Off Campus Facilities

The Breton Plots were established in 1929 near the village of Breton, 100 km southwest of Edmonton, by the Department of Soils, University of Alberta. These plots were originally designed to find a system of farming suitable for the gray-wooded soil belt. These soils are now known as Gray Luvisolic soils and occur in the northern interior plains of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. Today, the Breton Plots provide a model of how diverse cropping practices affect typical Gray Luvisolic soils.

Breton Plots Website


The EMEND Site and Research Station (Ecosystem Management Emulating Natural Disturbance) is located 90 km north west of Peace River. This research site hosts a ground-breaking 80- to 100-year study that is testing assumptions about the effectiveness of natural disturbance-based ecosystem management. Established in 1998 the site has been the focus of studies on forest regeneration and dynamics, fire history, forest productivity, deadwood dynamics, soils, biodiversity (plants, invertebrates, vertebrates, microbes).

Emend Project Website


The George Lake Research Site, located one hour north-west of Edmonton, is well equipped for studying forest and aquatic ecosystems. A permanent research station has a kitchen, lab and sleeping areas, and is equipped with tools and an array of supplies and field research equipment. Aspen dominated forest surrounds the site and is the ideal place for small-scale labour intensive experiments. Numerous ponds in the area and George Lake itself are ideal for aquatic studies


The Woodbend Forest is a 160 acre block located on Highway 16 north of Devon near the University of Alberta Devonian Botanic Gardens. The area consists of low sandy ridges covered with aspen, white spruce, jack pine, interspersed by bogs and marshes. The area was given to the University in 1959 by Imperial Oil Limited and has been administered since 1980 by the Department of Renewable Resources. It is used for teaching and research, and managed to maintain its wildland and forest character.