As I wrap up my 2024 internship with this final blog, it is safe to say it was a successful one. From working day to day in the office to adventuring the woodlands, learning about the forestry side of the business. While also spending time back on the sawmill floor. Interfor and the forest industry has taught me more than I could ever imagine in such a short time frame. I have learned many aspects of the business and been granted many opportunities this summer.
During my role in the shipping office, I learned about logistics, inventory management, time management, and decision making and how these are a few of the crucial factors to coordinating a shipping department. My tour on the woodlands side taught all about burnt fibre and how it is recovered in the sense of milling and logging, while also teaching me the whole process of bringing a standing tree to a log in the sawmill log yard. Lastly, I mentioned I spent some time back on the mill floor. My time on the mill floor consisted of catching up with the sawmill crew that I was familiar with from last year and ultimately just “putting the boots back on”. I liked to watch the mill process from the catwalks above and look at cants and boards.
Life in the Shuswap for the summer has been exceptional. Interfor provided the perfect work-life balance. Over the course of the past three months, I have spent my free time on the golf course, on the lake, or up in the mountains. As Kamloops and the Shuswap region offer a few of the nicest courses in the province, I made sure I got out to play them many times. When it was too hot for golf, that meant it was lake time. I was able to get out on to Adams Lake and Shuswap Lake many times to enjoy some wake surfing, cliff jumping, tubing, and swimming. Now when I wasn’t golfing or on the lake, I would be dirt biking. I was lucky enough to be able to ride right from my house in the North Shuswap and head up the dirt roads and explore some trails. Finding some fantastic lookouts over Shuswap Lake.
I want to thank Interfor, FPAC, and the forest industry for the opportunities I have been given and the pleasure it has been to work alongside. I look forward to what the future of forestry has awaiting.
Thank you,
Keegan Ashley
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