Preface

Although the forests of Alberta are, for the most part, publicly owned, the public has had remarkably little access to information about these forests. Moreover, the information that does get widely disseminated comes from government and industry sources that generally convey the message that "all is well". In reality, the current system of forest management in Alberta is a relic of the 1950s, and is in serious need of repair.

To address the need for a reliable independent source of information on the boreal forest, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society – Edmonton Chapter initiated the Alberta Centre for Boreal Research in 1999, and I became its Executive Director. The Centre is a non-profit Society, registered in Alberta, and maintains a web site at: www.borealcentre.ca. This book represents the culmination of the Centre's first three years of work.

The book describes two alternative futures for Alberta's boreal forest. The first is the future forest under the existing system of management. My aim here is to provide readers with a clear understanding of what is happening in the forests of northern Alberta today, and what this will mean to the forests of tomorrow if no changes are made. The second half of the book describes an alternative future based on the implementation of ecological forest management. Here I provide a synthesis of the relevant scientific literature and describe how this new approach could be applied in Alberta.

From the outset, this book was designed to be accessible to a broad public audience, even though it draws heavily from the scientific and management literature. My job, as I have taken it, has been to pull all the pieces together and present the whole in a manner that is understandable to all. The dozen or so technical terms that I could not avoid using are defined in the glossary.
In addition to providing an overview of boreal issues, the book is also intended to serve as a gateway to further study. Factual information is thoroughly referenced, using material that is, for the most part, available through the Alberta library system or on the Internet. Most of the graphs and tables can be downloaded in Excel format from the Forest Watch Alberta web site (www.forestwatchalberta.ca).

To assure readers that the information being presented is accurate and reliable, references are supplied to the original sources of data. Most chapters of the book were also reviewed by one or two members of the Centre's scientific review board, comprised of academics with relevant experience (See the Centre's web site for more details). The reviewers were asked to identify errors of fact and omission.

Although the book is intended to provide a comprehensive guide to the boreal forest, some narrowing of the scope was required to keep the project manageable. For example, the spatial scope was limited to forests above 55 degrees latitude, even though some boreal forest extends south of this. To simplify the discussion of management options I excluded forests that are not on Crown lands. The whole issue of native rights and land claims, although integral to land-use planning in the North, was not addressed, mainly because I lack the expertise to do so. Finally, some specific issues, such as open pit oil sands mining, agricultural expansion, and global warming could not be given the attention they deserve within the time and resources available to this project.

I believe that an informed and motivated public is vital for the conservation of Alberta’s northern forest. My hope is that by raising awareness of problems, and providing viable alternative approaches to management, this book will help swell the ranks of informed and motivated individuals and support their efforts to advance conservation in Alberta.