Sam Odrowski
Over the years, forestry has played a major role in building the town’s economy–and it continues to play an important role in the lives of many residents.
To help today’s youth develop a better understanding of the local forestry industry and forestry renewal, now-retired renewal forester Judy Kaufman spoke to a Grade 7 class at St. Francis School on Friday.
“I spoke mostly of my own experiences as a renewal forester working in forest management over 30 years here in the Crossroute [region of Northwestern Ontario],” she noted.
The Grade 7 science and geography curriculum includes lessons on habitats, what happens after land goes through natural or man-made disasters, and how the land recovers, which Kaufman touched on during her time with the class.
“I was really pleased with the presentation,” teacher Angela Saciuk said. “It had a lot of photos in it so the students had a strong visual connection to the information.
“It’s a little bit more engaging than looking at it through a dry textbook,” she added.
“And certainly talking to somebody in the industry is good for them because it gives them different ideas about potential career options in the future, too.”
During Kaufman’s presentation, students were curious to learn more about potential jobs in tree-planting and other forestry-related careers.
Students also learned that during her time working in the industry with Resolute Forest Products, they would replant four million trees each year and utilize other methods of forestry renewal.
Trees are replanted here in a variety of species, including jack pine, black spruce, red pine, white pine, and white spruce.
The area Kaufman covered during her working life went from the Manitoba border in the west to the other side of Atikokan in the east, and north about halfway to Dryden.
The whole area is roughly 1.8 million hectares.
When cutting, environmental protections are in place to protect the habitats of wildlife, Kaufman told the class.
“There are different values in the forest and with each of those values, there is some form of protection in place if it’s required,” she explained.
“For instance, I spoke of eagles’ nests,” she noted. “We identify the eagle nests and don’t harvest within 200 metres of them.
“Each species has different needs and based on that, we work with biologists to determine what should be protected, what areas should be harvested, and what ones should not based on the time of year,” Kaufman added.
The town grew out of the forest industry so a lot of the students she was presenting to should have a better understanding of how it works, she reasoned.
“Many of the students’ parents, grandparents, and even great-grandparents have made a living off the forests so they should know a bit about them.”
The level of engagement, and quality of questions asked by the students throughout her presentation, was very pleasing, Kaufman said.
“The kids are great,” she enthused. “They seemed to care about the forests and at the end of the day that’s what matters; that people care about what’s out there.”
