Frances Stewart arrived in Upper Canada from Ireland in 1822 with her husband, three children, and two servants. The family settled in Douro Township on the bank of the Otonabee River in 1823. Spanning three-quarters of a century, her letters represent the immigrant experience of one of the first pioneer women in the Peterborough, Ontario, area. Included are transcripts of the extant collection. They chronicle the three stages of Francess life: the years of her childhood in Ireland to her departure for North America; her voyage across the Atlantic and her life in Upper Canada to the time of her husbands death in 1847; and the period of widowhood until her death in 1872. The chapter summaries, annotations, and key passages extracted from letters written by others further the story of Francess nineteenth-century immigrant life. Advance Praise for Revisiting Our Forest Home Presenting the perspective of a cultivated immigrant who refrained from publication, Frances Stewarts articulate letters to her family and friends nicely complement the narratives of her Peterborough neighbours, Susanna Moodie and Catharine Parr Traill. Jodi Aokis intelligent approach to the editorial complexities of the Stewart archive has given us a reliable and welcome volume that makes an important contribution to our understanding of womens lives on the Upper-Canadian frontier. Carole Gerson, University Professor, English Department, Simon Fraser University Revisiting Our Forest Home is a welcome addition to the scholarly record of nineteenth-century writing and letters by immigrant gentlewomen to Upper Canada. To have this well-edited and thoughtful record of Stewarts struggles available is a boon to scholars, old and new. With precision and tenderness, Jodi Aoki brings forward these important and culturally revealing letters. In her hands, the original Our Forest Home, initially a project meant only for family members, becomes a valuable and much fuller record of social and family life in early Ontario. Michael Peterman, Professor Emeritus, Trent University, FRSC

"Rapid and significant changes in British Columbia are greatly affecting the province's forest sector and are leading to an increased demand for reliable, science-based information. To help guide forestry extension programming in the province over the next 5 years, FORREX Forest Research Extension Partnership (FORREX) staff, in partnership with the Forest Investment Account - Forest Science Program, conducted a survey of clients, partners, and contacts. This web-based survey was designed to: (1) identify perceptions regarding the need for forestry extension in British Columbia; (2) characterize information gaps that exist within the forest sector; (3) identify barriers to the incorporation of new information; (4) evaluate information sources and forestry extension services; and (5) seek recommendations regarding the future of forestry extension. In August 205, a 26-question survey was e-mailed to 1368 potential respondents who were selected from the forrex client database. Using a stratified random sampling method, respondents were chosen from nine groups (academia, consultants, federal government, provincial government, First Nations government, major licensees, municipal government, non-government organizations, and "other"). A response rate of 22% was achieved with this survey instrument; the calculated maximum error was 5.4% at a 95% confidence level. All groups agreed that the need for extension services is greater now than it has been in the past 10 years. The greatest perceived barriers to incorporating science into management and decision-making were the lack of formal organizational processes, the profit focus of land managers, and the lack of time and funding to attend extension events. A majority indicated that extension should be paid by some ratio of public funds and cost recovery, although this ratio was not agreed upon. The operational community indicated a preference for accessible, concise information delivered in a timely fashion that does not require significant investments of time to absorb and incorporate. Overall, this survey showed that there is no "one size fits all" approach for forestry extension services. A goal of future extension could best be described in the succinct words of one respondent, "Keep it relevant and bring the newfound information to the user quickly."

"First published in Asia by NUS Press, National University of Singapore."