A Living Lab for Hands-on Learning
The Skattebo Education Forest (SEF) covers 285 hectares along the east shore of the Kootenay River. Since the Province of BC granted the land to Selkirk College in 1999, it has been an outdoor classroom with a variety of vegetation, shrubs, wildlife and tree species where students in Forest Technology, Recreation, Fish and Wildlife, Integrated Environmental Planning and other programs can get hands-on experience.
Wildfire Mitigation
Wildfire mitigation is an important aspect of our stewardship of the SEF. We are committed to reducing risks to adjacent public land, Crown timber and neighbouring private land, including the community of Glade.
Update
Fuel-reduction treatment in the SEF is ongoing. This is a continuation of our efforts to reduce fire hazard and study the effects of different treatments on small mammal populations and forest structure using camera traps and drone imagery.
Access through the SEF will be closed Monday through Thursday from November 27, 2023, until early February 2024 to safely carry out this work.
Please obey all posted road and trail signs.
Fuel-management project
Following our first fuel management treatment, which was completed in 2022, Selkirk College, in conjunction with Cabin Resource Management and AGROFOR, has completed the planning for the start of the second phase. Stay tuned for more information about the field trials and the results from these studies.
Selkirk College acknowledges the support of Columbia Basin Trust and the Province of BC in aiding with these treatments.
Fire crew training
Local crews from the BC Wildfire Service often use the forest as part of their pre- and post-fire season training, including danger tree assessment and brushing the main road.
Ecology
The SEF is classified as a West Kootenay Dry Warm Interior Cedar-Hemlock (ICHdw1) forest, with moist, warm springs, hot to very hot, dry summers, and mild, dry winters. Snowpack is typically moderately shallow.
The forest is home to a variety of shrubs, vegetation and wildlife. Numerous tree species include cedar, Douglas fir, western hemlock, lodgepole pine, grand fir, western white pine, western larch and ponderosa pine.