Forest History Program

The Columbia Trail

Pete Murphy and Tom Peterson through their work on the Whirlpool River Project, have been re-discovering the historic overland route of the fur trade up the Whirlpool River—the Columbia Trail.  In the course of doing so, they have also been re-tracing the route through the rest of Jasper National Park. Karen Byers of the Jasper Yellowhead Museum helped with this project.

The Last Patrol

Harry Edgecombe was a long service Alberta Forest Service ranger who finished his career as an instructor at the Forest Technology School in Hinton.  After retirement, he spent the summer of 1982 on ranger patrol in the Willmore Wilderness Park, traversing many of the trails developed by or travelled on by Jack Glen so many years earlier. Mr. Edgecombe’s report of that summer and his photographs provide an interesting contrast to the times of Jack Glen, reported in the recent book “Mountain Trails” from the Adaptive Forest Management/ History Program.

A Logging History of the Whirlpool Valley, Jasper National Park

By 1911 the railroad had arrived in Jasper, and railway ties became a critical need. At the time, logging was allowed in the park. The Whirlpool Valley was chosen and logged throughout the 1920s. Dr. Peter Murphy’s study focuses on the railway tie logging of the 1920s but includes the river’s links to the history of Aboriginal people in the area, the development of the fur trade, and the early development of Jasper National Park.

Northern Rockies Highway Guide and Ecotour

The Forest History Program has produced the a book, eBook and a mobile application for the iPad and iPhone, complementing the print publication. For full information, visit https://ecotour.friresearch.ca/.  

A 50-Year History of Silviculture on the Hinton Forest

Project recording the history of adaptive forest management in the Hinton area since the 1950s.

Excerpt from Mountain Trails

Northern Rockies Ecotour App Now Available

2013 fRI Research Forum Recap

Forest History Program is born

The Ecotour app - The Hinton Voice

Amelia Spanach Interview: Spanach Lumber Company

Judd Groat Interview: Guide, Outfitter, Packer

fRI Research 2015–2016 Annual Report

Kenneth Hall Interview

Geographic Scope of fRI Research