SALMTEC Shop

Welcome to the SALMTEC shop! Our students often ask where to get the items we talk about in our courses.    You asked, we deliver! These are some of our top picks. Stay tuned for product comparisons and reviews.

Wetland Assessments

Handheld EC Meter

This small EC metre is perfect for testing the salinity type of Alberta’s wetlands, because it has a range of 0-9990 µS. This covers 4 of the 6 salinity categories in AWCS. Anything above that then I may rely on veg or AGRASID indicators.

Fiberglass Measuring Tape 50m

This 50m tape is ideal to delineate transects or plot boundaries, as it is small, lightweight and durable. Plus it is orange, so less-likely to get lost.

Munsel Color Matching Tool

Take the subjectivity out of soil Munsell colour coding with this tool.

pH Meter

This small, lightweight pH metre comes with a carrying case, and some calibration solutions.

Soil Sampling Probe 20"

In addition to the perfect length (plus 20cm core view), this soil probe is designed to prevent soil clogs with the tapered end, and has soft handles.

Vegetation Assessments

Plant Press solid wood sides, 18" x 12"

Includes two press boards, two straps with buckles, 12 ventilators, and 12 blotters

Plant press, hardwood slats, 12 x 18"

Slatted sides, straps and buckles. Works with any 12 x 18″ driers and ventilators, not included.

Hori knife with sheath and sharpener

12″ Stainless Steel
Great for checking the root structure of plants. Small soil pits or digging holes when nature calls.

Hand Lense, 15X magnification 23mm

15 x is a great magnification for field-level vascular plant identification. The 23mm lens offers a broader field of view.

Adhesive ruler, metric/imperial 90cm

Great to stick on to another piece of gear or book so you always have your ruler with you. Can be cut to length

Fold up magnifier with scale

Portable and handy magnifier provides scale reference when viewing and photographing small plant and soil features.

Folding Ruler

Foldable rulers allow you to modify the dimensions for a 1m X 1m plot or a Daubenmire plot (20cm X 50cm), and the ruler is handy when determining percent covers.

Plant press extra blotters

Don’t overlook your blotters, as they help to keep specimens dry, which serves to prevent fungal growth and specimen deterioration.

Microscope ruler

Don’t forget to put a size reference in all your botanical photos. This microscope ruler is handy when taking photographs, as well as measuring plant parts for identification.

Rite in the Rain Book

Plastic front and back cover with coil binding is my favourite Rite in the Rain book. The back cover has a ruler on it and can be used as a scale in photos.

Books

Rare Vascular Plants of Alberta 2nd Ed.

A delightful compendium of beautiful photos, line drawings, maps and easy to read text that makes rare plant surveys a delight. You may need to buy three: one for the office, one for the field and one that you drop into the babbling mountain stream and watch as it floats away…

Vascular Flora of Alberta

A vegetation survey must if you intend to identify an Alberta plant!

Vascular Plants of Alberta Volume 1

A partial adaptation of the Flora of Alberta, by John G. Packer, a co-author of the 1983 Update, who collaborated with Dr. Joyce Gould.

Plant Identification Terminology

Want to learn a new language? This book is a good pre-cursor for botanical surveys.

Plants of the Western Forest

This is one of the last places you can purchase this book! Which is a must for beginner to intermediate botanists.

Mammal Tracks & Sign

A guide to North American Species

Bird Feathers

A guide to North American Species

How to Identify Plants

Great for beginners.

How to Identify Grasses & Grasslike Plants

Great for beginners.

Manual of Grasses for North America

Kindle Edition
Or if you are in the office, check out the online version of Flora of North America by efloras.org  HERE

Field Gear

Bear Spray Safety container

This container will keep your bear spray safe while you drive/ride and even provides some protection against extreme temperatures

Cruiser Vest

Classic button front, with plunging neckline so when you use a carabiner to close the two to gromets, you don’t choke yourself. Also, the backpack pocket is perfect for a 3L water bladder.

Dunlop Boots

My absolute field boot of choice. Can withstand a wetland booter, or changing a flat tire!

Flagging Tape

Biodegradeable, which lasts a couple of seasons.

Rubber Boot Liners

Softer and ankle elastic are less ‘achillese heel-y’ than the blue ones.

Rite in the Rain Sheets

Photocopier Paper 500 sheet

Storage Clipboard Aluminum

Great in wind, rain, snow, sun. You only need one for life…just don’t use it to hold down electric fences while you crawl through and don’t use it to shield your neck from the massive hail just before a lightning storm.

Scale Ruler

1:100, 1:200, 1:250, 1:300, 1:400

Marking Flags

Blue pinflags are great for marking plot corners and individual plants. Don’t forget to remove them after, as they won’t last a winter.

Plot Whiskers

Stake Chaser Markers “Whiskers” 1,000

Merino Wool Buff

Soft wool that doesn’t itch. Thin enough to fit under a hardhat where it is breathable and warm. Then doubled up, the fine weave keeps out mosquito proboscides and black flies.

Water Bladder

3L waterbag with a slide top makes it easy to fill up in a hotel room. Perfect size for slipping into the back pouch of a cruiser vest! Even in a backpack, having the mouthpiece readily available ensures you stay hydrated in the field.

Rain/Heat Poncho

Pack of four should last a lifetime. A compact, yet mighty rain poncho that fits anyone and covers a backpack, for those times you get caught in a torrential downpour and you are in the middle of a massive graminoid fen. Warm & dry.

Fire Starter

Ferro Rod and Carbon Steel Striker Scraper. So, you won’t have to take it out of your backpack (like a lighter) when going through security at the airport, and then forget to put it back.

Leather & Wool Gloves

Great for use when driving quads and rhinos…perfect for trekking through rose bush, devil’s club understories. Keeps  warm in fall to spring and allows you hold a pencil to take notes.

Free Items

4th Edition Invasive Plants of Alberta

Click here to access FREE digital copy.

Click here to order a hardcopy.

Alberta Plant Species List App

Ever find yourself remembering the plant genus but not species name…this handy app can answer a myriad of minutia. Taken from the ACIMS list, this app is currently available for Android Only. Click Here to Download

Alberta's Grassland Multi-tool Video

Short video, extolling the virtues of Alberta’s Grassland Vegetation Inventory.

Wetland Water Cycle Video

WetlandWaterCycleINputsOutputs

Most people have heard of the water cycle, and except for stormwater engineers, most of us think of it globally. This short video presents the wetland water cycle.

Google Earth Pro: View in 3 Dimension

This short video shows users how to view the landscape in 2.5 Dimensions (~3D). How to view a landscape profile.

Fun Stuff

Munsel Soil Color Mug

Learn your Munsell colours by osmosis.

Rainbow Duct Tape

Excellent for rebinding field books.

Mushroom hunting log

We won’t judge you for your Morels

Fun Thing 4

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Fun Thing 5

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