YourForest

Recorded on the top of Mt. Solomon near Hinton, Alberta, Canada. We talked about the Mountain Legacy Project, a project that replicates photos taken nearly 100 years ago in order to do comparative analysis and learn from our past. Rick has a wealth of knowledge regarding historical resources and I just loved being able to talk to him and Sonia while looking over the rocky mountains. We discussed t...

Forests provide all kinds of value to our lives, from picturesque views, habitat for animals to the oxygen we breath and much more. Everyone can see the benefits of wild places and natural forests but we often negate the habitat in our back yards. Urban forests play a huge role in our day to day lives that we often don't appreciate. Cleaning the pollution from our air, reducing energy costs throug...

My favorite lecturer, Marty Luckert a resource economics professor from the University of Alberta, came on to discuss the feasibility of biofuels in today's market. Ethanol is a fuel created from organic matter, we mix it into our gasoline and many other uses. If the organic matter being used is sustainable then the ethanol product can be considered carbon neutral as opposed to fossil fuels that r...

Wildfires seem to have become more of a problem for communities in recent years. With so many rural towns and municipalities surrounded by forest land destined to burn it has become apparent that Firesmart activities are needed to keep them safe. Firesmart is a management system that helps reduce wildfire risk. The pelican mountain project is a research site dedicated to testing wildfire activity...

Imagine using building materials that require 10 times more energy and other resources to create in order to build your home. That's what we are doing when we use concrete, brick, steel and other metals. Wood is the simple answer to this problem. Wood is vastly more sustainable in every way than these other traditionally used products, and with new technology we are able to utilize wood in ways we...

People tend to find a cause they care about and stick to it to make sure it is represented. Often times at the detriment to adjacent and equally important causes, not out of hate but out of ignorance. Arguably the best approach for finding answers to big questions, like ecosystem management, is to see the WHOLE picture. Focus is good, it drives us, makes us better, but it can also make us blind. E...

FRi Research put on a workshop to discuss ecosystem based management(EBM) with multiple stakeholders and land managers. This workshop came with a lot of great ideas and perhaps a new way of thinking about landscape management. EBM is a way of thinking about the entire ecological picture instead of focusing on individual aspects like timber, biodiversity, water, habitat, etc. EBM gets us to look at...

Imagine a disease that eats away at the neurons in your brain creating holes. This disease is fatal but will take years to kill you as your mind and body slowly waste away. By the way, its infectious and easily transmittable. That is CWD. It affects animals in the deer family, white-tail deer, mule deer, moose and elk. This degenerative disease was first discovered in a captive environment but is...

Links for the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System ( CWFIS ) and on it you can find the National Burned Area Composite dataset ( NBAC ) for downloading end-of-season fire perimeters. Topics discussed: Definition of remote sensing, Earth Observation Satellites, Mapping wilderness fires, LiDAR, Measuring trees, Better Data=Better Management, Photogrammetry, Drone technology and its application,...

This is an old recording I did from last year. It was the 4th episode I ever did but I think it might be one of the most important ones. Michael is an indigenous policy coordinator for the government of Alberta and he came on to discuss indigenous history and culture. He spoke a lot to his own experience and about the trauma that these communities have faced in the past and how that affects forest...

Wood is used to build our homes, create paper so we can right literature and history and build beautiful pieces of art and furniture that we cherish for its natural beauty, but we have barely scratched the surface of woods capacity. With new technology we can build taller, stronger, more fire resistant and more beautiful buildings. Vancouver now has a building 18 stories tall built from wood, and...

Hunting and fishing are seen by many people to be barbaric activities that no ethical person would do, or even more misguided, they think it is mindless and easy. People see the depictions of hunters as middle aged men riding around in a pickup truck drinking beer and shooting everything in sight for the pure joy of the kill. I promise you this could not be further from the truth. Hunting and fish...

Carp fact Sheet : http://aep.alberta.ca/fish-wildlife/invasive-species/aquatic-invasive-species/documents/AIS-Quickfacts-PrussianCarp-May2015.pdf Some interesting facts around fishing in Alberta relative to other provinces for some perspective on why fish capture limits are so low. Ontario has 250,000 fish-bearing lakes, with 585,000 licensed anglers,  or 2.3 anglers per lake.  Saskatche...

A few notes that Chris wished me to add post recording regarding some facts that we straightened out. CPAWS was founded in 1963 Forest Management Unit R11 is managed by the Province not Clearwater County The North Saskatchewan Glacier is in Banff Natioanl Park The Ram River Coal Mine is a surface mine The Regional Advisory Council has 27 members And the RAC was released for comment on March 7th. A...

Mountain Pine Beetle has done a number on North American forests in the last decade. These tiny little insects carry a fungus that can choke out a full grown tree. With a terrifying reproduction rate and warmer winters these dirty little buggers have the potential to decimate our pine forests. Nadir Erbilgin came on to discuss these creatures and the risk.

Women in forestry is a topic not widely discussed. In the past forestry was typically a male dominated industry. Luckily that seems to be less and less true with every passing year. With more women enrolling in forestry and environmental sciences programs now then seemingly ever before, hopefully we are approaching a semblance of equality. Danielle came on to discuss her experience going to school...

Women have not always been traditionally found in forest careers. Luckily that has changed and we are seeing more women in forestry and environmental sciences than ever before. Bev Wilson has nearly 40 years of experience in the forest sector and was able to speak to a lot of the changes she has seen and experienced over the years. With a Career as a Senior Resource Analyst for the province of Alb...

Genetics is a topic that is widely misunderstood. Fear of creating non-natural, GMO organisms has people turned off of the topic. Forest Genetics is one of these misunderstood subjects. We talked seed zones, selective breeding, progeny sites, ethics of putting genetically altered trees on the land, climate change and how we can plan for it and a great deal more.

Climate change, Chernobyl, asbestos, drought, fire. What do all these things have in common, they are all concerns that wildfire scientists and managers are keeping an eye on. Edward discuses these concerns in great detail in his book FIRESTORM, and he was kind enough to join me on the podcast to discuss it.

Fire is both a destructive and rejuvenating force in the Boreal forest. It can consume vast areas of vegetation while, at the same time, making room and creating habitat for new growth. In this episode we discuss some of the research being done by Ellen and Dan in relation to forest fires. We discuss the Fire Weather Index and its variables, Fort McMurray and Slave Lake wildfires, burn severity, n...

WARNING, do not go looking for factual information in this episode. Three Foresters sit down to discuss why they got into forestry and shoot the bull for over an hour. Tony is the owner of Damaged Timber Apparel and he also discussed his vision with his company and how it is giving back to the environmental community.

The maintenance of biodiversity is a crucial measurement in studying ecological balance and recovery post disturbance. From invertebrates, vascular plants, non-vascular plants, birds, small mammals, trees, the EMEND study has researched it all. Dr. Ellen Macdonald came on to discuss the immensity of this study and the opportunity and answers it may provide. Cutblocks are not the environmental deva...

Discussion around how we know human activity has played a huge role in climate change. Details regarding increasing CO2 measurements in the atmosphere and its affect on temperature, precipitation, droughts, wildfire, natural subregions, seedzones, tree species migration, forest pests any much more.

Clearcuts, Monocrops, Deforestation, Environmental Damage. These are some of the descriptors one might find in popular culture concerning forest harvest. These are wildly misleading labels. Dr. Vic Lieffers has a lifetime of research on forest harvest and regeneration and he came on to help us all understand the truth about cutblocks and the regeneration process.