Seeing the forest through the trees in Mexico

The forestry field tour to Mexico took undergraduate students from the depths of forests to university labs and even industry. Photo by Brad Pinno.

In the mountains of Mexico, trees are harvested differently than in Alberta’s comparatively flat forests.

The logs are cut down and then hoisted up the steep slopes on a powered cable, something ALES fourth-year forestry student Krystina Smid had never seen before.

Part of a visit to a family-run logging operation, the experience was one of her “favourite days” during a forestry field tour to Mexico Feb. 15 to 23, organized by the Department of Renewable Resources.

“They have different machinery than we do, and it was such a good experience to see how other places use different techniques, but have the same outcome as we do,” says Smid, one of 11 undergraduate forestry students who took the trip.

“It was an amazing opportunity to see something new.”

Home to 138 million hectares of trees and a growing number of timber production industries, Mexico offered students a look at different types of forests and forest management, says associate forestry professor Brad Pinno, who co-led the trip with ALES instructor Brian Roth.

“The country has a huge variety of forest ecosystems; we saw five different forest zones going up one mountain. That's not a level of diversity we can show students in Alberta.”

The trip also included visits to the headquarters of Mexico’s National Forestry Commission, a family-run sawmill operation, a research station, a national park and university forestry labs.

“By seeing different ways of practising forestry, students are able to think through and improve on the ways we are doing things,” Pinno says.

“It makes you a better forester where you are.”

The various excursions touched on the country's silvicultural and harvesting methods, which caught Smid’s interest.

She noticed, for example, that the logging operation they visited was only harvesting trees already damaged by pests or disease. Known as salvage logging, the practice differs from the clearcutting approach used in Canadian forestry and allows the forest area to retain more of its ecological integrity.

“Seeing a different management technique reminds you that there are other possibilities; we shouldn’t be complacent about doing things in just one way.”

Smid and her fellow students also visited a lab at the University of Guadalajara where bioplastics were being processed from the underused parts of trees — a “different side of forestry you don’t always think about,” she says.

“It’s a reminder that forestry can be a lot broader than just one product.”

Offered to students through Ren R 401, the trip helped support the course’s goals of exploring forestry production, conservation, sustainable management and community engagement, Pinno says.

“There’s a growing desire for more variety of forestry practices, so we can learn from what others are doing.”

In particular, Mexico is a world leader in community-based forestry, he notes.

“A lot of decisions happen right in individual communities, each managed a bit differently with differing objectives.”

That model of decision-making could inform new ways of practising forestry in Canada, where involving Indigenous communities is becoming more important, he adds.

“Mexico provides a great example of how we can learn to manage forests from a community place.”

As a future forester, Smid plans to apply what she learned on the trip, by staying open to new ways of approaching her work as it evolves.

“I was always thinking, would it be applicable? Could I ever implement that kind of management here? We are now managing for many different groups — forestry companies, the public, Indigenous values.

There’s so much balancing that needs to be done. It’s important to be open to new ideas.”

As part of their course work, Smid and her classmates will also share their experiences during a group presentation to the Alberta School of Forest Science & Management on March 13 and are penning essays reflecting on what they learned from the trip.

“It’s important for them to think about how it links to their other courses or future career goals,” Pinno says. 

“We want our students to critically evaluate what we are doing as foresters and improve it. Experiences like this field tour make it possible.”

The trip was supported through the Scotiabank Mexico Corporate Social Responsibility Fund in support of the Faculty of Agricultural, Life & Environmental Sciences.