Alex Fraser Research Forest
The Alex Fraser Research Forest (AFRF) is one of two research forests managed by the UBC Faculty of Forestry and is the only one located outside of the Lower Mainland. It is a self-sufficient forestry enterprise that supports education, research and demonstration activities. The research forest is designed to give students, faculty and researchers the opportunity to study in an outdoor setting, covering topics ranging from silviculture and forest management to conservation.
This will be the first year the field course has worked with the AFRF, and there are a number of project ideas to develop either directly with the AFRF or in collaboration with its partner organizations. Some possibilities include:
- Access management plan for the Williams Lake Community Forest: The AFRF has been hired under contract to manage the Williams Lake Community Forest, a community forest partnership between the City of Williams Lake and the Williams Lake Indian Band. A priority for this group is the development of an access management plan that deals with the spatial and social issues that arise from such a large and diverse number of land users.
- Climate Change and the San Jose Watershed: Williams Lake is located in the San Jose River Watershed. Dr. Harry Nelson from UBC ran an adaptation collaborative for the watershed which has now ended, but which produced the San Jose River Roundtable: a group of citizens concerned with environmental management issues in the watershed. A current issue for the roundtable relates to private dams along creeks in the watershed. Many of the dams go back 100 years or more, and have recently begun to cause problems. As a result, rules and regulations around the dams have magnified and now land holders are responsible for ensuring dams on their land adhere to engineering requirements. It is a complex issue with many resource users and stakeholders, and the roundtable is interested in producing a better inventory of the dams and potential solutions to their management.
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