Weberville Project

The main focus of the Weberville Community Forest Project is to design a process for the creation of a landscape-level woodlot management plan. Woodlot and private land management planning helps landowners to set goals and objectives for their land and provides support to help achieve these goals. By documenting how this process is developed, the resulting template could then be applied to other regions in Canada.

The initial concept arose from the overlapping mandates of the Alberta Woodlot Extension Program and FPInnovations-Feric Division. Both organizations saw the need for woodlot owners in the area to work together to achieve common goals. The community approach combines the landowners objectives with greater opportunities arising from viewing the “bigger picture” over multiple properties.

Some of these opportunities include:
• increased awareness of economic, social and environmental implications of agricultural area forest management;
• creation of a private forest land inventory;
• diverse market opportunities for timber and non-timber products; and
• increased awareness of other resource-related programs (Environmental Farm Plan, Ducks Unlimited, Prairie Farm Shelterbelt program).

The Weberville area is located near Peace River, Alberta and is defined by geographical boundaries which encompass approximately 130 square miles (333 square km) of crown and private land. Phase I of the project started in April 2008 and saw 11 landowners (representing 17 quarter sections) having inventories conducted of their land. Phase II of the project begins in April 2009 and will see more inventories conducted as well as focusing on other opportunities such as trail development, tree planting and coordinated harvesting.

The Boreal Research Institute has the administrative, communications and advisory role for this project.

For more information on this project please contact the project co-leads:
• Doug Macaulay, Woodlot Extension Program
• Juri Agapow, FPInnovations-Feric Division