INSIDE EDUCATION SOCIETY OF ALBERTA

Alberta School Children See Forest Management In Action

Student Forestry Field Trips

Why this project matters

The Inside Education Society of Alberta will deliver forestry education field trips to more than 3,500 Alberta students, teachers and parents at five field sites across Alberta. These engaging, interactive day trips will connect young people to the natural world and will connect them in a meaningful way to sustainable forest management. This program will provide kids in grades 4-12 with real-world insight into sustainable forest management in Alberta. The program will affect urban and rural students and students from Indigenous communities. For many students, this will be their first opportunity to visit a working forest.

The Student Forestry Field Trips project, proposed by Inside Education, is a valuable way to get kids in the forest, learning about sustainable forest management first hand. They will learn about a variety of sustainable forest management themes — including various forestry cutblocks and regeneration sites, and wetland and wildlife habitat conservation.

Why is SFI involved?

One of SFI’s priorities is to connect youth to forests through education. We look for ways to instill a lifelong appreciation for the value forests represent for biodiversity, the wider environment, sustainable communities, responsibly sourced forest products and for our shared quality of life. The educational focus of this project also supports SFI’s focus on encouraging the next generation of future forest leaders.

SFI Program Participants will provide demonstrations of forest management activities, in addition to offering mill tours for the students and teachers. SFI will work with Inside Education and SFI Program Participants Millar Western and West Fraser to feature aspects of the SFI Program throughout the tours, from best management practices at the Des Crossley Demonstration Forest and active harvesting and reforestation activities on the Huestis Demonstration Forest. SFI will also provide teachers with Project Learning Tree curriculum.

How the project builds SFI community engagement

Inside Education works closely with partner organizations to develop and deliver field trips. They have formalized partnerships with forestry companies local to the communities in which they operate, including SFI Program Participants Millar Western Forest Products and West Fraser, dba Sundre Forest Products. The project also involves collaboration with the Government of Alberta for program site maintenance, as each of the sites exists on Alberta Government crown land. There are further partnership opportunities in forestry careers education with the Alberta Forest Products Association and its Work Wild program. Inside Education also collaborates with CAREERS the Next Generation as part of the Alberta Forestry Futures Partnership.

Partners

This partnership includes educators, forestry professionals, SFI Program Participants and government officials.

• Project lead: Inside Education Society of Alberta
• Sustainable Forestry Initiative
• Millar Western Forest Products (SFI Program Participant)
• West Fraser, dba Sundre Forest Products (SFI Program Participant)
• Alberta Forest Products Association
• Alberta Environment and Parks

Related information

• SFI helps students and teachers get firsthand experience in the boreal forest through the Forestry Connects Program.
• Project Learning Tree, an SFI program, is an award-winning environmental education program designed for teachers and other educators, parents, and community leaders working with youth from preschool through grade 12.
• SFI connects youth to forests through education (project highlights).

About the Inside Education Society of Alberta

This Alberta charity brings together people and organizations with a wide variety of views on environmental issues to work together with education as the starting point. The Inside Education Society of Alberta helps teachers and students better understand the science, technology and issues related to our environment and natural resources. Each year staff and volunteers visit over 20,000 students, work directly with more than 1,500 teachers and travel thousands of kilometres to communities across Alberta working towards a vision of engaged stewards of the environment and natural resources.