May 29, 2015 9:59 am 1 Comment
Intro
My name is Devin and I have just finished my first two weeks working for West Fraser’s 100 mile office. I am working in the Planning and Development department.
I applied for the internship way back in October. Two employees from West Fraser then came to my school,
May 29, 2015 9:55 am 2 Comments
I’ve only had 9 days in my new office and I can already tell this is going to be the most educational, fun and memorable summer I’ve spent with West Fraser. In nine days I’ve expanded my accounting knowledge, explored my new town, and got to meet many new people. This is my third summer with West Fraser but my first in Quesnel.
May 29, 2015 9:55 am Leave your thoughts
Hi there, my name is Robert Bellamy and I have just completed the first year of my Forestry degree at the University of Alberta.
Now that school’s out, I look forward to my summer employment in Slave Lake, Alberta at the Tolko Industries’ Athabasca division. I worked there last summer and fortunately I was invited back, as I had such an awesome time and I expect this summer will be just as good if not better.
May 29, 2015 9:53 am 1 Comment
Hi, my name is Joe Silva. I’m originally from Cambridge, ON, and I’m working for the summer in Hinton, Alberta as a Silviculture Summer Student with West Fraser. I just finished my first year studying Natural Resources Management at Lakehead University. I was very fortunate to obtain a position with West Fraser for the summer to learn the ins and outs of the forest industry.
May 28, 2015 4:53 pm 1 Comment
Transitioning back from the skyscrapers of Montreal to the towering spruce and pine of Grande Prairie, Alberta has always been a welcomed experience for me. After finishing a fourth year (out of five) of Mechanical Engineering at McGill University, I packed up my summer clothes and headed home for another internship at the always inviting Weyerhaeuser pulp mill. Although I’m just finishing up the first couple weeks of my engineering internship here,
March 16, 2015 11:59 am Leave your thoughts
In 2011, FPAC published a report entitled Renewing Canada’s Greenest Workforce, which indicates that over half of the sector’ workforce is over the age of 45, and that about one-third of the sector’s workers will retire in the next decade. And within the existing workforce, 85% is male, and just over 6% are of Aboriginal descent.
February 10, 2015 9:39 am 1 Comment
There is no denying the economic outlook in forestry has shifted in recent years to one of decided optimism. With international markets like China and Japan driving demand, increasing harvest levels, active research into alternative and innovative uses for wood, it would appear forestry is an appealing sector that can readily attract the next generation’s young and bright minds. But experience would often suggest otherwise.
December 11, 2014 5:24 pm Leave your thoughts
This is now my second summer living in Peace River and I’m glad to be back. Last summer I got an internship with Daishowa Marubeni International by winning a contest put on by the greenest workforce called the green dream contest, where students interested in a career in forestry could win an internship with a forestry company. The summer was great and I learned a lot about forestry and the various programs that DMI is involved with that are helping to develop a better understanding of Alberta’s forest ecosystems.
September 11, 2014 2:38 pm Leave your thoughts
In the last weeks of this internship, the herbicide program is ongoing, with long days spent in the field at the mercy of the weather. Luckily, however, one more amazing experience was scheduled into my summer: a day spent with the Director of Environmental and First Nations Relations, Chris McDonell. On this day, we travelled into the heart of the Chapleau Game Preserve to attend a gathering of the Missanabie Cree.
September 11, 2014 11:42 am Leave your thoughts
Well guys, I guess this is my final blog of the summer; I’m still in disbelief that it’s over. I know it sounds cheesy but it literally feels like yesterday I started my internship with Weyerhaeuser. The last week was probably one of the calmest weeks of the entire summer. Completing lots of wrap up tasks, compiling the herbicide data and washing a ton of mud off the quads and pickups.
September 8, 2014 10:09 am Leave your thoughts
Hello fellow interns and readers. My summer has come to an end, and a good one it has been. I know I am down one blog, but the herbicide spray program took my time and focus, with long hours and tiring days. For the past two weeks, I was able to fly in a helicopter every day and get the experience of running a crew of people.
September 8, 2014 10:04 am Leave your thoughts
First things first, I would like to acknowledge all the inspiring blog writing from this summer’s Green Dream interns. With some down time every now and then, I love to check up on all your blogs and read what you’ve been up to this summer. All of your posts about your exciting experiences this summer have inspired my own, and been an absolute pleasure to read.
September 8, 2014 9:57 am Leave your thoughts
One would think that spending hour after hour driving a quad on rough roads would be physically exhausting. I find that it is a lot more mentally draining, though, especially when I am center-lining roads. To get accurate GPS data, I have to quad pretty slowly (anywhere from 2 km/h to about 15 km/h, depending on how open the road is).
September 2, 2014 3:06 pm Leave your thoughts
There was a time when I thought that I would never be able to build a career at home in Vernon. I hadn’t even dreamed of coming back here to pursue a job related to my studies at the University of Calgary. I didn’t know that there were opportunities.
Last year, my final blog entry was about opportunity.
September 2, 2014 2:54 pm Leave your thoughts
I feel bad for my friends and family.
I’ll admit that I won’t stop talking about Tolko. Every time I see Tolko lumber wrappers passing by on the highway, or catch our product on the local train line, I have to mention it. You’ll definitely hear me gushing about our veneer too. If your house is made in part with Tolko Oriented Strand Board from our state-of-the-art operations in Meadow Lake,
September 2, 2014 2:22 pm Leave your thoughts
After 2 months and over 8 million trees, the tree plant has finally wrapped and the 60 planters that reforested the Martel and Romeo Mallette are finally able to return to the comforts of home….and here my co-workers and I remain in Northern Ontario to continue tending the forests managed by Tembec. The tree plant was an amazing opportunity to get a first hand account of one of the most important parts of forest stewardship- silviculture.
September 2, 2014 2:02 pm Leave your thoughts
The tree plant was not only an incredible opportunity to meet and interact with a variety of people through the tree planters, but also a way to discover, first hand, the many different ecosystems that the Boreal Forest holds within it.
Working in this forest is very different from the temperate rainforests I have studied on Vancouver Island.
August 26, 2014 1:53 pm Leave your thoughts
For the final few weeks of my internship with Weyerhaeuser Princeton, I have been working on my own project surveying the survival of some of the trees that were planted this past planting season. Specifically one of the variants of Lodgepole pine that was planted has been experiencing high rates of mortality, so I have been surveying the blocks that contain these pine to determine the scope of the loss,
August 22, 2014 11:12 am Leave your thoughts
These past two weeks I’ve been assisting with Weyerhaeuser’s aerial herbicide project. It was very unique task; I had the opportunity to stay in a camp, which was an awesome experience. The camp lifestyle took a bit of adjusting; my primary job during the spray was weather monitoring. This entailed getting up at 4:30 a.m. every morning and driving out to the cut block.
August 22, 2014 10:54 am Leave your thoughts
Have you dreamed big when it comes to home ownership? Have you ever dreamed of buying some land and building a house?
I certainly do. If you’re like me, you might dream of buying a swanky condo. Maybe sometime in the more distant future, I’d like to settle down and build a house with an attached garage, wraparound veranda and a white picket fence.
August 22, 2014 10:53 am Leave your thoughts
This is Jeremy, and I’m dreaming big at Tolko once again!
I’m dreaming of finding affordable rent when I graduate from school, and having money left over at the end of the month to do the things that I love to do!
Right now, I’m going to school in the awesome, booming city of Calgary, just seven hours east of Vernon.
August 22, 2014 10:51 am Leave your thoughts
This summer, I’m dreaming big about playing a role in an industry in growth mode.
I have to admit that it feels great to take part in a company that is expanding. Earlier this summer, I was proud to see the grand re-opening of Tolko’s state-of-the-art Athabasca Division which produces oriented strand board (OSB). The Athabasca Division is one of the most advanced facilities in the world and employs over 100 people in Slave Lake,
August 22, 2014 10:39 am Leave your thoughts
This is a recording of the avian dinosaurs we share the bogs with. They are a very regular reminder of the fact that the world we reside in is both ancient and magical.
This call is made by Sandhill Cranes, which have fossil records dating back 10 million years. During this time, these birds have remained structurally unchanged,
August 22, 2014 10:34 am Leave your thoughts
It is impossible to think about doing a summer in the North of Canada without mentioning the bugs….Wow. Never in my life have I ever experienced anything like the hordes of swarming, biting, aggressive insect life of this forest!
Around the middle of June, the blackflies began making the appearance known on the blocks, climbing under long sleeves and bandanas,
August 19, 2014 9:14 am Leave your thoughts
While working on my projects this summer, one of the strongest takeaway lessons I’ve learned is the reality of trial and error in the real world. As a student, we learn by generating results from controlled tests, usually designed by TAs: all variables are in place, controls accounted for and results already predicted. While carrying out labs and experiments in school,