Huestis partnership hosts huge tree plant event
At the event, students had a unique opportunity to play a direct role in reforestation activities currently being conducted in the forest, learning silviculture techniques and planting tree seedlings under the guidance of professional foresters. Woodlands Mayor Jim Rennie and Whitecourt Deputy Mayor Eris Moncur joined the event to watch and cheer on students as they cycled through a series of activity stations, where they learned about forest ecology, forestry science, and resource management while having fun with GPS treasure hunts, relay races, tree crafts and games. For many, the highlight of the day was the unmanned aerial vehicle (drone) demonstration.
Mayor Rennie and Deputy Mayor Moncur were enthusiastic participants in the day’s activities. “Forests have enormous environmental, economic and social value in our communities,” said Mr. Rennie. “It’s important that our kids have a chance to spend time in the woods, for their own wellbeing as well as to learn about forests and resource management.”
Cindy Schmidt, GIS Technologist with Alberta Environment & Parks, emphasized the teamwork behind the day’s events: “The Huestis Demonstration Forest is the result of a truly unique partnership of government, industry, education and community stakeholders. Here, we’re all working together to create learning opportunities in our forests.”
Laura Pekkola, an Educator with Inside Education, pointed out that the best place to learn about the forest, is in the forest. “It’s so easy for kids to absorb information about nature when they can see, hear, smell, taste and touch it. The kids had a lot of fun today, but they also learned important information about forests and forest stewardship.”
Tim McCready, Millar Western Silviculture Superintendent, said the event provided an opportunity to demonstrate a critical part of the work conducted by Alberta’s forest industry. “Each year, we plant millions and millions of trees, but very few people ever have the chance to come see the results. Today, we planted more than 300 trees, and each one will have special meaning for Whitecourt school kids, who can keep coming back to Huestis to see their forest grow.”
The Huestis Demonstration Forest (HDF) is a forest education site located 12 km northwest of Whitecourt on Hwy 32. Site programs are supported by the HDF Partnership: forest companies Millar Western, West Fraser-Blue Ridge Lumber and Alberta Newsprint Company; Alberta Environment & Parks and Agriculture & Forestry; stakeholders Woodlands County, Whitecourt Trailblazers, University of Alberta, NAIT, Alberta Forest Products Association and Work Wild; and Inside Education, a not-for-profit society that conducts environment and resource education at Huestis and across the province.
Each year at Huestis, this partnership offers a variety of public and student education experiences, including curriculum-linked forest field-trips for Grade 4-12 classes. The June 23 field day, for example, showcased forest renewal practices on a cutblock where high-school students had taken part in timber harvesting demonstrations, last fall.
