A 50-Year History of Silviculture on the Hinton Forest

This report examines the development and continuing refinement a pioneering reforestation program on an historic Alberta industrial forest in its first 50 years of operation. This report is primarily developed for the use of forestry practitioners and will provide insight into the science, philosophy and practice of silviculture as it has emerged under an adaptive forest management framework on this historic forest.

The full report can be downloaded here.

This is the story of the development of a reforestation program that put Alberta on the map nationally and internationally.  Des Crossley, who originated the forest management program at Hinton, was a distinguished CFS researcher who became frustrated at his inability to see his research put into practice.  When Alberta’s first large-scale industrial forest was being established at Hinton, he was approached to oversee the forestry program, and seized the opportunity in 1955.  In so doing he set in motion a remarkable program that earned renown across Canada and internationally.

This story is well described in Learning from the Forest (2003), the first book in the Forest History Program series, but space considerations restricted the ability to deal with the early history of man’s relations with and incursion into the landscapes of western Alberta.  This lead to the development of the next book in the series, A Hard Road to Travel (2007).  The authors also recognized there was a larger story inherent in the evolution of reforestation programs in this historic forest, which in turn spurred the development of “A 50-year History of Silviculture on the Hinton Forest” which was finished in 2012.