Alberta’s Forest History


1930 The Alberta Natural Resources Act was established. Control of the forests shifted from Canada to the provinces, except for forests within the boundaries of the National Parks; they remained under federal jurisdiction.

The Alberta Forest Service was created, responsible for managing Alberta’s forests. Alberta was not a wealthy province; the economy was based on primarily coal and agriculture. The provinces were reluctant to enforce the few forest management regulations due to budget cuts resulting from World War II and the Great Depression.
1947 Oil was discovered and a period of recovery began.
1948 Green area legislation was established; the Alberta government divided the province into two main areas for land management purposes. 61% of the province was designated as the green area and 39% was designated as the white area.
1948 The Eastern Rockies Forest Conservation Board was created.
1949 Phase I forest inventory began.

The Forests Act was established and gave jurisdiction over the control and administration of public lands, timber, and forest fires to the Department of Lands and Forests. The act allowed the government to enter into agreements for the disposition of pulpwood with a company involved in manufacturing. All timber acquired under the Act, except for dry pulpwood, was to be manufactured in Alberta.
1954 The first Forest Management Agreement with North Western Pulp and Power Ltd. (Hinton pulp mill).
1955 The Land and Forest Utilization Act was established and an interdepartmental committee was formed to make recommendations on measures to preserve forests lands and regulate harvesting.
1960 The Forestry Training School opened in Hinton.
1979 A joint federal–provincial seven-year reforestation program worth $25 million was established under the Maintaining Our Forests Program worth.
1980 Alberta Forest Service 50th anniversary.
1985–1992 Eight pulp mills and numerous sawmills were developed.
1997 In a move toward sustainability, the Alberta Forest Legacy was implemented to change land management practices from single outputs, such as timber and oil, to considering all resource values.
1997 The Forest Resource Improvement Association of Alberta (FRIAA) was created and tasked with collecting and administering industry funds in order to enhance Alberta’s forest resources. They are particularly important to ADLC in that they provided funding for this course and other forestry courses and programs to be developed and delivered.
1999 The Regulated Forestry Profession Act is adopted and outlines the regulations for certain forestry professions, e.g. foresters, forest technicians.
2005 The 75th anniversary of the Alberta Forest Service.
2005–2009 An outbreak of mountain pine beetles killed an estimated three million trees.
2006 Alberta’s forests contributed over $11 billion in revenues and supported more than 47,000 jobs; the forest industry is the 3rd largest industry in Alberta, after energy and agriculture.


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