Personal Statement
Born in Manitoba and raised in the wild-
land-urban interface (WUI) on Anishinaabe
Territory on Lake Winnipeg, I have watched
the expansion of the WUI into my home and
backyard. I have dedicated my professional
career to improving urban forest management
practices in rural and remote communities
where conventional forestry practices within
communities have undermined the sustain-
ability and long-term function of their "urban"
forests. In addition to small communities, I
predominantly work with Cree and Ojibway
communities, supporting work that addresses
the long-standing effects of the Indian Act on
urban and community forest sustainability.
Acknowledgements
Where I discuss personal anecdotes, I
have received permission from community
members—all of whom are close friends—to
tell their stories in this article. A portion of the
research in this article was conducted while
working for the Hamelin Lab, Department of
Forest and Conservation Sciences in the Faculty
of Forestry at the University of British Columbia.
A portion of the funding for this position
was contributed by the Natural Sciences and
Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).
References
Gelderloos, P. (2013). The Failure of Nonviolence: From the
Arab Spring to Occupy. Seattle, WA: Left Bank Books.
Mitchell, S.J. 1995. The windthrow triangle: A rela-
tive windthrow hazard assessment procedure for forest
managers. The Forestry Chronicle, 71(4), 446-450.
Niddrie, N.J. 2012. Designing Cutblocks to Minimize the
Negative Effects of Windthrow. BSc Forestry Undergraduate
Thesis. Vancouver, BC: University of British Columbia.
Swain, H. 2010. Oka: A Political Crisis and its
Legacy. Vancouver, BC: Douglas & McIntyre.
Varhola, Andres; Coops, Nicholas C.; Weiler, Markus;
Moore, R. Dan. 2010. Forest canopy effects on snow
accumulation and ablation: an integrative review of
empirical results. Journal of Hydrology. 392: 219-233.
urban-forestry.com 33
Assist Alex Martin and
Dr. Andrew Almas with a
Survey, Enter to Win Drawing
A University of British Columbia research
project is asking Canadian and American
arborists and urban foresters their opinions
on research needs in arboriculture and urban
forestry and how industry professionals are
receiving information. Those who partici-
pate in the 5- to 10-minute survey will be
entered into a drawing for one of ten gift
cards in the amount of $100 CAD ($75 USD)
each to an arborist supply store. Please
consider participating in the anonymous
survey by visiting https://ubc.ca1.qualtrics.
com/jfe/form/SV_2nTfr0MfT1tIodw. Any
comments or questions can be directed to
the Primary Contact and Co-Investigator
Alexander Martin (arbmarta@mail.ubc.ca)
or to Principal Investigator Dr. Andrew Almas
(andrew.almas@ubc.ca) of the Faculty of
Forestry, University of British Columbia.
