The Forest History Program began in 1996 when Pete Murphy, Bob Stevenson and Bob Udell began a project to record the natural and management history of its Hinton Forest.
The earliest publications of the Adaptive Forest Management and History program looked at how the principle of adaptive forest management had been, and was being, incorporated into forest policy and practice, not only at the industrial forest operation at Hinton but also in the adjacent parks and protected areas.
The program has produced a series of reports, and four books encompassing industrial forest management as well as a more holistic and longer-term examination of the history of the landscapes themselves and people’s relationship to it. This relationship pre-dates the arrival of scientific management in west-central Alberta. In 2012 the program was re-named The Forest History Program to better reflect the ongoing focus of its work.
The program also sponsored a 1999 repeat photography project of M.P. Bridgland’s 1915 photographic survey of Jasper National Park, which has been widely used by historians and geographer, and provided information in support of Ian MacLaren’s new book “Culturing Wilderness”.
By learning from our past, we can shape our future. For more information and to find all the related projects, news and resources, visit the Forest History Program main page.
