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This course will focus on managing the key factors that impact the quantity and quality of forest resources such as tree growth, disturbances like invasive species and fire, human management, and socio-economic factors. Theories and techniques for forest resource inventory, monitoring, and yield modeling will be addressed. Students upon completion of this course will be able to: (1) know concepts and methods in forest resource management and protection; (2) identify major factors that threat the sustainable use of forest resources; (3) analyze real-world problems and apply the appropriate principles of forest management in formulating integrated forest resource management and protection strategies. This course is designed for Master’s level students studying forest management, forest protection, forest economics, and for advanced-level undergraduates. It assumes a basic understanding in a range of disciplines, but in recognition that not everyone taking the course will have this knowledge, links are provided to sources of further information.
https://blogs.ubc.ca/apfnet06/course-overview/

Forest Governance

Forest governance challenges the attainment of sustainable forest management, where mutual interaction between governance institutions and arrangements will further define its successes and failures (Broekhoven et. al, 2012). This module presents the importance, concepts, and principles of “good forest governance”, and the realities on the ground by analyzing the dynamics that exist between the various forest governance institutions. It also showcases the different forest governance initiatives at the national and global levels, and assesses their contributions in advancing sustainable forest management.

Restoration of Degraded Forest

The objectives of this course are to introduce you to the theory and practice of: (a) forest restoration and (b) forest plantation development. You need to understand how forests regenerate and develop through stages of maturity, including the emergence of a range of crown classes in a stand. The objectives of this course include revising the ecosystem paradigm and the key ecosystem processes of nutrient cycling and forest productivity, because trees in restored forests and plantations are limited by access to light, water and nutrients. Relevant components• Global perspective of ecosystem ecology and the ecosystem paradigm• Forest productivity and nutrient cyclesAfter taking this course you should be able to:• Define and describe the main processes of forest functioning including forest carbon and nutrient cycles• Recognize and describe properties of degraded forests and principles of forest restoration• Explain restoration strategies and describe methods to assess success of restoration activities • Describe in detail all stages in the development of a forest plantation enterprise and give examples from existing plantation projects in the Asia-Pacific region.

Sustainable use of Forest Ecosystem Services

The objective of this course is to improve the capacity of professional and semi-professional foresters to apply the concept of Sustainable Use of Forest Ecosystem Services within the overall concept of Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) in the Asia-pacific region by using an innovative pedagogical method through the combination of web-based learning in the areas of payments for ecosystem services (PES), economic valuation of forest ecosystem services; concept and theory of utility and welfare economics; types of economic value, and forest resource accounting.

Landscape Evolution – click 2x to enlarge

Click to two times to enlarge. Soil formation takes a very long time. For example, in areas such as Canada that were completely covered by glaciers, soil formation started as soon as glaciers retreated. The graphics  illustrate evolution (progression) of landscapes during the past 25,000 years. At the peak of the last glaciation, about 25,000 years ago, the land was covered by ice. Glaciers retreated around 10,000 years ago and revealed a barren landscape blanketed by glacial deposits and meltwater. In the present day, glacial deposits are covered by vegetation. This illustration was designed for the the Virtual Soil Science Learning resources project, which is a very exiting project I’ve had the opportunity to work on, in collaboration with Dr. Maja Krzic and Dr. Stephanie Grant. This is just one piece of the Virtual Soil Web mega project, which has won the Award of Excellence and Innovation in Graphic Design and Web from CNIE (Canadian Network for Innovation in Education).