Our Team
Operations Team
The Operations team is responsible for, in consultation with the Strategic Advisory Group, determining the direction and priorities of the SIP. The Operations Team acts as the decision-maker of the SIP.
Alana Clason,PhD
Operations Team
Biography
Alana Clason is a forest ecologist and Research Scientist with the Bulkley Valley Research Centre (BVRC). Alana collaborates with universities, government, industry, and non-profit partners in a variety of applied research across western Canada studying the impacts, resilience and recovery of forests to disturbance. She completed her PhD at UNBC in 2017, understanding the drivers of the current range and forecasting the future northern range of whitebark pine under a changing climate. Her MSc at the University of Alberta focused on whitebark pine ecology and resilience. Alana blends empirical data collection and analysis with ecological modeling to understand and support the management of BC forests. Her current projects focus on the response of forest carbon, fuels, and wildlife habitat to disturbances such as fire and forest management, as well as research and restoration of endangered whitebark pine ecosystems. She is a board member of the Whitebark Pine Ecosystem Foundation-Canada and the Smithers Ski and Snowboard Club. Originally from Ottawa, she was fortunate to find a home in Smithers, on the land of the Wet’sewet’en Nation. There, she tries to keep up to her two active daughters, grow and gather food, play as much hockey as possible and explore the mountains, lakes and rivers close to home and far away.
Andrew Snetsinger,RPF
Operations Team
Biography
Andrew grew up in Smithers, BC and moved to Prince George to attend university at UNBC where he received his degree in Forestry and Ecosystem Management. After University Andrew worked for a local forestry consultant in Prince George and than for a logging company/forest licensee in Fort St James where he became an RPF. While in Fort St. James Andrew worked as a timber development forester and the company’s silviculture forester. Andrew then moved to Merritt, BC to pursue a career with FLNRORD. While with the the Cascades Natural Resource District Andrew worked as Stewardship Forester, Stewardship Officer and a Resource Manager. Currently, Andrew is the Manager of Harvesting and Silviculture Practices with the Forest Science, Planning and Practices Branch with the Office of the Chief Forester. In this role Andrew oversees work on silviculture policy, guidance and strategy as well as the provincial forest health and silviculture research programs. When not at work Andrew enjoys playing hockey and golf, and spending time outside with his two boys (Jamie, 5yrs old and Owen 3 years old) and his wife Karlee.
Jodi Axelson,PhD, PAg
Operations Team
Biography
Dr. Axelson is an interdisciplinary scientist conducting applied research focused broadly on silvicultural systems, adaptive management, and disturbances. Jodi is particularly interested in how silvicultural systems and silviculture decisions interact with disturbances such as drought, wildfire and insect outbreaks, and often uses dendrochronology explore these dynamics. Jodi is passionate about research collaboration, extension, and innovation to maintain forest resilience and enhance adaptation.
Kira Hoffman,PhD
Operations Team
Biography
Dr. Kira Hoffman is a professional fire ecologist and former wildland firefighter. Hoffman’s research focuses on how humans have used fire for millennia to manage and enhance their natural surroundings. She uses multiple methods to understand how present-day forests have been shaped by stewardship techniques such as burning and how ongoing fire suppression has eroded the resiliency of landscapes. She is currently a jointly appointed Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of British Columbia and the Bulkley Valley Research Centre.
Program Team
The SIP Program Team provides operational support to SIP operations, research and extension. This includes program and project management, research data collection and analysis, and extension activities.
Gillian Chow-Fraser,MSc.
Program Team
Biography
Gillian is the SIP’s Extension Specialist, translating and mobilizing the vast knowledge on innovative silviculture in BC and guiding the creation of new knowledge to address critical gaps. She has a Bachelors of Science with a specialization in Conservation Science from Trent University (Peterborough, ON) and a Masters of Science from the University of Victoria (Victoria, BC). She has worked in research labs, provincial governments, and environmental non-profits on some of our biggest conservation challenges, like woodland caribou recovery, land use planning, and cumulative impacts in B.C., Alberta, and Ontario. She brings her research background and her experience in communications and public education to the Extension Program. Gillian grew up on the Great Lakes of Ontario, the daughter of two biologists, and has since fallen in love with Canada’s vast boreal forest, now residing in Edmonton.
Ingrid Farnell,MSc
Program Team
Biography
Ingrid is a budding ecologist, currently working as a research technician in post-wildfire forest ecosystem projects with the BVRC. Ingrid received her Master of Science degree from the University of Northern British Columbia in 2021. Her studies explored the dynamics of downed dead wood after harvest activities and the concomitant impact on the American Marten, as well as using remote sensing to predict dead wood and its effects upon habitat quality over the landscape. Her research site was located within the towering trees of the Date Creek Research Forest in the Kispiox Valley, where she fell in love with forest ecology. Ingrid found a home in Smithers in 2015 after tree planting brought her to the Bulkley Valley. Since her initial visit she has never left, enjoying the endless adventure of playing in the mountains.
Kelsey Copes-Gerbitz,PhD
Program Team
Biography
Dr. Kelsey Copes-Gerbitz is a fire ecologist and forestry social scientist who works at the intersection of research and extension. She joins the SIP team as an Extension Associate. She’s lived and learned among the forests of Hawai’i, Oregon, England, and now BC, with experience in not-for-profits, consulting, and academia. Kelsey is passionate about community-driven research. She can often be found walking in the woods or near the ocean with her family.
Laura Stanton,BSc.
Program Team
Biography
Laura is the SIP’s Program Manager. Laura received a Bachelor of Science in Biology with Ecology Specialization and Industrial Internship Practicum from the University of Alberta. Since her degree, Laura became an experienced forestry project manager through a variety of capacities and positions including in government, industry, consulting, and community forestry. Laura is an accredited silviculture surveyor and has led projects in mountain pine beetle and wildfire impact surveys and prescriptions, forest inventory and residue and waste. In addition, Laura has a background in illustration and graphic design, allowing her to facilitate effective communication through creative means such as infographics, diagrams and promotional materials.
Tyreen Kapoor,MSc.
Program Team
Biography
Tyreen is the SIP’s Data Curation Specialist. Tyreen has a Bachelors of Science in Environmental Sciences from the University of British Columbia (Vancouver, BC) and a Masters of Science degree from Carleton University (Ottawa, ON). Through science-education work experiences, Tyreen developed a keen interest in understanding how scientific information can be communicated and made accessible to users. Her Master’s research explored knowledge exchange practices to better understand how to bridge the gap between science and policy in the forestry sector and make space for evidence-informed practices. When she is away from her desk, she loves to make pottery and explore the outdoors.
Strategic Advisory Group
The Strategic Advisory Group (SAG) provides high-level strategic advice and recommendations to the Operations Team. The SAG is a group of diverse representatives that have expertise and relationships in the forestry space across Indigenous territories and BC. The SAG is critical to the success, legitimacy, and inclusiveness of the SIP.
Danielle Ignace,PhD
Strategic Advisory Group
Biography
Dr. Danielle Ignace is an enrolled member of the Coeur d’Alene tribe and an ecophysiologist studying the impacts of climate change, fire, and introduced species on ecosystem health and Indigenous communities in the United States and Canada. She currently serves as an elected Officer for the Traditional Ecological Knowledge Section of the Ecological Society of America, Chair of the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee for the American Society of Plant Biologists, and is an Associate Editor for the journal Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene. Fostering unique and transdisciplinary collaborations to understand and communicate pressing global change problems is the hallmark of her research, teaching, YouTube channel, and ArtSci projects.
Dennis MacDonald,RFT
Strategic Advisory Group
Biography
Dennis is a member of Upper Nicola Band and is a part of the Syilx (Okanagan) Nation and works at Stuwix Resources Joint Venture, a forest management company owned by eight local first nations in the Southern Interior of BC. Dennis has 28 years of experience in the forest industry and is a Strategic Advisor with the BC First Nations Forestry Council. Dennis is an advocate in advancing first nations holistic stewardship principles which support sustainable ecosystem and watershed based management.
Dominik Roeser,PhD
Strategic Advisory Group
Biography
Since starting at UBC in 2018, Dominik has built a forest operations research program at UBC focusing on supply chain design, forest technology implementation, steep slope harvesting and biomass operations. Before coming to UBC Dominik worked at FPInnovations where, as Senior Director, he managed a multidisciplinary team focused on improving the competitiveness of the forest sector and developing practical solutions to improve efficiency of forest operations and reduce the impact of wildfires in Western Canada. Dominik has more than 21 years of experience in forest research and innovation and have been working with industry to develop solutions that support the emerging bioeconomy both in Europe and in Canada.
Francis Johnson,RPF, BIT
Strategic Advisory Group
Biography
Francis Johnson Jr is a member of the Esk’etemc (People of the White Earth), formally Alkali Lake First Nation, and is part of the Secwepemc Nation. He is married with 6 children and currently resides in the village of Esk’et (Place of the White Earth). Francis graduated from Thompson Rivers University in 2006 with the Bachelor of Natural Resource Science degree and is now a Registered Professional Forester with the Forest Professionals of BC. He is also registered with the College of Applied Biologist working towards a Registered Professional Biologist (RPBio) designation. Francis is the Forest Manager of Alkali Resource Management Ltd (ARM) and started working in the forest industry with Alkali Forest Enterprises (previous name before for ARM) then went to work in the forest Industry in Williams Lake for seven years for various different forestry companies. Francis came back to work for ARM in 2010 and has been advancing his career until he took over the Management of ARM in 2021. Francis is a community member and is one of three hereditary Chief’s in the community. This background give’s Francis expertise in Secwepemc traditional governance and traditional knowledge on how the Secwepemc managed the land. The Secwepemc had headman or task managers to look after resources on the land including a fire keeper who was responsible for using fire to manage the land.
Garnet Mierau,RPF
Strategic Advisory Group
Biography
Garnet was born at a place that the Plains Cree named, Moscâstani-sîpiy, meaning “a warm place by the river” that settlers referred to as Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. Today he lives with his family at Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc “where two rivers meet” also known as Kamloops, British Columbia. Garnet has over 30 years of experience in forest management in western Canada working inside government, industry and the consulting sector. Garnet enjoys time with his family skiing or with his camera in a kayak on a remote lake.
Janelle Hale,RPF
Strategic Advisory Group
Biography
Janelle is a Registered Professional Forester with West Fraser, where she supports the BC Woodlands team in stewardship initiatives, certification, and policy as the BC Forest Stewardship and Policy Superintendent. She graduated from UBC with a degree in Forest Resource Management with an international specialization in 2011. Janelle has worked at West Fraser since her graduation. Prior to working at West Fraser, she spent time tree planting, and with the Federal Government, focusing on riparian health. During her time at West Fraser, she has held various forestry roles in Silviculture, Operations and Planning.
Jennifer Gunter,MRM
Strategic Advisory Group
Biography
With over 20 years of experience working in community forestry and community economic development in BC, Jennifer is a passionate advocate for community-based resource management that supports sustainable local economies and benefits local people while creating more resilient ecosystems. One of the co-founders of the BCCFA and long time Executive Director, she has had the pleasure of working with the Board of Directors, staff and membership to help it grow from an organization of just 10 member communities, to one of over 50.
Joe Dolling,RPF
Strategic Advisory Group
Biography
Joe grew up in the boreal forests of northern Alberta, where a deep appreciation for the natural world sparked a lifelong passion for forests. After graduating from UBC Forestry in 2001, Joe began his career in Vernon, gaining hands-on operational experience across diverse industry roles. He later returned to the boreal region for a five-year tenure in High Level, Alberta, ultimately serving as Woodlands Manager. In 2019, Joe moved back to British Columbia, continuing in operational leadership until his appointment as Tolko’s Chief Forester in 2021. Outside of work, Joe enjoys time at the hockey rink and exploring the backcountry.
Lisa Wood,PhD, RPF
Strategic Advisory Group
Biography
Lisa Wood is an applied plant biologist and dendroclimatologist exploring influences of human induced stress on forested plant communities. She specializes in forest silvicultural disturbance types and studying the impacts of climate change on plants. Lisa’s current focus is directed at understanding the impacts of glyphosate-based herbicide on non-target vegetation populations in the boreal and sub-boreal forests of Canada.
Tara Bergeson,RPF, MSc
Strategic Advisory Group
Biography
Tara Bergeson is the Director of Practice with Forest Professionals British Columbia. She is responsible for ensuring standards of practice and competence are developed, reflective, and conveyed to all forest professionals of BC. She also leads professional practice and conduct advice for all registrants. Previous to this role, she built her career working in forest management throughout the province and in western Canada, specializing in wildland fire, silviculture, and urban forest management.