of Castlegar

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Castlegar Mayor Maria McFaddin has been appointed executive director of Forestry Works for BC, moving from municipal leadership into a province-wide forestry organization as her term at city hall nears its end.

Forestry Works for BC announced the appointment Sept. 14, effective this month. McFaddin succeeds Steve Kozuki, who has led the organization since January 2025 and is retiring.

McFaddin remains mayor of Castlegar but is not seeking another term. The City of Castlegar’s current declaration of candidates lists Brian Bogle, Sue Heaton-Sherstobitoff and Donald Pharand as candidates for mayor in the Oct. 17 municipal election.

Forestry Works for BC Society was incorporated in British Columbia on March 19, 2025. The organization describes itself as a registered nonprofit focused on improving public understanding of responsible forestry through education, storytelling and engagement, and says its directors bring experience spanning communities, forestry, stewardship and local leadership.

Its board is chaired by Ken Kalesnikoff, a principal of West Kootenay forestry and mass-timber company Kalesnikoff. Earlier this year, the federal government also named Kalesnikoff co-chair of the Canadian Forest Sector Transformation Task Force.

The organization has roots in the West Kootenay that predate its incorporation as a society. Castlegar council minutes from Oct. 21, 2024 show Kalesnikoff presenting the ForestryWorksforBC Initiative to council and describing it as representing more than 1,000 stakeholders concerned about the future of forestry in British Columbia.

Forestry Works for BC says McFaddin brings four years of experience as Castlegar mayor and another four years previously serving on council. The organization also says she has facilitated leadership teams since 2008 and operated a small business for eight years.

The executive-director position was advertised earlier this summer as a full-time role based remotely within British Columbia, with regular travel. The posted salary range was $125,000 to $185,000 annually, with the upper end tied to performance incentives based on membership growth.

The job posting identified membership expansion as the organization’s top strategic priority and described the executive director as its senior operational leader and public representative. Forestry Works for BC says that since relaunching its digital communications in January, its Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn content has generated more than 1.2 million views, 14,000 interactions and nearly 12,000 link clicks.

The organization currently describes itself as non-partisan and says it does not lobby. Before the society was incorporated, however, the Forestry Works for BC initiative publicly asked provincial political leaders to take specific forestry-policy actions.

In a January 2025 letter to Premier David Eby, Forests Minister Ravi Parmar and then-opposition leader John Rustad, the initiative called for several measures, including creation of a legislatively protected working forest and stronger public support for the forestry sector.

McFaddin is taking on the role as British Columbia’s forest sector continues to face pressure from fibre constraints, tariffs and difficult market conditions. The provincial government has also been directing funding and policy support toward value-added wood manufacturing and businesses affected by trade pressures.

That shift has direct relevance in the West Kootenay. In March, the federal government announced a $5.5-million repayable investment in Kalesnikoff to expand production of prefabricated housing components. The company has also received provincial support for mass-timber manufacturing.

McFaddin’s appointment is effective in September. The City of Castlegar says the current mayor and council will continue to serve until fall 2026.

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