In the fall of 2012, the Adaptive Forest Management/ History Program of the Foothills Research Institute becomes the Forest History Program of the Institute. This reflects the evolution of a program that began in 1996 as the Adaptive Forest Management and History Program.
The term “Adaptive Forest Management” entered the common lexicon of forestry terminology only in the 1970s, but the principle has been inherent in responsible forest management for much longer, and was reflected in the first set of Operating Ground Rules for the new forest industry operation at Hinton in 1958. Adaptive forest management is the commitment to continually adapt forest practice and policy as knowledge and experience are gained, as well as the conduct of scientific experiments to gather more knowledge and continue to improve.
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 parks and protected areas adjacent. But over time, the AFM/History Program has shifted its emphasis from this agency-specific examination of adaptive management practice to a more holistic and longer-term examination of landscapes and people’s relationship with them in times that long pre-dated the arrival of scientific management in west-central Alberta.
By learning from our past, we can shape our future – The Forest History Program
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