So, This is Alberta!

While you’re hopping from web page to webpage, you might encounter a few terms here and there that’ll slacken the ol’ jawbone. Never fear, Raven’s here to help you increase your word power! Try some of these out next time you’re standing in line at the grocery store!

Blow down – This term more or less means exactly what it says. Blow down refers to the whole violent-wind-and-tree dynamic, and it is a process that is more likely to happen as a result of logging. If a stand of forest is thinned too much by logging, the trees who up until then were letting all the outside trees take the brunt of the weather will suddenly find themselves exposed, and not rooted enough to keep from getting blown down.

Clearcutting – Essentially, an activity that takes place after an eviction notice has been served to anyone who lives in a tree; this term is used by forestry companies when they remove all the trees from a designated area of forested land. However, it should be noted here that clearcutting is not the same as deforestation. Deforestation is the removal of trees from a forested area with no intention of trees ever growing on that land again. Modern clearcutting methods involve the harvesting of mature trees from an area, and the subsequent replanting of new trees, or reforesttation (see cutblocks, reforestation).

Constituency and constituents – Hmph, try saying those with a lisp. In political circles, Alberta is divided up into constituencies. A constituency is a district represented by a single member in a Legislature. Come election time, the people who live in a constituency get to choose which party or individual they would like to represent them in Legislature or Parliament. These people are known as constituents. It is usually to a politician’s advantage to be nice to these folks.

Cutblocks – What Baby might do if left with the scissors; also, a term used by the forestry industry when describing a harvested patch of forested land. Unharvested patches are called leave blocks.

Debt – What Alberta used to have up until 2004; a debt is a state or condition in which a province owes (and is obligated to pay back) money it has borrowed from elsewhere. By 1993, Alberta’s gross debt was a staggering $22.7 billion! Fortunately, strong oil revenues allowed the provincial government to wipe out the debt. It remains to be seen if Alberta can remain debt-free. It has been debt free once before.

Deficit – A deficit is the last thing any provincial treasurer wants to have to deal with. Essentially, a deficit comes about when a province spends more money than it actually has. The negative difference between the money spent and the actual money available to spend is the deficit. Deficit spending, of course, can put a province in some serious debt, if left unchecked. Alberta’s Progressive Conservative government under Ralph Klein eliminated its deficit back in 1997, which means that ever since that year, the province has only spent the money it knows it has!

Flora – A good looking raven I once met, but never mind that. Flora was actually the name of the ancient Roman goddess of flowers and spring, and it was decided at some point that this little Latin word would be applied when referring to the plants of a particular region. Hence, when we speak of the flora of Alberta, we are basically talking about the plants of Alberta, but sounding more intellectual while we do it!

Fauna – If you just read the passage on flora above, then you may have guessed that Fauna is another one of those crazy Latin words. Originally, Fauna was the name of yet another Roman goddess, a rural goddess who was the wife of a rural god named Faunus. Nowadays, the word fauna is applied when referring to the animals of a particular region – and in Alberta, that includes ravens!

Green Area – Your face if you eat too much junk food! Actually, Green Area is a term used in Alberta referring to a specific use of designated public land. Public land in Alberta is divided under two broad use designations: Green Area and White Area. Generally, lands in the Green Area are more remote, have lower quality soils and have a more varied topography than White Area lands (see White Area below!). The Green Area is non-settled land managed primarily for timber production, but other uses are permitted. Intensive activities involving settlement or agricultural development are restricted because the land base is required for forest production and there is a high cost for providing services such as roads.

Hansard staff – You might be thinking that this term refers to Hansard’s employees, but you would be wrong in that assumption! Better let me do the thinking on this one. Actually, Hansard is a term referring to the printed record of proceedings in the Legislative Assembly – sort of like minutes taken in a board meeting. Hansard staff are the people who compile the notes and distribute them to government officials. Hansard, by the way, is named after Luke Hansard, the first person to take such notes for the House of Commons in Great Britain.

Horse-logging – Hopefully you haven’t come up with some gruesome image of woodsmen going out to chop down horses. Horse-logging is basically an old style of logging in which felled trees are dragged away by horses. It is a very slow method of logging, and employed in areas of forest too difficult for mechanical vehicles equipment to access.

Housing starts – What tends to take place before housing finishes (hyuk); seriously, though, housing starts is a reference term for the number of residential building permits issued for the construction of new homes in a certain area during a particular time period. The number of housing starts recorded is considered to be an indicator of construction activity and is used as a measure of how well an area is doing financially.

Nanotechnology – The opposite of yeahyestechnology. Well, no. Nanotechnology is the “science of small”, and involves the study and development of devices or components that have the size of only a few nanometres. In other words, nanotechnology is the science of really, really, really small machines (really!). How small is a nanometre, you ask? Well, try to imagine a blender that is only one millionth of a millimetre, and you start to get the idea. Just try not to inhale!

Natural Region - A natural region is a land area that contains similar plant and animal species. Natural regions are defined by the visible features of an area, while ecoregions are defined by environmental, geological and geographical factors. Ecoregions and natural regions generally overlap, but are not the same. The Province of Alberta is divided into 6 natural regions: Boreal Forest, Parkland, Grassland, Foothills, Canadian Shield, and Rocky Mountain. Each natural region can be further broken down into several subregions (see subregion).

Non-renewable - A library book you’re allowed to borrow only once; actually, non-renewable is one of two major classifications applied to the Earth’s natural resources. Non-renewable resources are those resources that cannot be replenished in a short period of time after they are used. Coal, petroleum, natural gas and propane, are all considered non-renewable resources because they take millions of years to form (and humans are using them up a lot faster than that!). Natural resources that can be quickly replenished are called – you guessed it – renewable resources (see renewable).

Recession - To cession again. Actually, a recession is another one of those things the Alberta Premier and Minister of Finance would rather not have to deal with. In general terms, a recession is an overall slowing down of economic activity in a particular area. From the mid 1980s to the early 1900s, Alberta experienced several recessions due to a drop in oil revenues. Alberta recovered from these when the price of oil increased.

Reforestation - You can probably guess what this term means! Reforestation is the process of reestablishing a forest through planting and / or seeding. Modern forestry practices demand that an area that has been harvested of trees be replanted to establish a new forest.

Renewable – Renewable is a term applied to natural resources, and refers to those resources that can be renewed or replenished in a short period of time, either through naturally occurring processes or by human intervention. Air, water, and forests are all considered renewable resources (so are library books!).

Selective logging - as opposed to clearcutting, which harvests all of the trees in a designated forest area, selective logging is a process employed by logging companies that involves cutting down trees based on certain criteria (height, trunk diameter, species, etc.). It can be a controversial process as it involves removing the best trees from an area, and reducing the overall quality of seedstock (or the potential regrowth of quality trees) in a tract of forest.

Subregion – A place where submarines go to spawn; also, in ecological terms, it is a place in a natural region that contains similar plant and animal species (see natural region). Think of a natural region that is more specific in terms of plant and animal species – each subsequent subregion becomes more specific in terms of the plant and animal life that exists there.

Wet gas – The state gas is in after a quick dip in the swimming pool; wet gas is raw (as compared to cooked?) natural gas that contains high concentrations of natural gas liquids, like propane.

White area - In Alberta, White Area is public land designated for settlement, as opposed to Green Area, which is remote forested land usually set aside for logging. In the White Area the types of acceptable uses are usually less restrictive than in the Green Area. However, it may be difficult to find suitable land that is available (see Green Area).