NCC developed a partnership with Foothills Research Institute in 2009 in order to
gain current, accurate information on the grizzly bear, as a proxy for wide-ranging
carnivores.

If you are interested in the research being conducted in the role of large woody debris in riparian zones then this is the tour for you. 

To view, share or download the agenda outlining the topics to be covered in this tour click here.

There is no cost for attending this event and lunch is provided for you on the tour day.  If you are interested in registering please contact Fran Hanington at 780-865-8330 or fhanington@foothillsri.ca. 

Deadline for registering is Wednesday, September 15.

Last week’s signing of a research agreement between Hinton’s local Foothills Research Institute and research groups in Scandinavia is not only something the province can be proud of but also presents some bragging rights to our town.[...]

Solutions to the land management challenges he faces on the forested portion of the Duchy of Cornwall in southwest Great Britain are applicable to landscape-level and larger sites around the world, says Geriant Richards, keynote speaker to the 102nd annual Canadian Institute of Forestry annual general meeting and conference which opens September 27 in Jasper, Alberta.

“The biggest challenge in this day and age is productivity in a sustainable fashion,” says Richards, Woodlands Estate Manager for the Duchy of Cornwall, owned by the Prince of Wales.

The Duchy is home to a range of land types and uses, including croplands, orchards and grazing lands for dairy cattle. About 2000 hectares is woodlands stocked with Douglas fir, Sitka spruce and a variety of hardwoods, used to produce about 15,000 tonnes of commercial timber and fuel wood each year.

Much of the treed lands are defined as ancient semi-natural woodlands, meaning they’ve been intact since at least 1600 and feature a particularly rich abundance of biodiversity.

“We have one woodland in Cornwall that is known as a designated site of special scientific interest for a particular butterfly that’s found there that lives off corpus,” Richards notes.

The importance of the woodlands is increased by the relatively small proportion of Great Britain that is forested. Richards estimates about 85 per cent of the country was once covered by trees, a percentage that declined to five per cent in the early 1900s.

“It’s only in the last 100 years we’ve got ourselves back up to 12 per cent woodland cover, so the woodland habitat is very precious and appreciated, especially that ancient woodland which has this wealth of biodiversity,” he says.

In managing its woodlands for productivity, the Duchy must balance a series of competing demands on the landscape, especially calls for conservation versus using the land to produce a commercial forest crop. Helping to frame the discussion are growing public demand for wood as fuel, balanced by the Duchy’s desire to retain more forest cover to aid carbon sequestration.

Land-use management occurs, under the eyes of a public that places great emphasis on the non-timber values of the Duchy’s woodlands and under the public consultation requirements of the sustainable forest management certification it earned in 1996.

The challenge facing Richards and the Duchy is to find a correct balance that yields multiple values from its woodlands.

“That’s quite exciting for me as a forester,” he says. “We can produce from our woodlands and still

Solutions to the land management challenges he faces on the forested portion of the Duchy of Cornwall in southwest Great Britain are applicable to landscape-level and larger sites around the world, says Geriant Richards, keynote speaker to the 102nd annual Canadian Institute of Forestry annual general meeting and conference which opens September 27 in Jasper, Alberta.

“The biggest challenge in this day and age is productivity in a sustainable fashion,” says Richards, Woodlands Estate Manager for the Duchy of Cornwall, owned by the Prince of Wales.

The Duchy is home to a range of land types and uses, including croplands, orchards and grazing lands for dairy cattle. About 2000 hectares is woodlands stocked with Douglas fir, Sitka spruce and a variety of hardwoods, used to produce about 15,000 tonnes of commercial timber and fuel wood each year.

Much of the treed lands are defined as ancient semi-natural woodlands, meaning they’ve been intact since at least 1600 and feature a particularly rich abundance of biodiversity.

“We have one woodland in Cornwall that is known as a designated site of special scientific interest for a particular butterfly that’s found there that lives off corpus,” Richards notes.

The importance of the woodlands is increased by the relatively small proportion of Great Britain that is forested. Richards estimates about 85 per cent of the country was once covered by trees, a percentage that declined to five per cent in the early 1900s.

“It’s only in the last 100 years we’ve got ourselves back up to 12 per cent woodland cover, so the woodland habitat is very precious and appreciated, especially that ancient woodland which has this wealth of biodiversity,” he says.

In managing its woodlands for productivity, the Duchy must balance a series of competing demands on the landscape, especially calls for conservation versus using the land to produce a commercial forest crop. Helping to frame the discussion are growing public demand for wood as fuel, balanced by the Duchy’s desire to retain more forest cover to aid carbon sequestration.

Land-use management occurs, under the eyes of a public that places great emphasis on the non-timber values of the Duchy’s woodlands and under the public consultation requirements of the sustainable forest management certification it earned in 1996.

The challenge facing Richards and the Duchy is to find a correct balance that yields multiple values from its woodlands.

“That’s quite exciting for me as a forester,” he says. “We can produce from our woodlands and still offer all these non-timber benefits. I believe the public can enjoy our woods and we can manage for a tremendous biodiversity and they look great on the landscape but those woods are producing (a variet

Gordon Stenhouse and Mats Sundin on a recent scientific exchange in Sweden

Hinton, Alberta… The Foothills Research Institute’s Grizzly Bear Program, the Canadian Cooperative Wildlife Health Centre and the Scandinavian Brown Bear Research Project have formed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) agreeing to initiate collaborative research efforts on brown (grizzly) bears in Alberta and Scandinavia, and share expertise, techniques and innovations developed to enhance management and conservation objectives. [read complete pressNote by clicking here]