Who we are

Pamela is an ecologist with 30 years of experience in consulting and government, based originally in the science sector of BC’s forest and mining industries; and more recently, the renewable energy industry. She is a passionate advocate for a balanced perspective on development and a science based approach to natural resource management.

Pamela holds a Masters of Resource and Environmental Management (MRM) from the Faculty of Applied Science at Simon Fraser University (2009); has been a registered Professional Agrologist in BC for 25 years; and was a Registered Professional Biologist in BC for 15 years, until 2024.

Pamela was formerly Research Leader, Forest Ecology Interpretations with the British Columbia Ministry of Forests (2016-2025). Pamela initiated and co-led innovative, applied research using LiDAR and machine learning (a subset of artificial intelligence) to develop methods for complete ecosystem inventory of high accuracy and precision for British Columbia. Pamela also initiated and led the FUTURE Trials (Forests Under Temporal Uncertainty Regeneration Establishment Trials), establishing ~300,000 climate adapted trees in operational trials for monitoring at 25 sites in the North and South Area, including prescribed fire and wildfire studies. Pamela was an initial contributor to and champion of the Climate Change Informed Species Selection Tool (CCISS), which has since become the cornerstone for the Future Forest Ecosystem Centre, the BC Ministry of Forests’ world class climate change ecological modelling.

Pamela’s career in natural resource sciences began in 1995, grounded over the next seven years as Research Assistant in Forest Sciences at the British Columbia Ministry of Forests, where she clocked thousands of hours doing fieldwork across all seasons and conditions; accessed by foot, truck, helicopter, small plane, snowmobile, xc skiing, snowshoe, ATV, and bike; for all ministry scientific disciplines in the 8 million hectare Nelson Forest Region: ecology, soils, silviculture, silviculture systems, hydrology, and geomorphology. Pamela started at the Ministry of Forests in 1993 and worked until 1995 as a log scaler in audit and compliance, and a FRIT (Forest Revenue & Inspection Team) member.

Pamela was also previously co-principal and then principal of two ecological consultancies for 13 years (2002-2015), where she delivered over $3M in ecological services to forestry and mining clients in over 60 projects in biogeoclimatic ecosystem classification and mapping, ecological and vegetation change monitoring and restoration, and forest disturbance research and applications. Consulting work involved hundreds of reports, many thousand hours more fieldwork across interior BC and Alberta, and added tin boat, motorbike, 5.5 rock scrambling, canoe, tree-felling to cross rivers, and stick/branch crutch to the field transport modes.

Pamela has been an Independent Power Producer (IPP) in micro-hydro in BC since 2007, and began consulting in the renewable energy sector in 2020.

Pamela has co-authored journal papers, forestry guidance, ecological guidebook sections, technical reports, and other scientific material. She has contributed to key forest legislation and policy changes for climate change, ecological resilience, and landscape level planning in BC; and presented to diverse, small and large, local to international audiences across western Canada.

Pamela is an avid adventurer, naturalist, skier, hiker, fisher person and recently, a novice sailor, with over 7,500 nautical miles and 400 days of sea time, as first mate on SY Aquila Maris and SY Venturosa; including circumnavigation of Vancouver Island (2021), and the Cape to Cape route from Vancouver Island to Gwaii Haanas and the west coast of Gwaii Haanas (2024) in British Columbia, Canada.

Pamela’s volunteer work has been in support of community forestry, children, and graduate student mentorship.

Recent work

Integration of Airborne Laser Scanning data into forest ecosystem management in Canada: Current status and future directions. 2024. Forestry Chronicle.

Detection and quantification of coarse woody debris in natural forest stand using airborne LiDAR. 2021. Forest Science

Post-Natural Disturbance Forest Retention Guidance. 2018. BC Government.

FUTURE Trials - Forests Under Temporal Uncertainty Regeneration Establishment Trials (2017 - 2025)

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