The Mackenzie Forest Education Society was established in 1990 in Peace River as part of the Provincial Forest Capital Legacy Project.  It was the first rural-based Forest Education Society in Alberta and in Canada. Several non-profit organizations promoting forestry-related education and public awareness have since sprouted across the country. The Society stemmed from the need to provide the public, particularly youth, with a balanced and unbiased medium for forestry and resource-based information.    

In the summer of 2010, the novaNAIT Boreal Research Institute and Mackenzie Forest Education Society merged their respective activities, with the Society dissolving in November, 2011.  The Mackenzie Forest Education Society has been a trailblazer, leading the way in forest education, and creating a foundation for expanded programming and a bright future for boreal education in the Peace region.