BEC Program Staff
BEC Staff at the 2008 ecologist's meeting, Mesachie Lake
Research
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Coast
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Southern
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Northern
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Staff Profiles
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Allen BannerRegional Ecologist Allen's areas of responsibility include research in forest ecology, ecosystem classification and interpretation, ecosystem function and response to management, and ecosystem mapping. His current interests are the ecology and management of coastal forests and wetland and riparian ecosystems, and ecosystem - site productivity relationships. |
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Ray CoupéRegional Ecologist Ray has worked in the Research Section since 1977 and has principally been involved in the development, extension and application of the biogeoclimatic ecosystem classification in the Cariboo-Chilcotin. Ray provides technical support to field staff through training and consultation in ecosystem identification and interpretation. He has a strong interest in plants and their ecology, has co-authored plant identification and plant indicator guides and maintains a regional herbarium representing plant taxa of the Cariboo-Chilcotin. Consulting areas: BEC implementation and interpretation; forest and grassland vegetation response to management practices, identification and management of rare plants and ecosystems; and ecosystem mapping. |
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Craig DeLongResearch Ecologist Craig's areas of responsibility include forest ecology research, ecosystem classification and interpretation, ecosystem mapping, and quality assurance of site unit mapping. His current interests are natural disturbance dynamics at multiple scales, natural stand dynamics and succession, natural disturbance as a template for forest management, the ecology and management of mixedwood forests and the application of remote sensing to ecosystem mapping. The main goal of Craig's research is to maintain ecosystem integrity and function while reducing the cost of forest management through a better understanding of forest ecosystems. |
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Elizabeth CampbellResearch Ecologist |
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Erin HallAssistant Research Ecologist/Silviculturist Erin joined the Northern Interior research team in 2003 and began working with the ecology program in 2006. Current ecology research work includes ecosystem recovery, refinement of ecological classification, and work with the Date Creek Study (see:Date Creek Research website). Other interests include understanding successional dynamics of mixed species forests, disturbance dynamics of ecosystems, and modelling stand dynamics through the collection and analysis of field data for the continual development and refinement of the forest dynamics model SORTIE. |
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Ben HeemskerkAssistant Research Ecologist Ben has been involved in the natural resource community since 1994 including forest engineering, silviculture, fish & wildlife management, and forest ecology research. He began working with the ecology program in the summer of 2003. In the past Ben has applied dendroecology techniques to aid in stand reconstruction including deadwood and associated wildlife habitat as well as documenting the effects of the mountain pine beetle outbreak in BC’s forests. Current research interests include ecosystem classification and ecosystem recovery after disturbance together with the influence of the changing climate. |
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Benita KaytorProject Ecologist Benita is working with the Research Ecologists in
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Will MacKenzieResearch Ecologist Will has 15 years experience as an ecologist in BC and the northern territories. Initially hired by the Research Branch in 1995 to create a province-wide classification of wetland and riparian ecosystems. Will has moved on to constructing a provincial alpine classification, and a seral classification of the SBS. Will manages the provincial ecological dataset and is actively building software tools for collection of field data and managment and maintainance the provincial classification, . His main interests are in botany, plant and wildlife ecology, and informatics. |
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Deb MacKillopResearch Ecologist Deb is a new Research Ecologist based out of Nelson. She is working on BEC classification, interpretation, and training. Other research interests include natural disturbance based management, the structure and dynamics of old forests, the effects of climate change on vegetation communities and ecosystems, and the interactions between forest management, biodiversity, and ecological resilience. |
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Andy MacKinnonResearch Ecologist Andy's areas of responsibility include research in forest ecology and ecosystem-based management (EBM). Responsible for biogeoclimatic ecosystem classification (BEC) and mapping. Provides consultation and training in EBM and BEC. Serves on provincial and national research committees. Current research interests include natural disturbance, old-growth forests, non-timber forest products, and native plants, fungi and lichens |
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Karen McKeownResearch Technician Karen is active in providing extension on ecology related topics to elementary school students. She is currently developing educational kits on ethnobotany and on seeds and dispersal mechanisms. Other responsibilities include maintaining the regional herbarium, and providing technical assistance on the majority of ecology projects. This includes collection and compilation of field data, report editing, graphics production, and maintaining databases within the ecology program. |
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Shirley MahInterpretations Ecologist Shirley's areas of responsibility include research in the development of ecologically-based management interpretations that include the long-term SIBEC project, and implementing their use at operational and strategic levels of forest management. Her current interests are ecosystem-site productivity relationships, tree species selection, relationship of ecosystems to people and management, and non-timber forest products. |
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John ParminterDisturbance Ecologist John is a Research Ecologist and has been based in Victoria since 1980. His primary interests are natural disturbance regimes - especially fire history; fire ecology and effects (see: www.for.gov.bc.ca/hre/topics/fire.htm) ; ecosystem restoration; and the classification, measurement, and management of Coarse Woody Debris (see: www.for.gov.bc.ca/hre/deadwood/). John is also interested in forest history and is helping to coordinate publication of histories of the provincial forest research and inventory programs. He remains slightly perplexed by information technology but so far has managed to persevere. |
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Bruce RogersAssistant Research Ecologist Reporting to the Regional Research Ecologist, Bruce’s duties include identifying needs, conducting research, and preparing extension materials. He is involved with a range of projects that currently include the development of a new Biogeoclimatic Ecosystem Classification field guide for boreal forests, long term tracking of stand and vegetation dynamics in post mountain pine beetle attacked stands, and natural disturbance and mixedwood stand structure. His areas of interest are plant and habitat ecology, stand and landscape attributes associated with natural disturbance dynamics and the relationship between ecosystem processes, secondary stand structure, and retention silvicultural systems. |
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Mike RyanResearch Ecologist Research ecologist responsible for BEC classification, interpretation and training and Biogeoclimatic and ecosystem mapping. Research activities also include impacts of logging and site preparation on bryophytes, predictive ecosystem mapping and reliability assessments, terrestrial ecosystem mapping, photographic manuals for the identification of bryophyes, identification, distribution and autecology of bryophytes and vascular plants, and the identification and description of rare ecosystems. |
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Sari SaundersResearch Ecologist Research and consultation biogeoclimatic classification, and forest and landscape ecology. Currently working with the regional Biogeoclimatic Ecosystem Classification (BEC) database to evaluate sampling needs and strategize field activities to support applications. Interests include disturbance dynamics, ecology of edges and spatial patterns of landscapes, carbon dynamics, and monitoring within human modified and nonhuman disturbed landscapes. |
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Adrian WaltonLandscape Ecologist Adrian Walton, MNRES, received his university education at the University of Waterloo and the University of Northern British Columbia. He worked for nine years as a GIS specialist working on projects such as forest estate planning, forest visualization and wildlife habitat assessment. He is currently a Landscape Modelling Biologist with the Research Branch of the BC Forest Service. His current research projects include biogeoclimatic mapping (see: www.for.gov.bc.ca/hre/becweb/resources/maps/), Bayesian networks (in particular their application to predictive ecosystem mapping) and natural disturbance dynamics and their effects on management decisions. |
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Heather WestAssistant Research Ecologist Assist regional ecologists with forest ecology research and biogeoclimatic ecosystem classification (BEC) and mapping. Interests include structural dynamics, climate change, and disturbance dynamics and integration of these topics with ecosystem classification and forest management. |