I can’t believe this is my last week with Weyerhaeuser!

August 20, 2013 11:59 am Published by Dana Aljanaby Leave your thoughts

I can’t believe this is my last week with Weyerhaeuser! Time has flown by – it seems like last week I had arrived in Grande Prairie. After my last week, I’m heading out to William’s Lake, BC for a week long fall camp – a field school requirement for school, which I’m really looking forward to. From there, it’s back to Vancouver for my final year of my degree!

 I took a solo trip down to Edmonton for the August long weekend, visited a friend, went to the huge Heritage Day festival, and watched an outdoor movie in the park.

The week after I got back, I teamed up with our silviculture supervisor, Angie, on some herbicide projects – both aerial and backpack. The aerial herbicide spray was really interesting to observe. There are weather monitors on land at all times, as the spray can only be done within a strict window of weather conditions. For example, if winds surpass 8km per hour or humidity below 45%, the spray is stopped for the time being.

There were 4 helicopters flying over two nearby areas at the same time, with someone directing them exactly where to spray using a radio system. The helicopters would land on top of a mixing truck to fill up on spray, and then take off to release the spray using the GPS systems equipped inside.

The herbicide spray is usually done a few years after reforestation, to suppress any deciduous trees and shrubs and promote conifer (pine and spruce) growth. After one spray, the conifers have gotten enough advantage that the area usually doesn’t need to be sprayed again. One of the pilots was even nice enough to take me for a spin on a chopper! I was pretty excited about that – it was something I had been hoping that I would get the chance to do when I found out I landed my forestry internship!

This week I’m doing odd projects in the office, with a field day later in the week and a day to wrap up the internship – an exit interview, paperwork, saying good-byes to all my awesome co-workers, and so forth. They even hooked me up with some Weyerhaeuser swag – a thermos, coffee mug, and t-shirt I’ll be sure to represent! I’ll be pretty busy this week cleaning up the residence and packing up to leave the city and hit the road early Saturday morning – which I have mixed feelings about! Who knows, maybe I’ll work for Weyerhaeuser after I graduate!

            I also wanted to once again extend my gratitude to FPAC for giving all of us interns such an amazing opportunity and such beneficial experience towards our future careers! I know Weyerhaeuser is onboard for a few more summer students next year, so keep your eyes open guys! And to all who have kept up with my blog, you rock.

Well Grande Prairie, it’s been a slice!