Appalachian education

A new website that is nearing completion will provide a coherent and succinct description of the geology, ecology and anthropological features of the Appalachian-Caledonian Orogeny.

The website is a project of the Cabox Collaborative, a research and teaching and learning collaboration between the Cabox Geopark, Grenfell Campus, Memorial University, the Canadian Forest Service and the College of the North Atlantic, along with other national and international partners. The International Appalachian Trail Newfoundland and Labrador (IATNL) is the primary proponent of Cabox Geopark.

The project aims to develop an educational website designed to identify, compile and present the geological, ecological and anthropological features of the international Appalachian-Caledonian region, from the southeastern United States to Newfoundland, and across the Atlantic Ocean to Greenland, Ireland, the United Kingdom and Norway. Emphasis will be placed on global, regional and local characteristics and the relationship between them.

"Our audience is anyone who wants to be educated on the Appalachian-Caledonian corridor on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as tourists and tourism operators of that corridor," said Paul Wylezol, Cabox Geopark chairperson. "The project will promote more education and tourism cooperation with our Appalachian partners – Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) and Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) - as well as our northern periphery Geopark partners."

So far work has been completed on the general layout of the website, he said, adding that well-known Canadian geologist John Waldron and students at the University of Alberta will complete the geology shape files for the GIS component. Next fall and winter more GIS layers will be added, with a view to finishing the first round of the project by June 2022.

The project is supported by the Governments of Canada and Newfoundland and Labrador, and the City of Corner Brook.

For more information, email caboxgeopark@gmail.com.