Integrating Malcolm Knapp Research Forest Ecosystem Maps in Teaching and Learning in Forestry

The objective of the project is to enhance the teaching and learning environment for Faculty of Forestry students by providing them with a set of tools that they can use to solve real life, practical problems in the excellent environment provided by Malcolm Knapp Research Forest (MKRF). MKRF is one of four research forests in British Columbia, established by a Crown grant in 1949 as a facility for research, demonstration, and education in the field of Forestry and allied sciences. Currently, MKRF is used by over 300 UBC students on a yearly basis for various courses and field schools. Almost all courses and exercises in the Research Forest use as a starting point the ecosystem maps that summarize the environmental conditions on which all forest management decisions are based.

Although the ecosystem map of the research forest exists as a hardcopy, it is not available to students and instructors to be used as a spatially enabled, digital ecological framework. To achieve the objective mentioned above, an interactive CD-ROM and a web site will be created, providing the students with an ecosystem map with visuals and descriptive information in a GIS format as well and self-learning modules and exercises. This will enable the students to: (i) gain knowledge of basic ecology within an ecological framework; (ii) gain knowledge of the interrelationships between vegetation and site; (iii) apply the site identification skills they learned with instant feedback; (iv) do case and simulation studies in applied Forestry courses, that utilize site information and GIS technology.

John Innes, Forest Resources Management, Faculty of Forestry
Karel Klinka, Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Forestry
Paul Lawson, Manager, Malcolm Knapp Research Forest, Faculty of Forestry
Ionut Aron, Research Coordinator, Malcolm Knapp Research Forest, Faculty of Forestry