This is my final summer blog and the perfect opportunity to summarize how the summer went and some of my favourite moments working for Tolko Woodlands!
One of my favourite things about working for Tolko this summer was getting to know my coworkers and making life-long friends. It was easy for our group to become good friends because the majority of us lived in the apartment complex. I was able to live at home with my parents for the summer, however, I was always invited to the suppers and patio visits at the apartments! At least once a week, we would all go to a local restaurant for wing night, check out downtown on a big group walk, or have a movie night in! Being roughly the same age, we all got along well and it made our work days so much more fun while doing hard work alongside our friends.
I also really enjoyed gaining true field experience. I received compass and bear training. I learned to pull and park quad trailers, which included many off-road staging areas. By the end of the summer, I felt like a pro trailer driver! My main takeaway from doing fieldwork was the mapping, GPS, and GIS work that I did daily. As required by my degree, I had to take an Arc GIS course which includes using Arc Pro software and learning to input map and GPS data, and I was able to put that knowledge into practice while working for Tolko. When I would do the layout for the cut blocks, it was awesome to know that I was collecting data with a purpose and to understand what my own GPS data would be used for in the future. By streaming watercourses, I was essentially putting them on a map so that they can be protected when the forest is logged in the winter. It truly felt like an honorable and important job, and I felt connected to my own degree through this branch of forestry.
Working for Tolko Woodlands has been an amazing experience. I have learned so much about forestry and the work it does in my hometown. I got to go on a new adventure every day, falling more in love with the outdoors and our Alberta forests. I gained plenty of field and equipment knowledge that is going to help me in my education, as well as the workforce. As this is my final blog, below are some pictures of my favourite adventures over the summer!
