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Government managers benefit from institute’s leadership in science and technology transfer

October 01, 2009

Alberta Sustainable Resource Development is responsible for public land that occupies about 60% of Alberta. Dave Ealey, issues manager with the department’s communications branch, says science provides the knowledge and understanding required to make good decisions about managing dynamic and intricate ecosystems for long-term sustainability.

The Challenge
Alberta’s forested landscape is largely publicly-owned, and must be managed for the benefit of all Albertans. This means ways have to be found to balance multiple uses for economic and recreational purposes with long-term sustainability of ecological goods and services such as water and wildlife habitat.

“The public expects us to base our management policies on good science,” says
Ealey, “We need to understand what’s really happening, for instance, with the various levels and accumulations of disturbance. Do they mimic the natural disturbance patterns that gave us the forests we enjoy today? If something goes beyond a natural disturbance, such as a stream crossing, what do we ... [read more]

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