TRANSFOR Canadian Field Course

12.08. – 31.08.2007

-Course Report-

Picture 1: Jeoffre Lakes Provincial Parc

Kirsten Weingarth

Germany Matrikelnr.:1706267

KirstenWeingarth

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British Columbia 12th of August

University of British Columbia

This years TRANSFOR course also started in Vancouver, British Columbia. I already was

very excited to meet all the other group members and to start this “adventure”. With the help

of an organized barbecue at the UBC campus, the Vancouver group leaders Bruce Larson,

Craig Farnden and Mariano Amoroso, made it very easy for us to catch up with the different

nations.

13th of August

Introduction

The first morning the whole group, consisting of five Swedish students, three Finish students,

five German students and two Canadian students, met in the forest faculty of the UBC. We

were welcomed very warmly again and an overview of our course schedule was offered. Also

an introduction of Canada`s biotic and abiotic factors as well as general information was

given.

Malcom Knapp Old Growth Reserve

As an European, were forestry already is really old, and forests mosly manmade, I was very

curious to get the experience of an old growth forest. So we looked forward to Malcom Knapp

Old Growth Reserve. After a summary about the different forest zones at UBC we took the

vans to get out of town. 5.500 ha is the range of Malcom Knapp Reserve. It belongs to coastal

rain forest, from 0 – 1000m of altitude and a precipitation interval between 2500 – 3500

mm/year (increasing with altitude). Hemlock, Douglas fir and Western Cedar are the most

common tree species.

The reserve has specific obligations, especially for educational needs and strict rules. The

wood production and the harvesting is more important for research and education than for

economical aspects.

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A huge pleasure for everyone of us was to see these enormous, old trees, mostly Hemlock.

While speaking about the high grading in the last century and the impacts of the landscape,

we enjoyed to feel, examine and even smell these witnesses of the past.

Picture 2: Sylvia next to a giant tree at Malcom Knapp Old Growth Reserve

On our way back we got a first but also long impression of the traffic during the rush hour in

Vancouver. But instead of getting bored in the vans, we used this extra time for, in the truest

sense of the word, “international” discussions. Looking back at this trip, these conversations

during traffic and driving in the cars, were very important for the success of the journey. To

have so many different mentalities and cultures all together was very exciting and we all

broaded our knowledge about the participating countries.

14th of August

Joffre Lakes Provincial Park

This morning we started at UBC to get as soon as possible from down at the coast, up into the

mountains. We drove on the famous highway 99. The view we got during this journey was

really impressive. The Scandinavian fjord like hills around the skyline of Vancouver, the

Pacific Ocean and the upcoming mountains at the horizon.

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Our first stop this day we had in Squamish, close to the colossal Stawamus Chief, the world's

second largest granite monolith. Of course we tried to get a climpse of brave climbers up in

the cliffs.

At the Squamish Adventure Center we got an overview of historical climbing in this area and

got to know that this building will be in special focus during the Olympic Winter Games 2010

as the Media Center.

On the way to Joffre Lakes provincial park, we pasted Whistler and the Blackcomb Glacier.

Whistler is known for its unbelievable long skiing pists. So, on some pists you only have to

go up by chairlift once a day and then enjoy the several kilometre long skiing adventure.

At Joffre Lakes provincial park we hiked up to the glacier. On the way to the glacier we saw

how the forest and the vegetation changed. Large and tall Ceder trees edged the first part of

the climb.This picture changed on the way up into smaller and more denser Douglas fir.

It really was a pitty that we have been in a rush up, as well as going down the mountain. But

the Canadians of course wanted to show us as much as possible within “their days” being in

their provinces.

As we came closer to the top we passed three pure turquoise lakes. The water, originally from

the glacier, had a wonderful taste and freshness. Enjoying the view from the top we

remembered the headline of Route 99 “from ocean to sky”.

On the way to Lilloet we saw the first “signs” of logging. For a German forestry student the

way of Canadian logging is out of imagination. Clearcuts are restricted in Germany because

of the impacts of the biodiversity and the climate. In Canada the preconditions and techniques

are completely different. There is no infrastructure for machinery, an enormous deposit of

wood mass and mostly lower qualities. There were areas which were almost completely clear-

cut. To be honest, I really had problems to take this way of logging as the normal and given

technique in Canada.

We spend the night in a motel in Lilloet, a small village in a prairie like surrounding.

15th of August

Alex Fraser Research Forest

On our way to Alex Fraser Research Forest we realized signs for the drivers next to the street.

These signs wanted to make people aware of wildfires. As we learned already before and

discussed even more later on, fire has been and still is a big tool. The First Nations used it for

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urbanisation, gold-digger for their better view on the prefered bedrock and farmers before

establishing their agricultural land. Nowerdays fire is used against growing scrubs to keep

openlands open and to manipulate the understory. But fires are not only a wanted blessing.

The enormous energy of lightenings from thunderstorms in spring stays in the ground and

starts fires in hot summer. Also human deviance and natural processes can be the beginning of

dangerous wildfires. In this case, witnesses of these uncontrolled fires should immediately

call the responsible institution, that proffesionel fire fighters can look after the problem.

Picture 3: Wildfire attention sign, all along the way In Alex Fraser Research Forest we were welcomed by the manager Ken Gay. He was the

leader on the tour through the reserve, talking about the huge Pine Beetle problem, logging

techniques and silviculture.

From the beginning he underlined the immense impact of the Mountain Pine Beetle on the

forest areas in British Columbia and already starting in parts of the province Alberta.

The Mountain Pine Beetle, which is the number one problem since its start in 1993, preferes

lodgepole pine as habitat for reproduction. So the numbers of the beetles nearly exploded in

this area where the concentration of the prefered tree species is very high.

But also the lack of other factors which controlled the population size caused the affection. In

former times very cold winters have reduced populations. Nowadays, in times of global

climate change, the winters, which would have to be -30°C over a several weeks period, have

not been cold enough to kill the beetles. Also drought in the summertime tends to reduce the

numbers of the beetles but the climate change has also made the summers a bit colder and

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damper. Mountain Pine Beetle does not attack trees under the BHD of 10 cm, but forest fires

evenaged the stands, so the existence of mostly older aged stands, over BHD 30 cm, created

lots of possible habitats for beetles.

Ken also explained us that British Columbia faces a timbercrises because the Mountain Pine

Beetle destroyed the harvest of the next 50 years. The already low qualities so even became

worse. There will only be the opportunity of selling the wood on a firewood quality level.

As prophylaxis they try to clear-cut the areas around the already affected stands, to avoid

more damage. The planting to establish new stands after the clear-cuts are planned to be better

adapted to the sites: Tree species more in accordance with local conditions and planted more

mixed. Up to four tree species are planned in one stand, here douglas fir and cedar

additionally.

We also learned that 70 % of the wood harvesting happends between October and April when

there is a thick snow cover. The winter harvest causes less erosion and a fewer compression of

the underground because as frozen water expands, the soil compaction can be kept in borders.

But working in summer is also possible if dry weather is given and branches are used to avoid

soil erosion. Different as in Germany, the loggers do not work in teams and without a security

signal system. Again the Europeans had to get used to another way a looking at things

because of the surrounding preconditions.

Picture 4: Harvester while summer logging in Alex Fraser Research Forest

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16th of August

Knife Creek - Mule Deer winter range

This day at Knife Creek again Ken gave us information about the Mule Deer, with who I had

never been in touch with before. This 3000 hectare, still to Alex Fraser Research Forest

belonging, area is located in the dry interior Douglas-fir zone. Douglas-fir forms a large

portion of the local timber supply and is also important for Mule Deer winter range. Research

conducted by the Ministry of Forests in Knife Creek led to the development of an unique set

of guidelines to assist foresters with “Timber- and Mule Deer Management”.

The Mule Deer, smaller than our European Red Deer, occurres from south of Mexico until

central B.C. It benefits in terms of protection from the snow cover in winter, but that also

means the need of more energy.. Just as an example: with 50 cm of snow cover, the deer

needs 500 % more energy to survive, which of course is enormous.

From a wildlifebiology point of view, the cultivation of the from Mule Deer frequented stands

should be suspended. With the help of research, the people in charge established a

compromise, which is suitable for both sides. So the stands are designed in several layers and

rich of structured composition. The harvest takes place more or less groupwise, not in clear-

cut manner, to maintain the security of closed forests and the microclimate.

Drive to Alberta

Later that day we drove on towards Alberta, the second province of four we were allowed to

experience during this course. We stopped at Mount Robson which is the highest summit of

the Canadian Rockies. After dinner nearby we said farewell to our guides from UBC and meet

our new hosts Alex Drummond and Simon Landhäusser from the University of Alberta.

Before departing BC we visited a small creek where we had an opportunity to watch

spawning salmon.

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Picture 5: Mount Robson, near Alberta border

Alberta 17th of August

Jaspar National Parc

After spending the night at the Hinton Training Centre in Alberta we were introduced to Dave

Smith, National Parc Ranger and fire specialist in Jasper National Parc. He was our guide for

the day and gave us a lot of useful information about the Parc itself, forest fire history and

prescribed burning in that area.

Jaspar National Parc is about 100 years old and has defined duties and responsibilities

towards the society:

1. ecological integrity

2. cultural integrity

3. fun & education

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Picture 6: Highway through Jaspar National Parc

The area was a very important place for trading and hunting in former times. Even today it is

a main transport axis for trucks and cars between north and south. A highway is directly

going through the Parc. Dave told us about visitor numbers around unbelivable 1 500 000 to

2 000 000 per year. As an European very hard to even imagine.

Historically forest fires occurred fairly often in the Jaspar area in an average frequency of 5 to

25 years. Fires were lit mainly naturally because of long drought and lightning bolts like

explained before. But the local aboriginal people also lit fires on purpose to maintain open

grasslands in the area. Open grasslands are very important in terms of sustaining wildlife

habitats, growing crops and herbs as medicine and food for the First Nation people.

Nowadays, after the arrival of the Europeans the prevention of forest fires has gained

increasing attention because fires have been considered as a bad thing which is, according to

Dave Smith, an issue where the attitudes should change.

Today, prescribed burning and limiting wild fires is the major issue in the management of the

park. In the Parc rangers opinion people have to understand that wildfires are part of nature

and not against nature. Many tourists see the fires as destroying tool and not as an “making

new” tool. Prescribed fires avoid that naturally lit fires to become uncontrollable because they

reduce the possible fuel in the stands. Fires with different characteristics are used for different

purposes, some fires are deep whereas others are shallow.

My personal problem was in this case to find the “red line” within this concept. The

argument, that fire is a natural tool for thousands of years is true, but if the management wants

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to declare itsself as “natural acting” as first priority, some facts are disturbing. Why

prescribed burnings if natural burnings would happen as well?? Why having a huge highway

through the National Parc and using the fires as a tool to maintain scrubby habitat open for

wildlife that tourists are able to see them?? In my opinion these things do not fit together!

However, to be on this course in another country is exactly the right place to have different

opinions and so interesting discussions. All of our local experts have been very open to our

ideas and comments and there still was enough time for an “international exchange of views”.

Wildlife Sightings

Picture 7: Coyote in Jaspar National Parc Picture 8: Bighorn Sheep in Jaspar National Parc

During our stay in Alberta we had the most wildlife sightings of the whole trip. Inside the

Parc we could discover several Coyotes with their young, Big Horn sheep, White tailed deer,

Mule deer, Mountain goats, Black bear, Bison, Timber wolf as well as vultures and several

eagles. These discoveries have been my personal highlights, as I am very interested in

wildlife. 18th of August

Deciduous woodlands in Alberta

Still amazed of the wolf sighting next to the street this morning we drove around to get an

idea of the landscape and the mixture of tree species. Unfortunatly the fog was so dense that

there was hardly any chance to get a glimpse of the surrounding. However we then had a

closer look on Trembling Aspen (Populus tremuloides) sites in foothill areas.

Alberta’s Forest Act says that a forest site has to consist of the same mixture of species after a

forest operation has taken place than before. So the easy growing, natural regeneration of

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Aspen causes big problems. Instead of using the species to create a mixed wood stand the

forest companies must get rid of them by using different methods on sites where they are not

allowed to be. The ways of getting rid of them are either chemically with herbicides or

mechanically, simply ripped of. Having seen sites where the chemicals were used very close

to bodies with flowing water I look at this management tool in a very critical way. In my

opinion the laws are not adapted enough on the present preconditions. Climate change will be

a big issue in future, suitable species and techniques will be needed, so that I think a region is

not able to hold on to old wishes.

After lunch we had a relatively short search operation within an aquatic ecosystem. We

examined the water and lookes for different Trichoptera species in the stream; they are

sensitive to sediment disturbance caused by driving cross the streams with for example

machines for forest operation.

Another adventure was spending the night in the offered Cache Percotte Cabins in the middle

of the forest. It was a great opportunity to get into deeper conversations with the other

members of the group and to get to know the “Alberta Beef” mentality. We grilled gigantic

steaks and enjoyed the rest of the evening talking and singing around the campfire.

19th of August

Millar Western Sawmill

On our way to the sawmill, we again stopped several times to have a closer look on

silvicultural and agricultural techniques concerning Aspen. One of the ideas was to grow a

deciduous shelter above the spruce understory and after the Aspen-overstory is vital enough

rather the spruce understory strong enough to maintain on its own, the Aspen level is

removed. So the structure of the stand changes from mixedwood to coniferous.

In the afternoon we visited Millar Western Sawmill in Whitecourt. For German circumstances

it was a big sawmill, technically though several years behind. However, for the local

requirements well adapted and quite effective. Nevertheless I was not very impressed by the

quality of the sawn products because it was relatively poor compared to European standards,

especially Scandinavian quality.

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Our new accomodation was the camp of the Alberta Fire Fighters in Swan Hills. Alex and

Simon told us to look forward to an “action day”.

20th of August

The Fire Fighter Base

As we got to know this day, Alex and Simon kept their promise. We were allowed to see an

impressive demonstration of fire fighters in action. We have seen a helicopter as well as an

fire-fighting plane. Also information about their education and personal backgrounds was

given. Most of them work as a fire fighter in the summer break of university or college. Just a

few do it as an all year around job.

To be allowed to work as a fire fighter is a two week intensive course and a minimum of four

months practical education. The normal team size normally is four persons. They have to

handle heavy equipment for example an axe, chainsaws and a water pump. The salary each

month they told us is about 2000 Canadian dollars.

Picture 9: Fire-Fighting plane

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Clear-Cut

In the afternoon we took the chance of having a look on, for German circumstances, a HUGE

clear-cut. It was one of the Millar Western Company’s logging yards not far from the base we

had stayed for the last nights. To be honest, as a German student, where clear-cutting is just

allowed in an exceptional case, I was quite shocked and confused about the picture of about

40 hectares of harvested land. But I also was very curious about the Canadian planning,

technique and method of operation.

The logging operation chain itself included a feller-buncher, a grapple skidder and a

processor. Machines which have been so big and heavy that I worried about the impact on soil

compaction and the environment. In Germany, where thinning mostly is the used method of

operation, we try to support the natural regeneration, that it can resist and build up the new

stand. Here I had the impression that there is no difference made between natural regeneration

and other wood which has to be harvested. I also learned that mounding is done at the end of

an operation to prepare the soil for the new upcoming trees which have been planted. We

were said that this was somewhat a typical logging yard in Alberta. In terms of soil

compaction, I think, they are really lucky to have the frosty climate in winter, because as the

water freezes it expands and maintains space and less dense substrat.

21th of August

Elk Island National Parc

On our way to Edmonton, where the “Alberta stay” was over, we visited Elk Island National

Parc. This fully enclosed parc is situated in the transition zone between grasslands and forests

and is Canadas smallest national parc. The wandering bison herds, excisting of two different

species, the Wood bison and the McKenzie bison, can be seen directly next to the street.

Actually the parc is too small for such a high density and the ecosystem can hardly support

these animals.

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22th of August

Day off in Edmonton

After these days of an interesting but also really packed schedule, everyone enjoyed the day

off in Edmonton. The quite alternative atmosphere of the city invited us to roam through the

streets and do some shopping. But of course, the great cultural possibilities of Edmonton, the

museums, were visited as well.

23th of August

Flight from Edmonton to Moncton

A really excausting day followed. To get to New Brunswick, on the East coast, we first had to

fly to Toronto, Ontario, and then by another plane to Moncton, New Brunswick. There we

met our group leader Dirk Jäger, who is from Germany as well. The time between flights or

simply for waiting we used for “international interaction”. The group of course was much

closer in contact now than in the beginning of the journey. Friendships started to grow,

pictures of the family members were shown around and the conversations have become much

more private.

New Brunswick

24th of August

J.D Irwing – Black Brook Forrest

The Irving family is one of the oldest private company owners all over Canada. The company

is devided in two groups, Irving Oil in the north-east and Irving limited with over 200

businesses like tissue, paper and pulp included. Over 7000 people are employed at the

company, which also shows the political power behind.

Unlike other companies, J.D Irwing wants to cultivate a long term forest management on

crownland. The management includes unique and conservation areas, wildlife habitat and the

conservation of biodiversity. Although Irving leases the enormous amount of 1,4 mio hectares

of crownland, the contract frameworks are not changed after their agenda. I agree that for a

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big company like Irving, sustainability, can only be reached by being able to manage the same

stock for a long period of time. Otherwise, without harvesting what they prepared before, it

will not make sense for them. The leasing normally is around 10 years, much too short to

create and reach sustainability.

The biggest difference between this forest district and Canada’s other forests is that it is the

most intensively managed forest district in the North America. All of the company’s forests

are certified and actually about 20% of all forests have another primary objective than timber

production. JD Irwing Ltd. tries to show its concern about environmental issues by monitoring

all of its actions and their impacts on forests and their species. For the first time I felt a

wanted responsibility from a company towards the environment, in this case the forest. Irving

does also investigate in research and science concerning their lands.

We spent the afternoon in Black Brook District with Gaetan Pelletier who works as a forest

manager in JD Irwing Ltd. Gaetan showed us some Irwing’s forest management techniques in

growing hardwoods, mainly maples. The harvest techniques were much closer to the to me

used German way of operation, but again there were also completely different preconditions

as for example in the west of Canada.

In the evening we had a very impressive meeting with Bill Miller, who manufactures

handmade canoes. It was amazing to get to know this naturalist, who travelled the world but

nowhere feels better than at home. His attitude was very refreshing and unique. Spending time

with him meant to learn about his different look at the world and things in general.

Picture 10: Bill Miller in his shop

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25th of August

Outdoor day – Canoeing and Hiking

After these great insights of Bill Miller, of course all of us wanted to try the canoes by

ourselves. The Canadian and Swedish students were obviously more experienced, but even

the other country bumpkins learned fast and we had a wonderful time. We were able to

experience the fluvial topography in a very undisturbing and silent way.

Picture 11: The Tobique River

In the afternoon we climbed on Mount Carleton, the highest peak of New Brunswick. It was

really a pitty that we, because of the dense mist, were not able to enjoy the view from the top.

But still it was a successful closure of this outdoor day.

26th of August

University of New Brunswick – UNB

This morning we got a tour around the UNB campus and the faculty of forestry. It was

interesting to compare even the architecture to the Eastern universities. UNB was affected by

European style.

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Fundy Model Forest

The McCrea family welcomed us on their farm this afternoon. After had lunch all together,

Bruce McCrea guided us over his land and gave us information about the method of operation

and the sidelines. The main idea behind the partnership between different associates within

the model forest is to benefit from each others activities together without delimitating each

others goals and profits.

On the McCrea farm, most of the income is reached by selling farm and meat products and

additionally dairy products. Also their sideline products like forestry, maple syrup and

Christmas tree production, fish hatchery and housing quests find their success. The marketing

strategy however is flexibility and being able to modulate the product series to the markets

demands.

Our host Bruce McCrea said that at the moment the best income for them comes from selling

dairy products, but still they do not want to stockpile anything and make themselves

deadlocked.

27th of August

JD Irwing Tissue Mill, St. John JD Irving, which is earned in third generation, has 27% share of the market with its tissue

mill. They really struggle to stand the global competition, especially from Poland and Latin

America. These countries are able to float the market with cheaper products because of lower

salaries. Besides the global competition, the electric media is a huge competition for the mill

as well.

But still JD Irving has a positive look on the future, especially at tissue production. In the

beginning they started the factory 1959 with one tissue machine, and renewed it 2003. The

second machine was attached 1988, and runs at speed between 1500 and 1800m/min it means

2400km in one day. Today they produce annually 73 000 tons tissue on two machines.

The latest investment is an Yanke Dryer who steam dry the paper in 200-300oF.

And new technology, in their opinion, is the key to compete on the global market.

The same day we flew back to Ontario and had a amusing time during our nightlife ramble

downtown Toronto.

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Ontario

28th of August

University of Toronto – UOT

The first stop this morning was an interesting introduction of the topic “Urban Forestry” in the

faculty of forestry. In Canada, where 80% of the whole population lives in urban areas, the

importance of planning urban forestry was understood by the society very late, just a couple

of years ago.

The concept of urban forestry is basically forestry activity in inhabited landscape. The

reached benefits are for instance improved air quality, energy conservation, property value

and aesthetical value increment, noise attenuation, wildlife habitat inside cities and overall

benefits in physical and psychological well being.

After having special courses in Germany about that topic, I definitely think that urban forestry

has to be seen as a part of the traditional forestry. Experts have to be educated and the

inhabitants have to be sensitized for the difficulty.

Urban Tree Salvage Inc.

In the afternoon we drove to the Urban Tree Salvage Inc. in the outskirts of the downtown

Toronto. As an example of making a business idea out of urban forestry this gave an

interesting insight on selling possibilities in a metropole. UTS gets its raw materials from

everywhere around Toronto city area. Mostly the raw material is waste wood and trees felled

by wind or lighting. Other companies refuse to use this wood because of the danger of metal

components grown into it. Not like in Europe where metal detectors are usual at the entrance

of every saw mill, Canada was not the stage part of the World wars. Many bullets and metal

chips can be found in older European trees. With no competition, the UTS does not pay

anything for the needed ressources; they just voluntarily transport the leftover wood away for

free and use it to their own meanings. Also the technology they use is very simple in order to

keep their fixed costs low. They saw their wood with easily used and maintained field saw.

After sawing maybe the most important part of the process is drying the wood and the stress

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release. UTS accepts all tree species but mainly the business is concentrated in maples and

secondly to other deciduous trees.

The products made out of these trees mostly are for selling to private customers. I was

impressed by the very high quality of the endproducts, mostly furniture. It was very good

craftmen work and as the owner told us, it is very hard to find experienced people to be able

to do a higher work pensum.

Picture 12: A handmade dining table at Urban Tree Salvage Inc. UTS so discovered a natural market niche in the middle of this huge city of Toronto.

In UTS they are also taking the environmental aspect into consideration. For example they are

not very keen to widen their activity to international markets because they see it as a risk

towards environment.

After the visit we started our drive towards Ottawa.

29th of August

Eastern Ontario Model Forest

On the next day we got to know to the Eastern Ontario Model Forest with the help of our

guide of Martha Copestake. The model forest is situated on Great Lakes & St. Lawrence

forest region. It covers about 1,5 million hectares where 34% is forested area. During the day

we discussed about many issues including forest certification and commercial harvesting in

certified forests. In the afternoon we visited a small lumber mill in Lanark which processed

mostly sawed timber from eastern white cedar.

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Later we continued our journey to Canada’s capital Ottawa where we spent our night in a

hostel, a prison in former times. One can also call this evening - the wet evening: it was

raining buckets while “running” to our restaurant for dinner.

30th of August

Haliburton Forest and Wildlife Reserve

From the beginning I was very curious to come to Haliburton Forest. As we got to know, the

reserve is owned by the German family Schleifenbaum and I looked forward to experience the

way of working. Haliburton Forest is Ontario’s largest privately owned forest area and

Canada’s first FSC certified forest, even there is not a big benefit out of it.

Haliburton forest is a mixture of economical demands and possibilities to public for recreation

such as camping, hiking, hunting, fishing, the wolf center including education and winter

activities. But there is also space for research. My home university of Freiburg as well as the

university of Toronto have established research and special courses in Haliburton Forest.

Although of having a big resevoir of wooden ressources Haliburton forest only gets about 15

% of its income from loggings. The future goal of Haliburton Forest is to become a major

forest energy exporter in next 10 to 15 years.

31th of August

Haliburton Forest and Wildlife Reserve

On our second day in Haliburton we discussed more about the forestry operations in the area.

Mr. Schleifenbaum himself guided us on this tour in his function of the head forest manager

of Haliburton Forest. Mr. Schleifenbaum studied forestry at the university of Göttingen in

Germany.

Horse looging is besides an alternative logging method, a highly frequented sightseeing for

tourists in Haliburton Forest. As Mr. Schleifenbaum told us, there was no outdoor-education

offered in the area before he started the wolf centre.

About 10 % of all annual harvesting in Haliburton area is done by horse logging. It is on the

one hand site a very costly method but can also be used in a very efficient and careful way.

One of the main problems is to find horse-experienced people who want to do this very hard

and dangerous job and the horse training itsself. The trusty relationship between the horses

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and the logger is absolutly essential. As horses are no machines it can be very exhausting to

motivate them every single day, over and over again. The Training of a logging horse is a

continuous learning process which lasts years in first place and never really ends.

Not every breed is useful for horse-logging. Here they had a Belgian breed: quite small,

strong, especially in the back and hindleg muscels, robust and with a low balance point.

In comparison to mechanized logging, horse-logging has many benefits. First of all horse

logging can be done in ecologically sensitive areas where one can’t access with big machines

without packing and so damaging the soil. Horse logging is also a good option in aesthetically

sensitive areas for example near habited areas and camping places. It is not such a big effort

to transport the horses from place to another than logging machines. The logging season with

horses is also much longer, because their impact on soil is much smaller. If the conditions are

suitable, with all these benefits the income from horse logging can be similar to mechanized

logging.

Picture 12: Horse-logging in Haliburton Forest

Everyone new that this will be our last evening all together. We celebrated this night around

the campfire enjoying each others company. The mood was amazing, but kind of sad inside as

well. To share such fully packed weeks in a foreign country welds together.

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My Summer in Canada

When I look back on the TRANSFOR course in the summer of 2007, it means more to me

than a common university course. It was a whole impression of a country, its landscape, the

working technique and the mentality of people. For me, as I have never been in North

America before, it was a complete new world with an immense amount of discussion

potential. The great organisation of each province gave us the feeling that the people

responsible were very willing to show us their part of the country. I felt welcomed very

warmly the whole journey and every curious question was answered openly and patiently.

Besides the Canadian experiences, the “international interaction” how we called it, was such a

great chance to understand other nations demands and points of view. They group grew

together and friendships rose. I am still in contact with other members of the group and the

Soccer European Championships will be a great stage for a reunion of some of us in

Switzerland.

Besides, the course gave me a great opportunity to broaden my knowledge even more in that

country by organizing an intership and by travelling. I travelled around Ontario and Québec

after the course was finished and had impressing weeks out there during the fantastic Indian

summer. Furthermore I was allowed to fly back to Banff in the Rocky Mountains, British

Columbia, and worked in an wildlifemanagement project. This period of time, in the middle

of this incredible landscape, formed my knowledge, my way of thinking, simply myself, a lot.

I want to thank all the organisators a lot for making this journey possible. In my opinion it is

essential to communicate with other mentalities and cultures to get to know their demands,

wishes and their background. Otherwise we are not able to understand each other in the way it

will be necessary in a more and more shrinking world.

Kirsten Weingarth

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