One of the LARGEST operational training forests in Canada.

In 1996 students in the Natural Resources Management program developed a proposal to acquire a training forest agreement between GPRC and Alberta Environmental Protection. The goal was to have the use of a forest with the right to establish, grow, and harvest timber, build and operate a bush camp, and provide students with a “living laboratory” for ecological studies in the forest.

An agreement was formalized in February 2000, allowing GPRC the use of approximately 22,000 hectares in the G13 Green Management Unit, known as the Economy Creek area. The forest boundary follows the Smoky River on the west, the Simonette River on the north and east, and the northern boundary of section 69 on the south.

The training forest was originally part of the Sturgeon Lake-Puskwaskau Integrated Resource Plan (IRP).  Under this plan the area is divided into two sections; the River Corridor and Economy Creek.

The River Corridor

Two large rivers with wide valleys characterize this section.  The Smoky River is the larger, with a predominately V-shaped valley.  The river follows a meandering course with terraces and recent floodplains adjacent to the valley bottom.  The Smoky River has steep valley walls, up to 130 m high in some places.  The second major river system is the Simonette. It is considerably more U-shaped with many terraces and floodplains.  Although the Simonette has some steep valley walls, they are not as high as the Smoky River valley walls. Stand types are mainly deciduous with a scattered spruce component.

Economy Creek

This section is primarily covered by muskeg and sand dunes, overlaying glacio-fluvial and lacustrine deposits.  The glacial depressions have generally become bogs, and small bodies of water.  Stand types are predominantly deciduous.

BOREAL FOREST NATURAL REGION

All of the Grande Prairie Regional College Training Forest is located within the dry-mixedwood sub-region of the Boreal forest.

The Boreal Forest Natural Region is Alberta’s largest natural region and covers all of the Training Forest Area.  This region is characterized by broad lowland plains and discontinuous hill systems.  Extensive wetlands, bogs, fens and marshes are common in this region.  The bedrock is buried beneath deep glacial deposits.  Climatic conditions reflect a strong boreal influence.  Typically summers are short and cool with long, cold winters.  Most precipitation occurs in May and August.   Although the majority of the regional vegetation is aspen-dominated, forest types at higher elevations and in wetlands are mostly mixedwood or coniferous.  The soils are predominately Organic in poorly drained lowlands and Luvisolic in the well-drained uplands.  The diversity of the Boreal Forest Natural Region is evidenced by its division into six subregions, separated on the basis of vegetation, geology and landforms.  One of the six subregions, the Dry Mixedwood, dominates the Training Forest Area.

Dry Mixedwood Subregion

Undulating terrain characterizes this subregion.  The topography of the area is comprised of mostly ground and hummocky moraines and lacustrine materials,  with smaller areas of sand dunes and sandy outwash plains present.  The soils in this subregion consist mostly of Gray and Dark Gray Luvisols on the well-drained sites  while in the coarse-textured sandy uplands, Brunisols are predominant.  The low-lying wet areas are made up of Organic and Gleysolic soils.

The vegetation is a transition between the Central Mixedwood and the Central Parkland subregions.  Aspen is present in both mixed and pure stands.  On the moister sites balsam usually accompanies the aspen.  Deciduous forests are frequently fire dependant, but in areas less prone to fire, stands of balsam fir and white spruce may succeed the aspen and balsam poplar.   Mixed stands of aspen and white spruce are found throughout this subregion, while the coniferous species are more common further north.

Aspen stands have a very diverse understorey.  Conifer stands, on the other hand tend to be much less diversified with moss species being more prevalent.  Jack pine forests are usually present on the dry sandy uplands.  Because of the open nature of this forest a ground cover of lichens is usually present.  Peatlands are present, but to a much lesser extent than in other boreal forest subregions. (Alberta Environmental Protection, 1994.  Natural regions and subregions of Alberta.)

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