Come visit the amazing world of Trembling Aspen, Canada's most widely distributed tree species in a talk by local Prince George resident James Steidle. We will cover the vast range of this important species, both geographically, genetically, and temporally, and investigate some of its widely known attributes, as well as some of its lesser known.  We will visit the oldest and largest organism on the planet, an aspen forest in Utah, and talk about the importance of aspen to our northern forests. Covering forage, biodiversity and wildfire studies we will argue that the presence of aspen can have a large impact on the biological productivity of our forests, in addition to the likelihood and severity of wildfire.  Like other broadleaf species, aspen also have remarkable properties in maintaining soil health and collecting and storing water.  The talk will also cover aspen's biophyisical characteristics that make aspen forests a powerful climate change fighting tool, the threats facing aspen, as well as their economic and cultural value.

The Natural Resources & Environmental Studies Institute (NRESi) at UNBC hosts a weekly lecture series at the Prince George campus. Anyone from the university or wider community with interest in the topic area is welcome to attend. Presentations are also made available to remote participants through Livestream (Channel 1). Go to http://www.unbc.ca/nres-institute/colloquium-webcasts to view the presentation remotely.

Past NRESi colloquium presentations and special lectures can be viewed on our video archive, available here.