YourForest

What would forestry look like if Indigenous cultural values were the driving force behind management decisions, instead of western values? How would it be different? What would it mean to put timber as a secondary priority to ecosystem health? What if the primary intention of harvesting was to accomplish some ecosystem goal? What happens to the ecosystem? The community? The money? Let’s find out....

Any chance I get to pick this guy’s brain I do it! Garry has spent decades considering the clashing of two cultures, Indigenous and western culture, and how the miscommunication between them has built up barriers that are difficult to break through. Garry lays out his experience, as an Indigenous person, and as a forester, regarding the past present and future of land management, communication, an...

You know those soggy, low places, where the trees are leaning like they have had too much to drink, and the sharp yellow of the Tamaracks in fall makes you want to go for a long walk? Those are the places we are discussing today. Edward Struzik joins me to discuss his new book, Swamplands. He details the cultural histories, folklore, economic activities, species at risk, carbon capture capacity, f...

If we want healthy ecosystems, we must balance the human demands of nature with the ecosystem’s capacity to provide it. For centuries, eastern Canada has experienced massive fire suppression, nearly complete loss of cultural fire, clearing for agriculture and homesteading, planting of non-native trees species for timber harvesting and so many other disturbances to its natural ecology. La Mauricie...

On this podcast we often talk about managing the forest for ALL values, equally, in a way that benefits all interests. Community forests may hold some answers. How do engage the public in a meaningful way? How do we embody cultural, recreational, and environmental values in forest management? How do we do collaboration right? The good folks of Wells Gray Community Forest might have some answers. C...

What does reconciliation have to do with forestry? “It has everything to do with it.” - Garry Merkel. If we want to be stewards of the land we need to be able, and willing, to support those whose livelihoods and culture are dependent on it. In this episode, Garry opens his heart to us so that we may better understand our role as stewards and as people. His honesty and openness make him a true role...

If you could decide how our forests will be managed, what would you do? Would you make drastic changes? Who, or what would be informing those changes? Would it be politics? Science? Culture? History? Or maybe a combination of these things. Today, we are going to dig into one of these aspects. Our history, specifically the history of forest regeneration. This will provide some much-needed context f...

As land stewards, we spend most of our time discussing the hard science. If we take this action on the landscape how will that affect everything else? For today’s episode, we are stepping out of our comfort zone and into the mysterious and intimidating world of people. How do people’s views and relationship to nature change how we manage it? If we could adjust society’s perspective, how would that...

Old Growth. What does that mean? How old is Old? How big is Big? How much is out there? How ecologically unique is it? And finally, how should we interact with it? It is one of the last natural remnants of a pre-industrialized society. Many relate it to the loss of the great barrier reefs or the shrinking Amazon rainforest. Why is there still so much conflict and how is it going to be resolved. Wh...

What makes a forest? Is it the trees? The animals? The plants? The soil? A forest is the connection between all these things. What makes it exciting is all the possibilities it holds. One such possibility is its capacity to feed and nourish us. And it may be one possibility that most people haven’t fully taken advantage of. Kevin Kossowan is passionate about wild food and helping people to see the...

Nature. What is it? Where does Nature end and Human-made begin? Where do we draw the line? Why would we draw the line? Questions like this keep Philosopher Dr. Martin Bunzl busy. Martin says the point of philosophy is to get us to question our assumptions. By questioning our assumptions, we are able to re-imagine our reality and dig deeper into the truth. By challenging our most fundamental pre-co...

As stewards of the land, it is the duty of all environmental professionals to look after all forest values forever. We have gotten good at managing for plants and animals, water, and recreation. Unfortunately, Indigenous values have been left behind. Indigenous people have been left behind. The only way we can properly account for Indigenous values and needs is to understand where they come from a...

We ask a lot of our forests. We demand food, water, and wood for shelter, but we also ask it to be natural, biodiverse, healthy, and ever-lasting. To many, these things seem at odds. How could we extract resources while maintaining healthy and sustainable ecosystems? With extensive research, forethought, and the right tools we can balance all these values at once. Albeit that balance often treads...

How does music impact your life? Does it make you happy or sad, giddy, or intense? Does it make you relax or reflect on life? Does it change the way you think about and relate to reality? It does all those things for me. So, I wanted to explore the intersection between art and science and how one can make us think differently about the other. Ben Cosgrove’s art is inspired by nature and our relati...

Humans love the outdoors. We love to observe it, recreate in it, listen to it, and we depend on its resources to drive our economy and build cool stuff. Unfortunately, the way we go about extracting some of these resources can sometimes leave nature worse for wear. In comes land reclamation to save the day! Reclamation of environmental resources is a tricky, complex, and fascinating science. From...

What does true equity look like? Why is it important? How do we accomplish it? Jessica has spent her career looking for answers to these questions. Turns out, it’s on us. We have to do the hard work to make true equity and diversity a reality. We have to look our own bias in the face and allow it to change us. We need to ask the hard questions and get comfortable with the uncomfortable. Only then...

Sustainability can be confusing. We all want it, but how do we achieve it? Jake Kheel makes it understandable. In his new book “Waking The Sleeping Giant: Unlocking the Hidden Power of Business to Save the Planet” Jake details one companies sustainability journey. Jake explains how chasing sustainability has changed not only their business but the local environment, economy, and communities for th...

Archeological finds in the boreal forest have exploded in the past 5 years. Hundreds of new sites have been located with evidence of vast populations of Indigenous people living deep into the boreal forest, not just on the fringes like what was previously hypothesized. This changes the way we think about the boreal. It was never an untouched landscape. People are deeply rooted in this land and the...

Your Forest Podcast by Matthew Kristoff   Recycling Is Dead with Raz Razgaitis   Episode highlight Raz Razgaitis, CEO of FloWater, talks about water security, the failure of the plastics recycling system, and how his company is making clean drinking water democratized and pure while eliminating plastic waste. Resources FloWater: https://www.drinkflowater.com/   Social Media: @drinkf...

Finding solutions to our ever-lengthening list of environmental management problems can seem nearly impossible. We have a desire to solve an issue, create opportunity, make the world a better place, but we don’t know how, or where, to begin. Collaboration is the key. But how do we begin collaboration in a way that will create a meaningful and lasting relationship? A relationship that can withstand...

Your Forest Podcast by Matthew Kristoff Project Forest With Mike Toffan Episode highlight Mike Toffan is part of the team at Project Forest that is rewilding Canada one forest at a time by planting forests on non-productive agricultural land. By doing so, they allow their investors to stay true to their values of environmental and social responsibility by sequestering carbon, building habitat, and...

How do we ensure sustainable forests forever? Not just the trees, but the wildlife, water, soil, recreation opportunities, etc. Forests are moving targets, and we can’t possibly expect to control every aspect. So we try to control the ones that are easier to measure. One such control is the trees. We know all there is to know about the trees. How many, what species, their age, their height, and th...

Wildlife is probably the most relatable aspect of nature. We all want to see squirrels, deer, bears, and lynx. But do we know how best to manage a working landscape to ensure those species continue to thrive? That is the question we talked about today. How do we begin to look at forest management from the perspective of the critters? How do we incorporate wildlife values into forest management so...

What is a forest? How do we define it? Is it the trees? The wildlife? The soil or the water? What about a place to find food or a spiritual connection? Forests are all of these things. So when we talk about sustainable forest management shouldn’t we be talking about all of these factors? Today’s conversation was about how to move forest management into the future. It was about how we can ensure th...

What is the story of Canada? Discovery? Conquest? What about Treaty? Most of us think of Treaty as a different set of laws and rights pertaining only to Indigenous people. Turns out, it affects and includes all of us. Treaties are the story of how this country came to be. Treaties stand as a symbol of how sovereign nations can form bonds of mutual agreement to live and prosper together. At least t...