Hello! This is a follow up to my silly introduction video. There’s only so much you can say in 30 seconds and its fun talking about myself so here’s a few paragraphs further explaining my background. First off, I’d like to thank FPAC and the administrators for letting me be apart of the Green Dream internship program. This is my first time doing something like this and I am excited to showcase the forestry industry and I am going to have some fun doing it.
My name is Shane Fulton and I was born and raised in Prince George BC. A small city in northern BC that was built on forestry. It’s a nice balance between rural outdoorsy adventures and convenient city amenities and festivities. I’m also a member of Stellaten First Nation and I currently reside in the small town of Fraser Lake BC, which is on the traditional territory of SFN. I am currently upgrading my math and biology so I can qualify for the NRFT program at CNC. I have the bare minimum math needed to graduate and I need the next level up to qualify BUT upon taking a test to asses my skills it seems I have completely forgotten how to math and I now have to redo almost the entire curriculum starting at long division. Yikes. Quite the endeavor for a dyslexic man who’s been out of school for almost 13 years (I just turned 30, double yikes). Slowly but surely though it will get done and I am looking forward to getting back into school to further establish my career in forestry.
I started my forestry career in 2017 fighting wildfires for Strategic Natural Resource Consultants. That was one of BC’s worst fire seasons to date and it was quite the experience to say the least. Our crew leads took their job very seriously and the ministry loved the work we did so we got put onto some intense fires. One time we were busy putting in a scratch guard for a prescribed back burn and the helicopter pilot got on the radio saying he’s going to start dropping the fire balls in about five minutes so we better high tail it outta there, and high tail it we did. We then watched a small mountain get engulfed in flames from about 400m away. It was like being next to a volcano. One of the coolest things we have ever experienced, even for the crew leads. There was also days of initial attack, mop-up, demobe, and long days of patrolling dead fires looking for hotspots. For a while we helped set up sprinklers on properties in the evacuation zone, met some unique characters doing that, some weren’t so welcoming. The last day of sprinkler duty we finished up on this Garden of Eden of a property and took some time to relax before the thick ominous darkness crept in and chased us out of there, eventually turning everything pitch black even with our high beams on. Overall one of the best experiences of my life. I loved fire camp life and the people you get to meet and connect with. I hope to do it again some day.
After that SNRC hired me on as a forestry technician where I did block layout and timber cruising for a year and a bit. Got to learn a some of the ins and outs of the production side of forestry. We took quads, UTV’s, snowmobiles and helicopters to places where few to no people have ever set foot so each day was an adventure. We also did a lot of burnt wood salvage in the Nazko region where we fought fires the previous summer. That was quite the challenge as none of us had experience doing burnt wood salvage and it could get a bit depressing after spending weeks in burnt and desolate wasteland. SO many tasty morel mushrooms though. I picked about five pounds that summer just walking my lines during work. Then tortured my roommates with mushroom stink when I hung them up to dry in the hotel and camp rooms. Nothing but good times with SNRC.
I then took a bit of a hiatus from forestry. Did some labor jobs here and there but it just wasn’t the same. I longed for the forest... Soon enough though my prayers would be answered, and an opportunity arose to work on the forestry crew for Stellaten First Nation and I jumped on it. I moved to Fraser Lake on July 12th of last year and began working on the crew the very next day which happened to be my birthday. Our first project was to continue building the recreational trails along the Stellako river which is famous for its monster trout, scenery, and the salmon run. Loved going to work beside a beautiful river every day. It was great to start connecting with the land that my ancestors inhabited for countless generations. We also did buck and burning for BC Parks at Francois Lake Provincial Park and brushing and pile burning for West Fraser, which is how my future boss discovered me and figured I’d be a good fit for her silviculture crew.
So now I am a silviculture summer student at West Fraser doing my part at reforesting the blocks we harvest. Planting blocks are a big change from the untouched landscapes in layout and timber cruising but it’s just as much of an adventure. We started out with the hustle and bustle of planting season and supervising tree planters (even though I have yet to plant a tree in my life at that point) which was equal parts stressful and fun. I too have some hippie tendencies so I got along well with the tree planters and enjoyed working with them. Currently we are supervising Hybrid and the old SFN brushing crews to clear aspen from planting blocks. We’re also driving and quading to different planting blocks that are in various stages of growth and collecting data via shovel and plot chord, keeping a keen eye for any points of interest in between plots. Pretty sweet gig if I do say so myself. More to come on silviculture life as the summer progresses.
I am learning a lot every day and I look forward to learning more and can’t wait to continue my education and career in the forestry sector. I’ll be sure to keep you guys posted!
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