History of Alberta’s Jurisdiction of Alberta’s Forests

As rich as the history of Canada’s forests is, the history of jurisdiction of Alberta’s forests is just as rich. There are different governing bodies that managed Alberta’s forested lands, starting in 1930 when control of the forests moved from Canada to Alberta.

We will learn about some of those governing bodies in this unit of the course.
Source: Alberta Government, AFHPC


Source: Government of Alberta

As with Canada’s forest history, there are many events and different governing bodies in Alberta that contributed to the current Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. The Alberta Forest Service 1930-2005 provides a very comprehensive review of its own history and Alberta’s forests. It is full of fascinating stories and pictures that take you through the history of Alberta’s forests during those 75 years.


Reading this document will give you a detailed review of Alberta’s forest history; however, for the purposes of this course, a condensed timeline of major changes that have occurred historically regarding the ownership and administration of Alberta’s forested lands, is presented at Alberta's Forest History.

Now that you have studied the history of both Canada and Alberta’s forested land, we will look at some of the governing bodies that manage Alberta’s forests.



Forest Facts

Each of Alberta’s major tree species has a set of characteristics that made them valuable for certain tasks to First Nations and early European settlers. Some tree species have soft wood full of sap while others have hard wood that is strong and dense. To see the traits of each major tree species and how they were used through history in Alberta, click on the image.
Click image to enlarge.
Courtesy of Todd Kristensen, Regional Archaeologist | Archaeological Survey of Alberta