Prince Albert Model Forest
What is the value of the forest and what makes it valuable? The answer can be different for each user. So how can diverse uses be accommodated and still maintain a healthy, sustainable forest? That is the goal of the Prince Albert Model Forest (PAMF), a non-profit partnership of diverse forest users committed to the sustainability of the forest through research, education and the equitable sharing of forest resources.
First Nations, federal and provincial resource management agencies and industry formed the Prince Albert Model Forest Partnership in 1992. Its motto, Ma Maw Wechehetowin, is a Cree expression for Working Together/Helping Each Other. The 367,000 ha PAMF land area is located in the Mixedwood Section of the Southern Boreal Forest, 70 km north of Prince Albert.
The Partnership has developed and implemented an Integrated Resource Management Plan to replace the approach of independent, single-purpose objective setting by agencies and groups. The partners strive to reconcile competing uses and visions of the forest and use the land area as a living laboratory to explore creative, integrated uses of the forest.
The management goal is to maintain or restore healthy forest ecosystems with their inherent natural processes, which maintain diversity and provide resilience to impacts while providing resources for human use. The overall aims are to ensure sustainable ecological, social and economic benefits and raise awareness of and commitment to the concepts of sustainability and integrated resource management among forest users, researchers, and managers at the local, regional, national, and international levels.
The goals and aims require social innovation in working together. A significant portion of the PAMF area is active timberland. Protected areas and recreational use occur in Prince Albert National Park and Candle Lake Provincial Park. Many commercial, subsistence, and educational activities occur throughout the area.
The partners encompass a full spectrum of philosophies, cultural backgrounds, social values, management intents and economic goals. The current partners are: Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Institute of Forestry, (Saskatchewan Section), Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, Lac La Ronge Indian Band, Montreal Lake Cree Nation, Prince Albert Grand Council, Prince Albert National Park, Saskatchewan Environment, Saskatchewan Research Council, the Resort Village of Candle Lake, Weyerhaeuser Ltd. (Saskatchewan Division) and the Saskatchewan Forest Centre.
The PAMF partnership practices stewardship of the land using everything from high tech satellite imaging to Traditional Ecological Knowledge. Research is shared with the general public, educational institutions, governments and other model forests through guided tours, cultural interpretation and published reports
The model forest provides the opportunity to establish and compare natural and managed ecosystem processes, and to experiment with new ideas, methods and technology for timber harvesting and other forest uses. Success requires the transfer of technology from the model forest to other forest managers as well as the adoption of technology from other areas.
Some of PAMF's current projects include GPS tracking of woodland caribou, innovative aquatic research using sound waves, bringing traditional forest activities taught by community leaders into the Northern school curricula and monitoring forest health by field testing super-sensitive microphones that record bird songs. Past studies include comparison of conventional and mechanical harvesting systems and impacts of forest harvesting on soil compaction and disturbance.
The PAMF is a part of a network of 11 model forests across Canada and over 30 on five continents around the world. PAMF has the greatest degree of First Nation's involvement of any in Canada. It is supported by direct funding from the Canadian Forest Service and by partner contributions.
For more information visit http://www.pamodelforest.sk.ca/