Minister and students mark 10th anniversary of Jumpingpound Demonstration Forest
Feature Story posted on July 4, 2008
Sustainable Resource Development (SRD) Minister Ted Morton and approximately 60 Grade Seven students from Calgary marked the 10th anniversary of Jumpingpound Demonstration Forest in early June by spending several hours touring the education site west of the city.
“Jumpingpound is an incredible facility, where Albertans interested in natural resource management can learn how our natural resources can be sustained for future generations,” Minister Morton said at a ceremony to rededicate the site for continued use as an outdoor classroom.
Located in Kananaskis Country, Jumpingpound Demonstration Forest has provided learning opportunities to over 30,000 students in the past 10 years. “The goal of the program is to connect students to the forest and motivate them to become stewards of our natural resources, today and into the future,” says Steve McIsaac, Executive Director of Inside Education, the non-profit society that delivers natural resources and environmental education programs at the site.
Jumpingpound Demonstration Forest educates students from Grades Four to Eleven on human interactions in Alberta’s forests. Students visiting the site investigate forestry development, oil and gas production, cattle grazing, recreational uses and impacts on forest ecology.
The students from Calgary’s St. Joseph’s School explored Jumpingpound Demonstration Forest with Minister Morton and representatives from Inside Education and its partners, including the Alberta Forest Products Association, the University of Calgary and the Forest Resource Improvement Association of Alberta.
In an informal exchange with the students, Minister Morton highlighted the importance of the facility as a learning tool. “Here, you get to be natural resource managers for a day,” he said. “You get to see how forests change, and you learn how forests can be sustained for future generations through wise management.”
Students and Minister Morton discussed challenges to maintaining the health of province’s forests, including threats posed by infestations of mountain pine beetle recently arrived from British Columbia.
“By the time that infestation runs its course, over three-quarters of the pine trees in British Columbia will be dead,” the Minister noted. “There are children being born in B.C. today who will not see a healthy pine forest beyond their back yards until they’re in the 40s or 50s. We don’t want that to happen here.”
Minister Morton stressed that today’s youth are tomorrow’s stewards of the forest and encouraged students to consider careers in caring for the province’s natural resources.
