The Foothills Model Forest:
The following quote give some idea about the type of research undertaken by The Foothills Model Forest. "The Foothills Model Forest used tree species com-position and time since major disturbance to more broadly define old forest and a stochastic model to project levels of old forest across a landscape. Historically, the simulated “natural” forest landscape was, at any one time, mostly covered by young forest due to active fires. Areas of mature and old forest were, and likely always have been, in the minority. There were even rare times historically when virtually no old forest existed over vast landscapes, and what little did persist occurred in small, isolated patches. The single greatest human influence on old growth in the Alberta Foothills appears to have been successful fire control, which has produced forests today that are on average older than would be expected under natural conditions. Managers of both protected areas and working forests a reimplementing or developing strategies to restore forests to more natural conditions, and at the same time managing old forest to ensure that it remains a part of current and future forest landscapes. We describe an old-forest analysis and strategy recently incorporated into a new Forest Management Plan for the Weldwood of Canada Limited Forest Management Area. Traditional attitudes toward old forest and its role in highly dynamic landscapes are being revisited on the path to a consistent and broadly supported old-forest strategy."
As part of their work the Foothills Model Forest has established a number of study protocols. The 1995 ES class was taught a a forest structure analysis protocol. This protocol has been used by ES classes since that time. During 1996 and 1997, technicians who used this protocol went in the field with ES students and watched the students conduct the protocol. They approved the process we followed and accepted the data we collected as valid and accurate. This validated both the ES use of the protocol and the data collected.
The following quote give some idea about the type of research undertaken by The Foothills Model Forest. "The Foothills Model Forest used tree species com-position and time since major disturbance to more broadly define old forest and a stochastic model to project levels of old forest across a landscape. Historically, the simulated “natural” forest landscape was, at any one time, mostly covered by young forest due to active fires. Areas of mature and old forest were, and likely always have been, in the minority. There were even rare times historically when virtually no old forest existed over vast landscapes, and what little did persist occurred in small, isolated patches. The single greatest human influence on old growth in the Alberta Foothills appears to have been successful fire control, which has produced forests today that are on average older than would be expected under natural conditions. Managers of both protected areas and working forests a reimplementing or developing strategies to restore forests to more natural conditions, and at the same time managing old forest to ensure that it remains a part of current and future forest landscapes. We describe an old-forest analysis and strategy recently incorporated into a new Forest Management Plan for the Weldwood of Canada Limited Forest Management Area. Traditional attitudes toward old forest and its role in highly dynamic landscapes are being revisited on the path to a consistent and broadly supported old-forest strategy."
As part of their work the Foothills Model Forest has established a number of study protocols. The 1995 ES class was taught a a forest structure analysis protocol. This protocol has been used by ES classes since that time. During 1996 and 1997, technicians who used this protocol went in the field with ES students and watched the students conduct the protocol. They approved the process we followed and accepted the data we collected as valid and accurate. This validated both the ES use of the protocol and the data collected.