Growing Forestry and Wildfire Fighting Careers
Salmon Arm Secondary Grade 12 Student Reese Saloren (left) and Grade 10 AL Fortune student Claire Campbell (right) continue to douse a fire with their drop touches while BC Wildfire Service Rap Attack Fire Crew Supervisor Nick Aikins observes.
For field trips, this one may have been a cut above the rest.
24 SD83 students spent the day at Gardom Lake Bible Camp near Enderby learning about careers in the forestry and wildfire sectors. The trip was sponsored by SD83 Careers, the BC Council of Forest Industries and Project Learning Tree Canada. Students from JL Jackson, Eagle River, AL Fortune and Salmon Arm Secondaries attended the event participating in three interactive stations throughout the day.
Secwepemc Knowledge Keeper Gloria Morgan shows a group of students a reed mat she harvested from local lakes with the same water plants growing behind her in Gardom Lake.
The day started off well with Secwepemc Elder Gloria Morgan leading the students in a morning acknowledgement. From there, the students broke into two sections. At one of them, Morgan took students on an indigenous forest walk. Students were able to learn everything from the more than 20 types of berries that cover the region's forest floor to the significance of cedar bows with first nation funerals. Students also had a chance to acquire the taste of some indigenous ice cream whipped up by Morgan and discuss the connection to the land, forestry and treaty processes.
Grade 12 SAS student Kiera Jaegar realizes her reach isn't far enough as she uses a tape measure to figure out the diameter of a larch tree located at Gardom Lake Bible Camp.
Students also had a chance to learn from two forest technologist. Two members of Salmon Arm's Canoe Forest Products were able to demonstrate activities of how foresters plot segments of forest for accurate timber supply. Students also had a chance to bore trees to look at its ring structure to guess its age and also measure trees for diameter. At lunch, the students heard a brief virtual talk from Jacqueline Sorensen from Thompson Rivers University's Natural Resource Sciences Faculty to explain the different options available for student interested in pursuing studies in either natural resources sciences or wildland firefighting.
SAS Grade 11 Shane Campbell (right) uses a prism to help make out accurate plot areas while Canoe Forest Products Woodlands Technologist Emily Murphy (Left) examines his form.
Finally, students headed down to the lake where BC's Wildfire Service's Rap Attack division did a hands-on workshop. Students were broken into teams and competed against each other to see which teams could hook up a hose to draw water from Gardom Lake and then use a pump to move that water to other attached hoses to eventually put out a fire several meters away.
AL Fortune Grade 12 Student Colten Davidson gets ready to rev up a chainsaw after priming the motor during the wildfire demonstration.
Do you have an idea for a great, interactive field trip experience showcasing certain careers in our area? If so, please don't hesitate to reach out to George Richard at 778-824-1188 via text or phone or email grichard@sd83.bc.ca to discuss.