Canfor - Biologist & First Nations Coordinator

Introduction

Forest planning today encompasses many resources and requires a range of highly technical expertise. The business of planning gets more complicated every day and there is an increasing need for specialists to be on the planning team. One of these specialists is a biologist.

Andrew de Vries is the Biologist and First Nations Coordinator for Canfor's Peace Region, working in both Chetwynd and Ft. St. John. Andrew looks after fish and wildlife research and inventory, as well as First Nations concerns such as archaeology and economic development.

Next: The Job

The Job

Canfor's Chetwynd operation has a special kind of forest licence with the government. It is called a Tree Farm Licence or TFL. Compared to other types of forest licences, in a TFL the forest company assumes more responsibility for the care of all the forest resources. One of the activities they handle is inventory. A forest inventory collects information about the forest. Traditionally this meant only counting and collecting data on trees.

Today, Canfor takes the inventory process a step farther and collects data on fish and wildlife populations and habitat. Canfor has had a wildlife biologist on staff at its Vancouver Island TFL since the early 1970's. However Chetwynd is a fairly new TFL and Andrew became its first biologist in 1994. The Chetwynd area is a very intriguing place for a biologist as it is a meeting of southern, western and northern influences. The climate, landforms and vegetation of three very distinct regions meet in Chetwynd. This is illustrated in the diversity of species found by the fish inventory for this area: arctic grayling (a northern fish), pike (a prairie fish) and rainbow trout (a southern species). The same unusual collection of species occurs in wildlife as well. Stone sheep and cougars are usually found in completely separate regions, but here in Chetwynd they share habitat.

Because few people live in northeastern British Columbia and the area is quite undeveloped, there is a relatively poor understanding of the fish and wildlife resources that are here. One of Andrew's first jobs was to develop a program for conducting fish inventories on the TFL. Such data is critical in order to implement the Forest Practices Code (FPC) effectively. BC's FPC contains the rules and regulations which govern forest management in British Columbia. Streams with fish receive special care under the FPC. For example, trees are left along these streams and the banks are carefully protected from disturbance.

The first step in planning for stream care is to find out which streams have fish. To do a fish inventory Andrew and his team wear hip waders, have an "electro- shocker" unit on their backs and carry a collection of fishnets and measuring devices. Hiking through the woods with all this equipment is hot and tiring work. When they find a stream, they send a shock into the water to stun the fish so they can be easily netted. Once netted, all the fish are counted, identified and measured. They soon revive and quickly disappear from sight. The kinds of fish they have been finding have been interesting. For example, the bull trout was the second most common fish in these surveys, this was a surprise as it is threatened.

Once the fish inventory program was in operation, Andrew started a wildlife inventory program. Canfor has been fortunate to have a partnership with Forest Renewal B.C., which has helped to get these inventory programs started. Andrew has initiated wildlife surveys for all sorts of animals from grizzly bears to bats!

In the winter if 1998/99, Andrew oversaw a marten trapping and radio-collaring program which had over a dozen marten live trapped and collared. Andrew's crews have been following the marten's use of a second growth aspen forest. Marten are not typically found in such forests, and so this information helps people to understand what the marten need and how foresters can incorporate their needs into logging plans. For example, they are finding the marten can use this particular second growth forest because large amounts of coarse woody debris were left behind during the original clearing. Although these piles of logs are over 20 years old, the marten really like them for hiding, sleeping and catching mice. This suggests that marten habitat can be planned and developed in second growth by providing the kinds of structure they need. If, for example, logging practices were planned such that brush piles and interspersed older tree patches were left, then marten habitat could co-exist with logging. The results of this research could lead to the development of planning guidelines for enhancing marten habitat.

Andrew has been involved in a third kind of inventory, archeological surveys. These surveys gather information about the cultural and fossil history of the forest. Andrew has an unusual background in that he studied Anthropology in University. This background gave him a good understanding of archaeology and the cultural backgrounds of First Nations people.

When he came to Chetwynd, he offered to help incorporate these concerns into Canfor's forest plans, in addition to his role as biologist.

Andrew uses computer models help predict where possible sites of archeological interest may lie. If any cut blocks are located in areas of high potential, survey teams will go in, do shovel tests and search for any signs of special historical use. They look for items such as dinosaur fossils and tracks, culturally modified trees, stone tools and other First Nations or pioneer artifacts. So far, the survey teams have found some modified trees. Long ago the bark on these trees was stripped and local First Nations used the pith for food. One such tree was estimated to have been stripped in the 1850's. Stone chips called debitage have also been found, indicating a place where stone tools were made. "To date we have excluded areas of debitage from logging and road construction. If we did not, we would have to excavate to remove these resources so they were properly protected," explains Andrew.

Andrew is involved with the development of two joint forest licences between Canfor and the West Moberly First Nations. This is an important opportunity for jobs, training and economic growth for this community.

Next: The Path

The Path

Andrew did lots of hiking, camping and skiing with his family when he was a kid so he always wanted a job that combined the outdoors with work. He wasn't exactly sure what he wanted to do when he got to University but he liked science so he started with that. The Anthropology faculty at the University of Calgary also had a very strong program in primatology (you know the Jane Goodall thing of studying monkeys) and he got hooked on that. He eventually went on to do a Master's degree studying monkeys in Costa Rica.

He laughs, "We had more wildlife in our house than most people see in the jungle… snakes, lizards, tarantulas and nine species of ants!"

He liked Costa Rica but when he got home he knew he wanted to stay in Canada and work with Canadian wildlife. There wasn't a lot demand for a monkey biologist in Canada so it took a while to find a job, but he kept looking. His first job was in environmental consulting where he looked at impacts to fish and wildlife from everything from housing developments to pipelines. He really liked the idea of working in forestry because it is a sustainable business so when the job opened with Canfor in Chetwynd, he jumped at it.

Andrew had three special qualities that proved important in being chosen for the biologist position with Canfor. He had a proven ability to carry out scientific studies, an ability to work in the bush, sometimes in uncomfortable situations, and a good understanding of business and business practices.

Next: That’s Cool

That’s Cool

Growing the forest back after logging is an important part of forest management, but did you know sometimes we can have too many trees growing back?

This stand was clearcut over thirty years ago and then planted with Douglas-fir. It grew back well -- too well in fact! There were so many trees that they were competing with each other for light and space. Competition can make trees grow slowly or die and increase forest health problems.

Foresters can use farming or gardening methods like weeding, spacing, thinning and fertilizing to control competition and therefore help the forest to grow back quickly. Foresters call these: "stand tending" methods.

The new forest established here was thick and the trees were growing very slowly. When the trees were about 15 year old, the forest was spaced. Spacing is when a number of the trees are selectively cut down to decrease competition and allow the remaining standing trees more room to grow.

The spacing done here gave the trees more sunlight, water and nutrients, as well as more space. The aim is to help the trees to grow the best they can on this site. The trees here responded with a significant increase in growth.

Next: Yikes!

Yikes!

Andrew has been lucky enough to work with and even capture all sorts of animals but he has encountered danger too. Everyone knows to be careful around bears and animals with big teeth, but sometimes it's the small, cute animals that really surprise you! "They always seem to know how to get you. I always seem to capture the animals that want to bite me. I once caught a turtle that was so small she fit into my hand, but she hissed and snapped at me like she was a tiger until I dropped her!" reports Andrew.

In the Chetwynd area there is a landform called muskeg, which is a very swampy unstable kind of ground. One day Andrew was doing a frog survey in some muskeg. He recalls, "It was like walking on a waterbed, the ground was moving in waves, suddenly I dropped through. It was so deep I couldn't touch the bottom, and I am over six feet tall!" Getting out of this swamp hole, while wearing hip-waders and carrying equipment, was a difficult and scary experience.

Next: Yuck!

Yuck!

Being a biologist is great but there are some gross times. Andrew reports that, "One of the hazards of being a monkey biologist is that monkeys like to poop on your head when you are underneath their tree!" Andrew thought he got away from this yucky bit by working in Canada. Then one day he had to help carve up rotten moose meat as bait for grizzly bears. That wonderful aroma will attract bears from miles away, but for Andrew everything smelled like "eau de rot" for days afterward.

Next: The Best

The Best

Andrew chose forestry because it is renewable and he can play a role researching and managing and protecting fish, wildlife and archeological resources. He says, "The best thing about being a biologist right now is the technology. All the advances in electronics and computers have made it possible to do things now that we only dreamed about a few years ago." Here are some examples of ways that Andrew is using electronics and computers in his work:

"real time" tracking of marten using Global Positioning Systems (GPS)
identifying bats using ultrasonic detectors, and
mapping habitat with Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

All of this work was virtually impossible a few years ago. Electronics is changing the field of biology dramatically by providing these new and exciting tools.

Next: Advice

Advice

It can be hard to get a job as a biologist because lots of people want to be one. The schooling is important but it is equally important to get out in the forests and learn about all sorts of animals and plants. Andrew advises "There's nothing like hands-on experience in being able to identify all kinds of wildlife. It sounds kind of corny to go bird watching, or to know the names of plants and mosses, but it can be very rewarding and it is very important to a biologist these days". Computer skills and the ability to communicate well are essential. Future biologists must also be prepared to put up with uncomfortable situations like monkey poop, smelly things and vicious turtles!

Next: The Person

The Person

When he is not chasing bats and frogs, Andrew spends his time at home chasing his two small boys. Fatherhood is a busy endeavor. Andrew has a passion for skiing and cannot wait until his boys are old enough to go with him. Windsurfing is another hobby, but time for that is limited (maybe he should have tried it on the muskeg!) Andrew shares a dream common to most biologists, to go on safari in Africa and get a close look at those animals that have fired all of our imaginations since childhood, and in Andrew's case inspired a career.

Next: Questions?

Questions?

If you have any questions about a career as a Biologist, send us an e-mail or visit the or visit the Professional Biologist web site at http://www.apbbc.bc.ca/.

Return to Introduction

Teacher’s Lounge Students Games Tours Library Tree Trivia Forestry Careers Biologist Compliance Management Environmental Technologist Planning and Site Manager General Manager, Paper Marketing Research Scientist Project Leader Forestry Files Contact Us	Forestry Careers Biologist & First Nations Coordinator
	Introduction The Job The Path That’s Cool Yikes! Yuck! The Best Advice The Person Questions?	Introduction Forest planning today encompasses many resources and requires a range of highly technical expertise. The business of planning gets more complicated every day and there is an increasing need for specialists to be on the planning team. One of these specialists is a biologist. Andrew de Vries is the Biologist and First Nations Coordinator for Canfor's Peace Region, working in both Chetwynd and Ft. St. John. Andrew looks after fish and wildlife research and inventory, as well as First Nations concerns such as archaeology and economic development. Next: The Job The Job Canfor's Chetwynd operation has a special kind of forest licence with the government. It is called a Tree Farm Licence or TFL. Compared to other types of forest licences, in a TFL the forest company assumes more responsibility for the care of all the forest resources. One of the activities they handle is inventory. A forest inventory collects information about the forest. Traditionally this meant only counting and collecting data on trees. Today, Canfor takes the inventory process a step farther and collects data on fish and wildlife populations and habitat. Canfor has had a wildlife biologist on staff at its Vancouver Island TFL since the early 1970's. However Chetwynd is a fairly new TFL and Andrew became its first biologist in 1994. The Chetwynd area is a very intriguing place for a biologist as it is a meeting of southern, western and northern influences. The climate, landforms and vegetation of three very distinct regions meet in Chetwynd. This is illustrated in the diversity of species found by the fish inventory for this area: arctic grayling (a northern fish), pike (a prairie fish) and rainbow trout (a southern species). The same unusual collection of species occurs in wildlife as well. Stone sheep and cougars are usually found in completely separate regions, but here in Chetwynd they share habitat. Because few people live in northeastern British Columbia and the area is quite undeveloped, there is a relatively poor understanding of the fish and wildlife resources that are here. One of Andrew's first jobs was to develop a program for conducting fish inventories on the TFL. Such data is critical in order to implement the Forest Practices Code (FPC) effectively. BC's FPC contains the rules and regulations which govern forest management in British Columbia. Streams with fish receive special care under the FPC. For example, trees are left along these streams and the banks are carefully protected from disturbance. The first step in planning for stream care is to find out which streams have fish. To do a fish inventory Andrew and his team wear hip waders, have an "electro- shocker" unit on their backs and carry a collection of fishnets and measuring devices. Hiking through the woods with all this equipment is hot and tiring work. When they find a stream, they send a shock into the water to stun the fish so they can be easily netted. Once netted, all the fish are counted, identified and measured. They soon revive and quickly disappear from sight. The kinds of fish they have been finding have been interesting. For example, the bull trout was the second most common fish in these surveys, this was a surprise as it is threatened. Once the fish inventory program was in operation, Andrew started a wildlife inventory program. Canfor has been fortunate to have a partnership with Forest Renewal B.C., which has helped to get these inventory programs started. Andrew has initiated wildlife surveys for all sorts of animals from grizzly bears to bats! In the winter if 1998/99, Andrew oversaw a marten trapping and radio-collaring program which had over a dozen marten live trapped and collared. Andrew's crews have been following the marten's use of a second growth aspen forest. Marten are not typically found in such forests, and so this information helps people to understand what the marten need and how foresters can incorporate their needs into logging plans. For example, they are finding the marten can use this particular second growth forest because large amounts of coarse woody debris were left behind during the original clearing. Although these piles of logs are over 20 years old, the marten really like them for hiding, sleeping and catching mice. This suggests that marten habitat can be planned and developed in second growth by providing the kinds of structure they need. If, for example, logging practices were planned such that brush piles and interspersed older tree patches were left, then marten habitat could co-exist with logging. The results of this research could lead to the development of planning guidelines for enhancing marten habitat. Andrew has been involved in a third kind of inventory, archeological surveys. These surveys gather information about the cultural and fossil history of the forest. Andrew has an unusual background in that he studied Anthropology in University. This background gave him a good understanding of archaeology and the cultural backgrounds of First Nations people. When he came to Chetwynd, he offered to help incorporate these concerns into Canfor's forest plans, in addition to his role as biologist. Andrew uses computer models help predict where possible sites of archeological interest may lie. If any cut blocks are located in areas of high potential, survey teams will go in, do shovel tests and search for any signs of special historical use. They look for items such as dinosaur fossils and tracks, culturally modified trees, stone tools and other First Nations or pioneer artifacts. So far, the survey teams have found some modified trees. Long ago the bark on these trees was stripped and local First Nations used the pith for food. One such tree was estimated to have been stripped in the 1850's. Stone chips called debitage have also been found, indicating a place where stone tools were made. "To date we have excluded areas of debitage from logging and road construction. If we did not, we would have to excavate to remove these resources so they were properly protected," explains Andrew. Andrew is involved with the development of two joint forest licences between Canfor and the West Moberly First Nations. This is an important opportunity for jobs, training and economic growth for this community. Next: The Path The Path Andrew did lots of hiking, camping and skiing with his family when he was a kid so he always wanted a job that combined the outdoors with work. He wasn't exactly sure what he wanted to do when he got to University but he liked science so he started with that. The Anthropology faculty at the University of Calgary also had a very strong program in primatology (you know the Jane Goodall thing of studying monkeys) and he got hooked on that. He eventually went on to do a Master's degree studying monkeys in Costa Rica. He laughs, "We had more wildlife in our house than most people see in the jungle… snakes, lizards, tarantulas and nine species of ants!" He liked Costa Rica but when he got home he knew he wanted to stay in Canada and work with Canadian wildlife. There wasn't a lot demand for a monkey biologist in Canada so it took a while to find a job, but he kept looking. His first job was in environmental consulting where he looked at impacts to fish and wildlife from everything from housing developments to pipelines. He really liked the idea of working in forestry because it is a sustainable business so when the job opened with Canfor in Chetwynd, he jumped at it. Andrew had three special qualities that proved important in being chosen for the biologist position with Canfor. He had a proven ability to carry out scientific studies, an ability to work in the bush, sometimes in uncomfortable situations, and a good understanding of business and business practices. Next: That’s Cool That’s Cool Growing the forest back after logging is an important part of forest management, but did you know sometimes we can have too many trees growing back? This stand was clearcut over thirty years ago and then planted with Douglas-fir. It grew back well -- too well in fact! There were so many trees that they were competing with each other for light and space. Competition can make trees grow slowly or die and increase forest health problems. Foresters can use farming or gardening methods like weeding, spacing, thinning and fertilizing to control competition and therefore help the forest to grow back quickly. Foresters call these: "stand tending" methods. The new forest established here was thick and the trees were growing very slowly. When the trees were about 15 year old, the forest was spaced. Spacing is when a number of the trees are selectively cut down to decrease competition and allow the remaining standing trees more room to grow. The spacing done here gave the trees more sunlight, water and nutrients, as well as more space. The aim is to help the trees to grow the best they can on this site. The trees here responded with a significant increase in growth. Next: Yikes! Yikes! Andrew has been lucky enough to work with and even capture all sorts of animals but he has encountered danger too. Everyone knows to be careful around bears and animals with big teeth, but sometimes it's the small, cute animals that really surprise you! "They always seem to know how to get you. I always seem to capture the animals that want to bite me. I once caught a turtle that was so small she fit into my hand, but she hissed and snapped at me like she was a tiger until I dropped her!" reports Andrew. In the Chetwynd area there is a landform called muskeg, which is a very swampy unstable kind of ground. One day Andrew was doing a frog survey in some muskeg. He recalls, "It was like walking on a waterbed, the ground was moving in waves, suddenly I dropped through. It was so deep I couldn't touch the bottom, and I am over six feet tall!" Getting out of this swamp hole, while wearing hip-waders and carrying equipment, was a difficult and scary experience. Next: Yuck! Yuck! Being a biologist is great but there are some gross times. Andrew reports that, "One of the hazards of being a monkey biologist is that monkeys like to poop on your head when you are underneath their tree!" Andrew thought he got away from this yucky bit by working in Canada. Then one day he had to help carve up rotten moose meat as bait for grizzly bears. That wonderful aroma will attract bears from miles away, but for Andrew everything smelled like "eau de rot" for days afterward. Next: The Best The Best Andrew chose forestry because it is renewable and he can play a role researching and managing and protecting fish, wildlife and archeological resources. He says, "The best thing about being a biologist right now is the technology. All the advances in electronics and computers have made it possible to do things now that we only dreamed about a few years ago." Here are some examples of ways that Andrew is using electronics and computers in his work: "real time" tracking of marten using Global Positioning Systems (GPS) identifying bats using ultrasonic detectors, and mapping habitat with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) All of this work was virtually impossible a few years ago. Electronics is changing the field of biology dramatically by providing these new and exciting tools. Next: Advice Advice It can be hard to get a job as a biologist because lots of people want to be one. The schooling is important but it is equally important to get out in the forests and learn about all sorts of animals and plants. Andrew advises "There's nothing like hands-on experience in being able to identify all kinds of wildlife. It sounds kind of corny to go bird watching, or to know the names of plants and mosses, but it can be very rewarding and it is very important to a biologist these days". Computer skills and the ability to communicate well are essential. Future biologists must also be prepared to put up with uncomfortable situations like monkey poop, smelly things and vicious turtles! Next: The Person The Person When he is not chasing bats and frogs, Andrew spends his time at home chasing his two small boys. Fatherhood is a busy endeavor. Andrew has a passion for skiing and cannot wait until his boys are old enough to go with him. Windsurfing is another hobby, but time for that is limited (maybe he should have tried it on the muskeg!) Andrew shares a dream common to most biologists, to go on safari in Africa and get a close look at those animals that have fired all of our imaginations since childhood, and in Andrew's case inspired a career. Next: Questions? Questions? If you have any questions about a career as a Biologist, send us an e-mail or visit the or visit the Professional Biologist web site at http://www.apbbc.bc.ca/. Return to Introduction