YourForest

We all want healthy forest ecosystems, clean water, and vibrant communities. We can achieve these goals through sustainable forest management (SFM). However, we need to continue to push the boundaries of what SFM is in order to ensure we don’t miss something. This means constant research, consultation and not being afraid to change how we do things in order to protect all values for all people, fo...

Plastics in the ocean, plastics in the soil, non-renewable petrochemical products are found littered across the globe. These products are toxic to the environment and add to the already problematic human carbon footprint. What if we can make plastics from a sustainable and renewable resource? What if it could be cost-effective? What if those products could be carbon neutral, or even carbon negativ...

We have all seen the news footage of wildfires raging through our wild places, threatening homes and lives. Many of us have even been impacted by the threat of these fires or lost our homes to them. Others will have experienced the mid-afternoon blanket of smoke that blots out the sun and turns on the streetlamps. As a society, we are becoming more and more aware of wildfire as a threat. But how d...

Ever wonder what your backyard looked like 10,000 years ago? 100,000 years ago? 1,000,000 years ago? I did, so I went looking for someone with some answers. The boreal forest covers 33% of the world’s forested area making it the biggest forest in the world. Canada contains 28% of the world’s boreal forest and I wanted to learn how it came to be the way we see it today. How fast did things change?...

We speak to a lot of researchers and environmental professionals on this podcast. I thought maybe it was time to get a different perspective. Someone who is familiar with the goings-on but does not have a direct stake in the game, perhaps allowing for a more objective view. Tony is a journalist and has been writing about forestry, renewable energy, and sustainability for 30 years. He has some inte...

We all understand that climate change is bad and that we should do something to stop it, but why then do we all struggle to put our money where our mouth is. People want to invest in companies that are taking steps to reduce their carbon footprint, but they fear being made to look like a fool. Carbon markets used to be seen as a scam, a way for people to profit from climate change. But with new te...

Sustainability is a buzz word in our society today. Everyone hears the word, but do we really understand the idea? Sustainability encompasses all aspects of human life, it helps us to define our success on this planet from economic prosperity, social justice, healthcare, happiness, and of course environmental integrity. Sustainability is the way forward. In his book, Sustainability-A history, Jere...

Getting outdoors during this pandemic has been stressful. Which it is not supposed to be. Where are the lines we don’t want to cross? The lines between keeping yourself and the public safe and enjoying your outdoor activities. Should you see friends outside? What about traveling to your favorite lake or hiking trail? The Alberta Conservation Association weighs in on how we can all be safe and stil...

So a global pandemic has ruined your hiking plans. Clearly, there are more important things to worry about right now, but getting out in nature is how many of us relax and reset. How can we enjoy the outdoors and help ourselves manage the stress of our situation without putting public health at risk? How can we connect to nature when we are stuck inside? On the other hand, what about our jobs? Wha...

The majority of northern Alberta is covered in thick forest, but it may have looked very different only 100 years ago. What is now dense mixedwood forest once contained a vast network of grasslands, supporting the iconic bison and a multitude of First Nations people. This landscape has been changed, not because people took it over, but because they were kicked out. First Nations people used to bur...

Imagine traveling across the grasslands of North America and needing to take a three-day rest stop between destinations because there is a heard of 100,000 Bison slowly grazing their way across the landscape. That would have been the norm less than 200 years ago. Before the commercial hunt of the late 1800s, tens of millions of these bovine behemoths covered the land. They were the most prominent...

How can we find proof of what happened in the past? Written accounts by the people of the day are helpful, but how can we prove what they are saying is factual and not just one person’s biased assessment? Luckily, when it comes to our natural world we have the most reliable eye witness…trees. Tree rings hold within them the story of the past, they can tell us all kinds of things about climatic con...

Where does your drinking water come from? What protects your home from floods? Where is 60 percent of all the carbon stored in Canadian soils? What provides habitat for countless species of ducks, songbirds, insects, and rodents? … Wetlands. The National Boreal Program of Ducks Unlimited Canada watches over the roughly 1 million square Kilometers of wetlands in Canada’s Boreal Forest. If you want...

An ice age relic living among us, Caribou are perhaps a remnant of an age long gone. Woodland Caribou are a beautiful, important, and yet many claim, a very poorly adapted species. In the cold northern wetlands of the Boreal forest, they have survived by living out of reach of predators. Woodland Caribou occupy a delicate niche that is highly susceptible to change. As such, they are at increased r...

Many people spend much of their time in the outdoors hoping to achieve something. Whether it’s hiking to the peak of a mountain, catching the biggest fish, harvesting an animal, or running the furthest distance, we often forget to enjoy the little things. Bruce is a lifelong outdoor writer, and he prides himself on being able to capture the emotion of a moment, allowing his readers to feel that mo...

Living harmoniously with wildlife is not something western society has been able to do very well in the past. That being said, in the last few decades we have witnessed a societal push for more sustainable management of our wildlife species and wild places. With these values in mind we find ourselves asking what can we do better? How can we alter our own behaviour in a way that makes living with b...

Climate change has already begun to cause problems for forest management in Canada. These challenges can be difficult to recognize, and even more daunting to solve. However, with some change in perspective, we can begin to find simple solutions to large problems. Sheri and Mark have dedicated their professional lives to finding ways to help industry, and other stakeholders, tackle this seemingly o...

Indigenous people have lived in the Boreal forest since time immemorial, depending on the land for the health of their culture and community. Since colonization, it has become increasingly more difficult for them to acquire what they need as more and more people utilize the resources for their own purposes. As environmental professionals we have a professional and moral obligation to, first and fo...

How can we sequester more carbon, reduce the use of herbicide, produce more wood fibre, all while approaching a more "natural” method of forest regeneration? Phil thinks there may be a way. We discuss how the Boreal forest regenerates naturally, how we have historically regenerated after forest harvest and why there is such a gap between these two things. The first 27 minutes is just an overview o...

Grizzly bears are the second-largest land predator on the planet, next to the polar bear. They hold such mystique and wonder in our society and have come to represent "true wilderness" in the eyes of many. They are a truly incredible animal that needs to be protected for future generations to enjoy. Scott and I discuss the state of grizzly bears in Alberta, population levels, habitat, etc. We even...

Forests hold many values for human kind. From housing species at risk and cleaning our water supply to economic prosperity and cultural empowerment. Objectivity, in deciding which of these values needs attention, is needed to make sure we don’t get over-focused on one specific issue while neglecting the others. The Forest Resource Improvement Association of Alberta (FRIAA) is an organization dedic...

‘Good Fire’ is a podcast series about cultural burning around the world. I was fortunate enough to get to be a part of the conversations, even though my contribution was often one of ignorant questions. It is a great series that delves into the conversations around cultural burning and its impacts on local communities and environment. Today’s episode is the second of the ‘Good Fire’ series, we spo...

What makes biodiversity so important? Why is it so often discussed in environmental writing? How do we measure what a healthy amount of biodiversity looks like? Can you have too much, to little? What about human impact and its effect on biodiversity? Tara Narwani is the science communicator at The Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute (ABMI), and she came on to discuss these questions.

In 1919, soldiers were returning home from World War 1, the average family was getting around using horses, and the new population of Canada was seeking to settle into farm country and prosper. Clearing land was an essential part to homesteading back then, as such, many fires were lit to burn brush to build “productive” agriculture land. With no resources available to fight forest fires, once a fi...

Grind and pound…I bet you didn’t expect this episode to be about tree planting, did you? But apparently that’s exactly what’s needed to be a good tree planter, you have to ‘grind’ your way through the bad weather and rough terrain, and ‘pound’ your way through tree after tree until the workday is done. Wilson spent 10 years in this world grinding and pounding trees till the cows come home. He has...