Enjoying the Wild
August 4, 2015 1:45 pm Leave your thoughts
There is fulfillment in walking the pathless woods, listening to the trees sway in the wind and the birds call out above your head. Walking through the forest, which often has been left undisturbed from human activity aside from the odd hunter or trapper, is my absolute favourite part of working within the forestry industry. I have had the luxury of finding wild berries as I weave my way through the forest. On a daily basis I’m consuming raspberries, dewberries and on the luckiest of days Saskatoon berries. Some days it seems as if I come across enough that it’s almost irrelevant to pack a lunch and bring it from home. Before this summer I had never had the opportunity to try Saskatoon berries, but I must admit I was hooked after my first one – to anyone reading this, if you have not tried them before I highly suggest you do !
The FMA is so large that some days we are driving anywhere from thirty minutes to an hour to get to our location(s). On these drives we often come across wildlife, whether it be on the side of the road or on some occasions in the middle of the road. When the grouse are not scaring me as I stumble upon one of their nests in the forest, I can find them standing in the middle of the road unwilling to move for my F150 truck. There has been a few times now where I have had to completely stop, honk my horn, or even get out of my truck and chase them off the road. Other forms of wildlife such as deer, moose and bears are much more exciting to find along the drive. Just last week as we were travelling down the Star Lake Road, we had a sow and two cubs run out within ten feet of our truck. For someone who doesn’t come across bears very often I was very excited to see the little baby bears as they followed their mother to safety across the road and into the forest far away from us. If this wasn’t exciting enough, the next day as we were driving down another road we came across a moose and two calves. We slowed down as we drove past them, to which the mother looked up and stared as the calves hid behind her. I truly enjoy wildlife and having the opportunity to come across them on my day-to-day adventures at work – mind you seeing them from the truck is far less intimidating than coming across them in the bush.
As I have noted in the past, my job as forest management last year with Simcoe was very different than what I have been experiencing here with Weyerhaeuser. I had never really had the opportunity to witness a forest being harvested or the operations and machinery behind it. For example, about a month ago, Logan and I were sent to ribbon buffers at a new cut block referred to as Mile 38. We spent quite a few days there, walking the forest and following the meandering creek. As harvesting began, the logging contractors designated for Mile 38 began their road construction and moved quickly throughout what had just seemed like forested land. Last week as I went up to lay out more buffers for newly found creeks at Mile 38, I was in awe at how quickly these operations moved and just how different the landscape had changed from what I had remembered. The machines used and the efficiency implemented into their worked amazed me and to say the least I was in shock as to how much work they had completed within only two weeks. If you had asked me how I felt towards this particular sight in my first year of university I would have been upset and/or disgusted at the “deforestation” with my ignorant mindset towards logging operations. Now I understand and have had the opportunity to see the efficiency and accuracy behind each machine, operations and movement that each player within the logging industry puts forth. Experiences such as these have given me the opportunity to enhance my knowledge and understanding to which I will more than likely be referring to in my future studies and career.
