Research Highlights

Wood Science Mobile App

Dr. Mathew Leitch

Dr. Mathew Leitch, Associate Professor, is using 3D maps of individual trees and forest landscapes to provide a unique service. In collaboration with a software company, field information about the quality and volume of wood available in northwestern Ontario is available to both forestry companies and investors.

Dr. Leitch initiated the project eight years ago, in response to an industry request to discover where high and low grades of wood were located. The whole tree mapping project was funded by FedNor, the Northern Ontario Heritage Fun Corporation, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, and the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

As principal investigator, Leitch describes the new tool as a wood scientist in an app that anybody can use.

Managing the Forest Environment to Sustain Water Resources

Dr. Ellie Prepas

Dr.Ellie Prepas, Professor Emerita, studies the long-term impacts of landscape (specially forest) alteration on the hydrological system. As a long-term partner in the Forest Watershed and Riparian Disturbance (FORWARD) project, Dr. Prepas first focused upon the boreal plain along Alberta's Athabasca River. Now her work is concentrated in the Dog River-Matawin forest area of northwestern Ontario.

Dr. Prepas and her team provide assessment tools to industry that help predict what reclaimed environments may look like. Maintaining a healthy forest ecosystem ensures that high-quality water is available to both humans and the natural environment.

For more information on Dr. Prepas, click here

Climate Change Adaptation and Sustainability in Indigenous Communities

Dr. M. A. (Peggy) Smith

Dr. Peggy Smith incorporates the worldview and perspective of Indigenous people when she examines issues such as natural resources management, conservation, and development. She sees a need to listen to the voice of Canada's First Peoples in terms of sustainability in our carbon-constrained world.

Dr. Smith's current research focuses upon the effects of climate change across ten First nations communities in northern Ontario, specifically related to the state of all-weather roads.