Celebrate National Forest Week
Beginning tomorrow, September 19th you have a great opportunity to learn more about our region’s most valuable resource, the forest. Join the Northeast Superior Forest Community (NSFC) in celebrating National Forest Week from September 19th– 25th. National Forest Week is a great chance to get involved, and to help ensure the sustainability of our local forests. The Canadian Forestry Association (CFA) states the main purpose of the week is to ‘challenge Canadians to learn more about their forest heritage and support greater recognition of this valuable resource’.
The week is sponsored across Canada by the CFA, and regionally by various provincial forestry agencies, corporations, and individuals. The NSFC, in partnership with the Northeast Superior Regional Chiefs’ Forum (NSRCF), is supporting the week by hosting forest education sessions for our region’s Grade 4-6 students. The education sessions are part of an annual program that the NSFC began in 2009 called Forest Day. During the day-long event, students will learn from various experts including: First Nations elders, Ministry of Natural Resources staff, community partners, and companies such as Tembec. “It just made sense to schedule our annual education sessions during National Forest Week” says Lisi Crichton, the NSFC’s Special Projects Coordinator and Forest Day organizer, “the sessions will demonstrate the importance of our forests to the student participants, and hopefully they will go home and remind their parents to set aside a bit of time during the week to appreciate the forests that surround us.”
This year’s event is themed Learn to Love your Forest and is scheduled to be held in Chapleau, Manitouwadge, and Dubreuilville at two local First Nations and a National Park. The educational sessions will provide students with the opportunity to participate in activities such as tree identification, measurement and coring for age, plant identification, and medicine wheel activities. Students will also walk away from the event with great forest related giveaways!
There are many ways that you can celebrate our local forests, and National Forest Week is a great time to start. Check out a list of suggestions below, head outside, and show how much you appreciate our forests!
How you can participate in National Forest Week
- Arrange a tree planting day
- Take a walk in the woods nearby and get to know your forest
- Care for a newly planted or neglected tree and study its species
- Identify all the things at home or school that are made of wood
- Learn about organizations that demonstrate sustainable forest management (such as the NSFC)
- Tour a forest sector industry or processing site
- Learn about the prevention of forest fires
- Contact a provincial forestry association for teaching materials (Ontario Forestry Association www.oforest.ca)
About the Northeast Superior Forest Community
The NSFC is a partnership between six municipalities; Manitouwadge, White River, Hornepayne, Dubreuilville, Wawa, and Chapleau, as well as the Northeast Superior Regional Chiefs Forum which represents Chapleau Cree, Brunswick House, Michipicoten, Missanabie Cree, Pic Mobert, and Hornepayne First Nations. The NSFC is also one of 11 Forest Community sites funded by Natural Resources Canada’s Forest Communities Program, and part of a network of 14 sites across the country who combine to form the Canadian Model Forest Network (CMFN).
