Student Experience

The outdoors is our biggest lab

Students in the Forestry Technician program at Algonquin College benefit from Pembroke’s rich timber history and location in the heart of forestry mills and operations. Students participate in first-hand learning in winter and summer through their many field trips and visits to parks and forestry operations. Algonquin Park, Petawawa (National) Research Forest, Renfrew County Forests, and Shaw ‘Old Growth’ Woods are among the many parks and forests found nearby.

Want to be a forest firefighter in Ontario? Read CBC News article.

Eligibility for certification

The education and skills students learn in the Forestry Technician program qualify them for a number of provincial, College and other certificates and licences.

Technology

Forestry is changing. Our program is dedicated to making students workplace ready. To do this, it is the College’s responsibility to deliver not only the key skills traditionally taught to understand and interpret the forest, but also stay astride of emerging technologies that will be driving forestry into the future. A recent example of this is the program’s adoption of an iPad-based suite of silvicultural apps developed by Marty Martelle at MITIG Forestry Services Ltd. Used by government, non-profit organizations and forestry industry professionals.

These apps offer students the opportunity to learn crucial assessment skills relative to tree marking, silvicultural effectiveness, and enhanced FRI data collection with real-time results in the forest. The apps are incredibly intuitive and easy to use, which allows students more time to practice the concepts required to be successful forestry technicians without being distracted by a complicated software learning curve. Using the apps is also very satisfying for both the professors and students in knowing that what is being taught serves as an industry standard, as these apps are used by many of the Sustainable Forest Licensees in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Forest Region.

Applied Research

Algonquin College students from both the Pembroke and Woodroffe campuses have collaborated on two applied research projects related to Muskrat Lake and its surrounding watershed. As part of their study, Forestry Technician students from Algonquin’s Pembroke Campus participated in this research by locating, mapping and collecting winter water samples and compiling water quality depth profiles. The information is gathered for a study of algal blooms in partnership with the local Ministry of Natural Resources and industry partner Algal Taxonomy Inc.

Put your diploma towards further education

Graduates of the Forestry Technician program can apply their diploma credits towards a university degree at partnering universities. We have articulation agreements with the Forestry program at the University of New Brunswick, as well as with several Bachelor of Science degrees at Lakehead University.

Experience a unique varsity sport of forestry skills

Loggersports, a unique varsity sport offered at the Pembroke Campus, recall the skills and traditions of foresters of the past. Both the men’s and women’s teams compete against other college teams in a variety of events, including the axe throw, pole climb, water boil, horizontal and vertical chop, cross-cut saw, chain saw, and log decking. Read more about Algonquin’s Loggersports activities here. To find out more about the Canadian Intercollegiate Lumberjacking Association (CILA) see website: www.cilawoodsmen.ca/