The Foothills Research Institute Mountain Pine Beetle Ecology Program in collaboration with the Provincial MPB Strategic Directions Committee, the Canadian Forest Service, Northern Forestry Centre and Alberta Sustainable Resource Development has put together a compendium of mountain pine beetle research that has taken place from 1994 to 2008. This information was acquired from submissions by various researchers in North America. Presently there are over 350 projects listed.

To view the compendium click here.

Julie Duval, a GIS specialist at Foothills Research Institute, gave a presentation at the 2009 ESRI User Conference in San Diego in June of this year. Julie’s talk focused on the tools that the GIS Program has built for the Grizzly Bear Program. ESRI (Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc.), the world’s leading GIS software provider, develops the GIS software that we use here at Foothills Research Institute.

After her presentation Julie talked with an ESRI Product Engineer for Geoprocessing. He is interested in getting more details of the various GIS tools that have been built for the Grizzly Bear Program. He is working on a project that takes user tools and scripts into in house tests at ESRI, ensuring that the tools and scripts (he calls them workflows) continue to work from release to release of ArcGIS.

This is a great opportunity for Foothills Research Institute as it helps to ensure the tools (workflows) we build will work on future ArcGIS releases. The GIS specialists will not have to spend hours and hours trying to test and debug their tools with each new release. Stay tuned for more information on this opportunity.

Source: Hinton Parklander – By Marilyn Gray

A locally based research facility will have a little help from the federal government this year, with the announcement of funding for three current programs.   Funding amounting to $490,000 for Foothills Research Institute (FRI) research work was announced Sept. 24, and FRI management says the funding will help partner projects with Jasper National Park.   Specifically, the money will be spread over three years of funding and will go toward the FRI’s Grizzly Bear Program, the Natural Disturbance Program and the Aboriginal Involvement Program.

“Certainly the funding is really great for the Foothills Research Institute,” said Tom Archibald, general manager of the FRI. “It solidifies our continuing partnerships with Jasper National Park.  This just ensures that this partnership is carried on and having a national park as a partner is a great thing,” said Archibald. (more…)

Come join us in Edmonton, AB from December 9 – 10, 2009 for an Information Session to provide an update on our many initiatives. For thirteen years the Natural Disturbance Program at the Foothills Research Institute has been generating ground-breaking research, creating unique communications and decision-support tools, and exploring the many ways in which natural patterns may be used to better manage our landscapes. 

The Foothills Research Institute Natural Disturbance Information Session will be offered at a cost-recovery basis for $110.00 at the Coast Edmonton Plaza. Your fee will include lunch, snacks and refreshments for both days. For out of town guests, a block of rooms at a special room rate have been secured.  The deadline for registration and payment is the end of the day December 3, 2009.

You can now register and pay online from our website.  Just click on the link below to pull up a registration form.  Once completed follow the links for secure online payment.  For help with registration please contact Joan Simonton with FRI Communications and Extension at 780.865.8311. For more information about the session please contact Dr. David Andison.

To become a sponsor of this event Click Here

Click the image below to view, download, and share the invitation to the information session.

Come join us in Edmonton, AB from December 9 – 11, 2009 for an Information Session to provide an update on our many initiatives. For thirteen years the Natural Disturbance Porgram at the Foothills Research Institute has been generating ground-breaking research, creating unique communications and decision-support tools, and exploring the many ways in which natural patterns may be used to better manage our landscapes. 

The Foothills Research Institute Natural disturbance Information Session will be offered on a cost-recovery basis for $110.00 at the coast Edmonton Plaza.  In the interest of ensuring this session is a success please let us know  by the end of the day on  Friday November 6, 2009 of your intent to attend this information session.  This information is valuable in determining whether to hold this now or defer to a later date in 2010. 

You can now register and pay online from our website.  Just click on the link below to pull up a registration form.  Once completed follow the links for secure online payment.  To indicate your plans to attend or for help with registration please contact Joan Simonton with FRI Communications and Extension at 780.865.8311. For more information about the session please contact Dr. David Andison.

Alberta Sustainable Resource Development is responsible for public land that occupies about 60% of Alberta. Dave Ealey, issues manager with the department’s communications branch, says science provides the knowledge and understanding required to make good decisions about managing dynamic and intricate ecosystems for long-term sustainability.

The Challenge
Alberta’s forested landscape is largely publicly-owned, and must be managed for the benefit of all Albertans. This means ways have to be found to balance multiple uses for economic and recreational purposes with long-term sustainability of ecological goods and services such as water and wildlife habitat.

“The public expects us to base our management policies on good science,” says
Ealey, “We need to understand what’s really happening, for instance, with the various levels and accumulations of disturbance. Do they mimic the natural disturbance patterns that gave us the forests we enjoy today? If something goes beyond a natural disturbance, such as a stream crossing, what do we … [read more]

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