General Manager S Message Al Thorne

Newsletter Index – November 2008

General Manager’s Message – Al Thorne

What’s Been Happening?

It has been quite the hectic year for the FRP so far – lots of events, meetings, tours, publications, and even some staff changes! Hence, it has also been a while since our last newsletter, so there is much to catch up on in this issue. My sincere appreciation to all those who have participated in our events and who have submitted some articles for us to use!

Our winter/spring was chock-full of practical, educational events which took place all across Ontario. It started off with a hands-on training session for the Forest Vegetation Simulator model, put on by Murray Woods in February and March, then progressed to two iterations of our semi-annual Great Lakes – St. Lawrence Science Seminar in Mattawa and Sault Ste. Marie, and the Boreal Science Seminar in Kapuskasing. An international suite of speakers and attendees enjoyed the very hands-on, practical training on the SprayAdvisor Decision Support System organized by Dean Thompson of the Canadian Forest Service. Betwixt and between these front- runner events were the annual University of Toronto Masters of Forest Conservation field school, an IQAFF field tour, a tour of the Nipissing and Algonquin forests by OFRI’s new hardwood science specialist, and a very productive field season. This fall, the FRP had the honour of co-hosting the IUFRO 9th annual Forestry Extension and Knowledge Transfer symposium in the Ottawa Valley – what a great way to learn about forests and extension all over the world! The Sustainable Forest Management Network Forest Futures Program also held a session to discuss Alternative Futures for Canada’s Forests and Forest Sector in North Bay. Although it wasn’t an event, perhaps the most exciting FRP item this year is our very own issue of the Forestry Chronicle! Thanks so much to the Canadian Institute of Forestry, Wayne Bell, Lisa Buse, and the rest of the team for working so hard to put this together – it’s a wonderful compendium of the practical FRP science that has been growing for almost ten years now. For full accounts of these events including some articles, presentations, summaries, and pictures, just click on the links in this paragraph. The FRP has undergone its annual staff succession, and I would like to take this opportunity to welcome Michelle Nadeau, a graduate of Sault College’s Fish & Wildlife Technician and Integrated Resource Management programs. Michelle has come aboard as the FRP and CIF Extension and Communications Intern and has been doing a great job since May! At the same time I would like to wish Amanda Clouthier, our past FRP Extension Biologist, all the best in her future endeavors beyond the world of FRP and thank her for her very valuable contributions to our extension program – especially the brand-new website and project library! Come December, Sue Pickering will be taking a much more focused role as the Program Manager and interim Extension Manager for the FRP. That’s right, from November to sometime next spring, I will be taking a leave from the FRP to try my hand at forest management planning for a bit. I’ll look forward to catching up with all of you when I return, but until then, FRP Extension will be in the very capable hands of Sue, Michelle, and the rest of the extension team.

I hope you enjoy reading the full articles on these events and as always, please provide any feedback that you can to help us improve this newsletter for next time.

Cheers,

(link to articles directly from blurb). - FVS Training (Nancy – article, link to website for download, presentations?) http://www.fvsontario.ca/home_index.htm - UofT field school (article by UofT student) - Great Lakes – St. Lawrence Seminars x2 (Peter Hynard – article and link to presentations) - SprayAdvisor Workshop (Lauren Perry/Nancy – article and link to presentations) - Boreal Seminar and Forestry Futures tour (Nancy- article and link to presentations) - IUFRO Conference (article and web link) - SFMN Forest Futures workshop (article – Michelle) - New TreeTips: PRF

Upcoming Events - AngLatin Travel’s Chilean Forestry Tour – a wonderful way to experience forestry in another country! - CONFOR at Geneva Park - Pest Forum (ad and link to: http://cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/subsite/pest-forum)

Points of Interest

- Envirothon article (Michael Pineau - article) - New OFRI website and E-insights list of new publications (Link) - FPInnovations brochures (scan picture and promote)