Canadian Forest History Preservation Project Update
The Project facilitated the donation of two British Columbia forest inventory maps, owned previously by Don McLaurin of Whistler, to the Chilliwack Museum and Archives. Mr McLaurin had saved the maps many years ago while working for the BC Forest Service. John Hammons, of the Whistler Forest History Project, assisted in the donation and he writes, "We have really come to appreciate how little has been done to preserve historical materials such as old forest cover maps. And once they are lost, they are lost for good. What a good initiative!"
The unique maps, created in 1941 by H.M. Pogue for the BC Department of Lands and Forests, were quite detailed for their time, and were assembled using some of the first aerial photos acquired by the BC Forest Service. They were part of a set of maps made for three adjacent areas in the lower mainland: "Harrison Drainage," "North Shore" and "Fraser South", early in the Second World War. The three sets of maps were described in the 1940 Forest Branch Report (Harrison Drainage) and the 1942 Forest Branch Report (North Shore and Fraser South).
Shannon Bettles, Heritage Records Manager, Chilliwack Museum and Archives, tells us that they have in their holdings both objects and archival records relating to logging, sawmills, and forestry. "We have maps of forest stands, blueprints of lands and forests, topographical maps, records from the Orion Bowman Sawmill, photographs of logging activity, sketches, and timber berth maps for example. The map recently received from Don McLaurin will be of particular interest to our researchers studying forestry practices in the Chilliwack River Valley. It complements our other forestry maps, such as the 1940 ‘North Shore Forest Cover Series’ from the BC Forest Service."
A collaborative effort between NiCHE, the Forest History Society, and the Canadian Forest Service, the Cdn Forest History Preservation Project helps match repositories and collection donors. It includes a survey and assessment of Canadian archival repositories, and their ability and willingness to preserve collections of forest history. The survey has so far been completed in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec, with remaining provinces/territories yet to come.
For more information, please view our project brochure and forward it to anyone who might know of a collection in need of archival protection.
English:
http://www.foresthistory.org/research/Canadian_archives_brochure.pdf
French:
http://www.foresthistory.org/Research/Canadian_archives_Fr.pdf
Urban Forests & Political Ecologies
Urban Forests & Political Ecologies: Celebrating Transdisciplinarity
Toronto, ON - April 18-20th, 2013
Submission Deadline: 15 October 2012
Note category for historical narrative.
This three-day conference will cover a wide range of issues related to urban ecologies and political transgressions. It is designed for students, faculty, practitioners, community members, artists and researchers of all disciplines who are interested in enhancing their understanding of the various narratives that shape urban green spaces and the pedagogies that contribute to engaging with those diverse perspectives.
We encourage the submission of proposals that examine a variety of subjects relating to urban forests and culture broadly conceived within one of the six panel themes: a) Historical Narratives; 2) Urban Tree Cultures: Identities and Perspectives; 3) Social Inclusion in the Urban Forest: Scalar injustices and community connections; 4) From Government to Governance: Redefining politics; 5) Urban Ecology Pedagogies: Innovative approaches to education; 6) Adaptation and Vulnerability in the Urban Forest.
We welcome submissions from academics, graduate students, professionals, practitioners and artists. We are particularly interested in inter-and-transdisciplinary approaches and artistic expressions.
Submission Guidelines: There are three categories for submission:
1) Oral Presentations;
2) Poster Presentations; and,
3) Art Exhibition.
Call for Oral Presentations: Each panel will include five speakers: a keynote speaker, an academic paper presentation, a student paper presentation, a practitioner and case study, and an artistic expression or reflective piece (ie. illustration, performance, short film, etc.) discussing how this area has been impacting society at large (outside of academic research). Abstracts should clearly indicate the preferred panel theme as well as what speaker category you wish to be considered for.
Call for Poster Presentations: Posters will be displayed for the first two days of the conference. Dimensions: 2x3 feet
Call for Visual Art Representations and Photo Essays (Art Exhibit): If submitting for the art exhibit, please send a photograph of your artwork along with your abstract.
Abstracts should be no longer than 300 words and are accepted until October 15th, 2012. To propose a paper, a poster or an artistic expression or performance, please send all submissions via email to: submissions@ufpe.ca
Further information is available at the conference website: www.ufpe.ca
Co-hosted by:
Faculty of Forestry, University of Toronto
Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University
Humber Arboretum & Centre for Urban Ecology
New Forestry History research guide at UBC
I am pleased to circulate a link to a newly created research guide on the subject of Forestry History and Archives here at UBC Library:
http://guides.library.ubc.ca/forestry_history
This guide is designed to let users know about the array of forestry related archival collections we have here at UBC, as well as provide links to external organizations and associations of interest. It was created recently by one of our student archivists, Laura Hebert. We have also publicized this new resource on our Rare Books and Special Collections blog: http://blogs.ubc.ca/rbscnew/2012/03/15/new-research-guide-forestry-histo...
You can help us by sending this link along to any of your friends and colleagues who you think might be interested! Feedback is always welcome; please send any comments or questions you may have back to me at sarah.romkey@ubc.ca
Call for Proposals Re New Volume in Canadian Forest History
Graeme Wynn and David Brownstein have been confirmed as the editors of the Canadian contribution to the World Forest History Series (see http://environmentalhistory-au-nz.org/2010/05/new-book-series/). The volumes are intended to address inter alia the "rise of state and scientific forestry and the evolution of environmental land management practices, with a special focus on colonial forestry and its legacy," and to "feature a substantial section of primary sources related to the history of humans and forests." Recognizing the scale and importance of forest history in Canada, the series editors, Gregory Barton and Brett Bennett have suggested two volumes on Canada, one of essays and the other of primary source documents. Wynn and Brownstein are developing outlines/ preferred emphases for the volumes, but would appreciate hearing from anyone interested in contributing at their earliest convenience.
This is also a formal call for proposed papers (of approximately 8-10000 words in length). Proposals (of 500 words or so) may be chronological, historiographical, thematic or regional in focus and should be sent to both wynn@geog.ubc.ca and david.brownstein@geog.ubc.ca by 1 May 2012.
Please consider the following:
1- the volumes should be readable and coherent for all readers, not just geographers and historians. This means, among other things, writing in plain language and avoiding overly partisan language. We hope to make the volumes specialized enough to draw audiences from the scholarly community but broad enough to interest non-scholarly readers.
2- we would like to involve foresters and scientists in this project, especially with a view to offering some current perspectives on forestry.
3- There should be some historiographical analysis, such as an overview of shifting interpretations of forest history.
4- The series seeks to integrate national histories into both imperial and world histories. This implies that contributions should attend, as appropriate, to the relations between Canada and the British Empire and the world.
Two provincial forest history societies launch new webpages.
La Société d'histoire forestière du Québec, and the Forest History Association of British Columbia have just launched a pair of redesigned webpages. You can find them right here and here.
The BC association now has a complete set of their newsletters available online, from vol 1 (December, 1981), to the present.