A day in the forest

By Susan Hofforth

As Whitecourt is, for the second year in a row, the Forestry Capital of Canada, it makes sense that our children will grow up knowing a lot about the forests of the country. On May 28, all the grade four students from Whitecourt Central School and École St. Joseph spent the day in the Huestis Demonstration Forest learning as much as they could.

“It was a fantastic day,” said assistant principal Tim Bowman. “It came about because of an email sent to Inside Education, an environmental education group. The group took the idea and brought together all the partners.”

There were 30 forestry experts in all. They each set up an area and had interactive demonstrations. The kids learned about wildlife, environmental stewardship, indigenous plant life, fire safety, and outdoor survival. They took a guided walk through the forest looking for wildlife signs, touched the indigenous trees of Alberta, identified the danger areas of a campsite, located a geocache, found edible plants, planned how to fight a forest fire, observed how a trapper prepares a beaver hide for sale, and planted a seedling.

“When they first set out, their first instinct was to run so they missed a lot: the animal hair, scratches on trees, and places where animals lay down,” said Bowman. “Once they learned to slow down and look around, they appreciated it more and had a much richer experience. And, of course, having the experts there with them made it all the better. While students rotated through activities, they bubbled over with questions for the experts on site.”

Both schools are thankful to Inside Education, Alberta Environment, Woodlands County, Alberta Trappers Association, Millar Western, West Fraser, and Alberta Newsprint Company for creating this special learning opportunity for our students.