Mike has over 14 years of practical experience in managing ecosystems across B.C. He is a member of the Association of Professional Foresters of BC, as well as a Registered Professional Biologist with the College of Applied Biology. His experience stems initially from the forest industry where he focused on landscape level planning, stand silviculture, forest ecology and wildlife management. He later became involved with the development of ecosystem based wildfire management planning. In the past decade, he has focused on the management of natural elements within the urban environment. He has worked with land developers throughout the lower mainland to assess and manage waterways, wildlife habitat and trees throughout the planning and construction phases of large and small-scale developments. He has also worked to retain and protect natural areas and has been active classifying and developing ecological inventories for parks. Many of these projects focused on the identification and management of critical wildlife habitat including rare and endangered species and plant communities.

Trevor has 16 years of experience managing natural resources in BC. His experience has focused primarily in the field of ecosystem based planning and forest management. His career started in forestry where he traveled the coast of BC conducting thousands of detailed ecosystem inventories and analyzing the successional processes and their responses to disturbances. Trevor has an excellent understanding of the regulations and acts governing impacts to the environment and has prepared numerous, innovative applications for work in and adjacent to sensitive areas. Having conducted much of the operational work he has prescribed, he has knowledge of how the work can be implemented efficiently without wasting resources from the initial planning stages. He has drawn upon this breadth of knowledge to develop cost effective management plans that consider the needs of the client, various agencies and public interest groups. He regularly participates in public consultation programs and always brings energy and enthusiasm to the projects he is involved in.

Lesley has over 13 years of combined experience in the horticulture and arboriculture industry. Her horticulture experience stems back to an interest in identifying native plant communities while working in the silviculture industry of the Coastal, Okanagan and Kootenay Forest Districts. Her horticulture career began in Whistler and included landscape design, installation and management of residential and commercial landscapes. A shift of focus to the arboriculture industry coincided with a position in Surrey Parks and Culture's Urban Forestry Department. Here she worked extensively on boulevard and park trees conducting tree inventories, hazard abatement and performing various aspects of tree care. More recently, as District Arborist for the Surrey School District, Lesley has initiated and conducted District-wide programs in areas of tree risk assessment, tree planting and hazard abatement. She has also had the opportunity to manage various "soil-less media" projects in Surrey using structural soil and stabilized granite. She has gained invaluable experience working with Landscape Architects, Project Managers and Consulting Arborists on tree preservation and selection in the planning and construction phases of land development.

Brett has a diverse background in natural resource management, land use planning, environmental assessment and public consultation. During the past 15 years, he has worked in conjunction with industry, government and researchers on a variety of projects in British Columbia, Alberta and the Maritimes. Brett has worked as a forest engineer, ecologist and wildlife biologist within the forestry sector, focusing primarily on operational development activities and long term wildlife management studies. While with Parks Canada, Brett worked as a resource technician on vegetation, fire and trail management initiatives. More recently, Brett has taken an interdisciplinary approach to focus on ecosystem management, biodiversity and ecological sustainability in land use planning, particularly the preservation, maintenance and enhancement of natural ecosystem processes in urban areas. Projects have included community trail and development plans, site remediation, environmental assessment and climate change initiatives.

As a biologist-in-training, Vanessa has attained an extensive array of environmental fieldwork experience. Her diverse background includes monitoring and assessment of vertebrate and invertebrate populations, environmental audits, public education campaigns, and habitat restoration and enhancement. Most recently, Vanessa has concentrated her attention on the restoration of natural systems, particularly those in urban environments. Her knowledge and skills in this area are being furthered by her current enrolment in the Restoration of Natural Systems diploma program.

Fiona Steele has 12 years of experience in the fields of forestry and ecosystem management. She has managed and implemented GIS for a wide variety of resource management based projects including terrestrial ecosystem mapping, wildfire risk assessments and fire and ecosystem management plans for BC Parks and a variety of B.C. municipalities. Her experience includes carrying out stand and ecological mapping to develop management plans related to fuel and interface treatment planning, fire hazard reduction, identification of rare and endangered species and plant communities and more recently the management of natural areas within the urban environment. She has also worked on several ecosystem restoration projects including historical stand structure and fire history studies as well as habitat restoration for California bighorn sheep and grassland restoration. She is also experienced in illustration and presentation design.

Keith has 10 years experience working as a tree planter and foreman on the South-coast of BC. He completed a diploma in Forestry at BCIT in 1997 and a B.A. in Geography form SFU in 2002. He has applied the knowledge he gained in a number of environmental management related occupations since then. His practical experience in landscape and forest management has given him a good working knowledge of local ecosystems and their functions. Keith chose to diversify his career by retraining and has attained valuable knowledge in the areas of forest ecosystem management and rehabilitation.