Ontario Forest Ranger School

• Ontario Forest Ranger School

• Forest Ranger School

• Ontario Forest Technical School

The Ontario Forest Ranger School was created in 1945 as a partnership between the Department of Lands and Forests and the Board of Governors of the University of Toronto. The school was situated on St. Nora's lake in Sherborne Township, Haliburton, and was surrounded by the University of Toronto Forest - 11,000 acres of land managed as a teaching forest by the University of Toronto's Faculty of Forestry.

By agreement, the Department of Lands and Forests built and maintained the school facilities, provided a Ranger, laid out trails, selected men to attend, and paid the teaching staff and a superintendent. The University of Toronto prepared a survey and working plan of the area, provided teaching staff, field courses and instruction, and managed the area and buildings. An advisory council was formed to govern matters such as policy, entrance requirements, fees, discipline, and the awarding of diplomas. The council consisted of representatives of the Crown, the University of Toronto, and forest industries.

Courses had already begun in temporary facilities at Sherwood Forest Camp as early as 1943, with an initial cohort of 37 students from within the Department of Lands and Forests. The purpose of the school was to train employees of the Department of Lands and Forests, forestry students of the University of Toronto, and employees of forest industry in the Province of Ontario. A policy change in 1960 brought the number of students accepted annually up from 80 to 120 and encouraged candidates from a wider range of backgrounds to apply.

The general diploma program included a general curriculum in mathematics, drafting, and writing in addition to courses in forest protection, fish and wildlife, surveying, timber management, aerial photography, and camp construction, among others. In addition to students enrolled in the general diploma course, the facilities of the Ontario Forest Ranger School were available to outside organizations and groups including the faculties of Forestry and Engineering at the University of Toronto, Ontario Guides, fish and wildlife specialists, Royal Ontario Museum staff, and others.

In 1966 the Ontario Forest Ranger School was renamed the Ontario Forest Technical School. It continued to offer the general diploma course, but with a broader natural resources management curriculum. The school closed in 1968, after which training in resources management was left to community colleges. In 1974 the campus was reopened as the Leslie M. Frost Natural Resources Centre.

The Ontario Forest Ranger School was a forest management training school. It was initially conceived as a training centre for Department of Lands and Forests staff and a field camp for University of Toronto Faculty of Forestry students. Eventually the general diploma course in resource management was opened to candidates from outside of government.

An agreement between the Department of Lands and Forests and the Board of Governors of the University of Toronto providing for the creation and joint administration of the Ontario Forest Ranger School was approved by an Order in Council dated November 27, 1945.

RAD: Rules for Archival Description, 2nd edn (2008)

2026-11-16: migrated to AtoM

Ontario Department of Lands and Forests, Operations Branch, “Department of Lands and Forests. Ontario Forest Ranger School, Dorset. History and organization of the school, established in the fall of 1943,” 1964-1967, Box 4, File 1, RG 1-485-1 Hundred Year History Committee research files, Archives of Ontario.

W.R. Haddow, “A Brief Historical and Descriptive Account of the Ontario Forest Ranger School and the University of Toronto Forest Area,” 1947, Box 53, File 94, RG 1-654 Leslie M. Frost Natural Resources Centre, Archives of Ontario.

Lisa Harrison, “Frost Centre historical landmark,” The Highlander, February 13, 2013, http://haliburtonhighlander.ca/2013/02/13/frost-centre-historical-landmark/.

Q.F. Hess, “A Brief History of the Ontario Forest Ranger School,” 1964, Box 53, File 94, RG 1-654 Leslie M. Frost Natural Resources Centre, Archives of Ontario.

Archivist(s):
Harrison