Meet Peter Forsythe

VOLUNTEER

Four Decades of Walking in the Woods

By Michael Hall

Peter Forsythe arrived in Prince George as a forester and firefighter, rappelling out of helicopters after lightning strikes to protect challenging terrain. Now retired, he’s still walking in the woods, sharing what he knows about forests and ecology with students and others, dispelling myths about softwood cones along the way.

But he needs more company.

Since 1985, Peter has led and helped organize guided tours of the Willow River Interpretive Trail in Prince George during National Forest Week (NFW), September 21-27 this year. Planning for “A Walk in the Woods” is underway and more volunteer guides are needed.

After 40 years, “I still find it enjoyable,” says Peter, who was a mechanic in the U.S. Army, then a machinist in a graphite factory before going back to school to study forestry.

He was part of the first graduating forestry class at the University of Alberta, then worked several jobs before starting his own company, Huckleberry Forestry Ltd., doing mostly surveys in addition to “handyman” work.

He got involved with the BC coalition for NFW and the Canadian Institute of Forestry (CIF) when he helped install the first signs for A Walk in the Woods. The two-kilometre trail now features 22 interpretive signs that highlight local wildlife, forest ecology, and environmental insights.

“I replaced the original interpretive signs a few years ago with a volunteer crew,” says Peter, a NFW section co-ordinator.

During NFW, tours of the trail are held Monday through Friday for elementary school students. Public tours are held on the Saturday. Buses transport students to the trailhead near the highway rest stop. Transportation is also provided for the public tour, along with a free lunch.

Tours take 45 to 60 minutes and are kept to about eight people per group. Five to six volunteers a day are needed. Peter can be at the trailhead every day during NFW in case someone doesn’t show or an extra guide is required.

For him, NFW is a way to educate the public and get people outside to experience the forest.

“Some students have never been outside of Prince George,” he says.

Some of them ask tough questions too, as he’s learned.

“The students can ask tougher questions than the adults, and some students know a lot more than a lot of adults.”

Peter recalls one inquisitive student, about nine or 10 years old, who grilled him with all sorts of harvesting questions.

“Obviously he had been around someone who knew a lot about forestry.”

Peter says volunteer guides don’t have to focus on any single subject and encourages them to try and learn the interests of those in the group before starting the tour.

“It doesn’t really matter if you concentrate on fungus, trees, or berries,” he adds. “They should enjoy the walk and have learned something about the forest, and I think that most do.”

Anyone who’s ever walked in the woods with Peter probably learned that not all softwood cones are pine cones.

“Most people refer to any cone as a ‘pine cone’ — both kids and adults. I usually pick up two different cones from the trail, then hold them up and ask what kind they are. This generally will elicit questions about trees and other plants,” he says.

It’s an effective lesson that fits the NFW mission to support forest education and awareness.

The trail is rich with spruce, pine, and birch, with areas recovering from harvests, wildfires, and beetle infestations.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for students to actually experience the forest,” Peter says of A Walk in the Woods.

To him, the forest is a classroom waiting to be explored, and he’s hoping more forest professionals will join him in leading the way.

Walk in the Woods

To volunteer for A Walk in the Woods, contact Peter Forsythe at peterforsythe@mail.com.

Tour guide training will be provided for those wanting it during the week prior to NFW.

Teachers interested in class tours should contact Anna Monetta, RPF(Ret.) at amonetta@shaw.ca.

June 16, 2025August 27, 2025

Meet Tracy Andrews, RPF

VOLUNTEER

Inspiring the Next Generation: How Tracy Andrews, RPF, is Cultivating a Future for Forestry

By Caitlin Edwards

Through her volunteer efforts with National Forest Week (NFW), Tracy Andrews, RPF, is bringing forestry to life for the next generation.

Whether organizing a pancake breakfast or running school trips, she wants young people, and others, to see forestry as she does: a field rooted in relationships, values, and responsibility.

“It’s not just about cutting down trees,” says Tracy, manager of audits and investigations for the BC Forest Practices Board. “It’s about managing for all the values that forests provide: wildlife habitat, cultural significance, recreation, water quality, climate regulation.”

She shares that message through her work with the NFW-BC Coalition, emphasizing the interconnectedness of forestry with other professions — geoscientists, biologists, ecologists — and with Indigenous knowledge and stewardship.

“I want kids to realize how amazing a career in forestry can be; forestry is so much more than people think.”

NFW aims to support forest education and awareness, helping co-ordinate professional foresters to lead school and community events and by providing free classroom learning materials.

Getting Started

Tracy’s involvement with NFW began in 2006 through her work at the South Island Natural Resource District in Port Alberni. At the time, the district hosted an annual pancake breakfast and open house, bringing together forestry professionals, wildfire crews, and community members to celebrate the forest sector.

“There was already this great event happening,” she says, “and I just started helping out.”

A few years later, Tracy began organizing and hosting a field trip for Grade 5 students at McLean Mill National Historic Site. The event involved local organizations, forest companies, First Nations, and volunteers — all coming together to give students a hands-on introduction to forestry.

She continued volunteering with NFW after moving to Ucluelet in 2018 to start work with the Forest Practices Board, scaling it to fit her new community while preserving the same core goals: exposure, education, and inspiration. Partnering with local schools and non-profits, including the Raincoast Education Society, she has helped create meaningful learning experiences tailored for elementary school students — a pathway into the profession.

Making a Connection

Tracy’s path into forestry wasn’t born of a childhood dream, but rather a curiosity sparked during her post-secondary studies. After taking a geomorphology course and developing a keen interest in landforms and aerial photo interpretation, she enrolled at BCIT, drawn by course descriptions that hinted at fieldwork and environmental exploration.

“What I didn’t fully realize,” she says, laughing, “was that forestry involved a lot more than just logging. It was about planning, silviculture, GIS, resource management, all of it. But I loved it.”

Her early career took her through the private sector and into government, eventually leading her to the Forest Practices Board. Throughout her career, what has kept her engaged is the diversity and complexity of the field.

“You could do a different type of job in forestry every few years and never do the same job twice,” she explains. “That’s why I’ve stayed; it’s always evolving, and I’m always learning.”

Tracy has learned that the true effects of her forestry outreach aren’t always immediate or measurable — but she believes in the power of exposure.

She recalls one activity, run by foresters from TimberWest (now Mosaic) — where children were shown everyday items made from forest products, such as toothpaste, books, and gum.

“That kind of activity made a big impact,” she reflects. “It helped make the connection between forests and their daily lives.”

Looking Ahead

Through such engagement, Tracy hopes to spark curiosity and open minds — especially in a world where forestry can sometimes be met with skepticism or misunderstanding.

Her current focus is on elementary school students. She’s considering expanding her efforts to include high school audiences, especially as her own children grow older.

“High school students are at that stage where they’re thinking about careers,” she adds. “If we can reach them at the right time, we might help them see forestry as a real option.”

Tracy also encourages other forest professionals to get involved in NFW, which takes place September 21-27 this year. It doesn’t take much to make a difference, she stresses.

“You don’t have to do something huge. Just show up. Share your story. Let students know why the forest matters to you. That authenticity is what sticks with people.”

Email info@bcnfw.ca for more information about volunteer opportunities with NFW, or submit a sign-up form to get involved.

March 24, 2025March 24, 2025

Become a NFW-BC Coalition Volunteer

VOLUNTEER

Become a NFW-BC Coalition Volunteer

The National Forest Week (NFW)-BC Coalition is seeking professional foresters to volunteer to talk to students about wildfire, wood products, and “How forests make our lives better every day.”

The coalition, in partnership with the Canadian Institute of Forestry (CIF), helps co-ordinate volunteers for NFW events, as well as forestry-related educational opportunities year-round. The coalition also provides free educational materials for teachers and students on request.

“Our programs share the knowledge of our volunteers, covering the full scope of forest stewardship, the forest environment, and the integration of forest values,” says Bill Bourgeois, PhD, RPF(Ret), NFW-BC executive director.

Volunteering with the NFW coalition also counts toward continuing professional development (CPD) requirements.

Read more on the volunteering page.

March 24, 2025March 26, 2025

Meet Nick Reinhardt, RPF

VOLUNTEER

Help Explain the ABCs of Professional Forestry

National Forest Week-BC Coalition looking for volunteers to lead field trips and classroom presentations

By Michael Hall

Nick Reinhardt, RPF, invites hard-working, registered forest professionals to walk the talk and volunteer to help students discover the world in the woods.

It’s a worthwhile investment, he assures them.

“In today’s world of environmentally conscious and sustainability savvy consumers, the forest industry is constantly under tremendous scrutiny,” says Reinhardt, head of business development and a partner with Chartwell Resource Group Ltd. “My goal is to help bridge the ever-growing gap between urban dwellers and the working forest.”

Nick grew up snowboarding, rock-climbing, backpacking, and camping around Colorado. Now he leads business development for Chartwell in North Vancouver. He also looks for new ways to integrate technology in forestry and is a member of the National Forest Week (NFW)-BC Coalition.

The coalition was established in 2013 to encourage and promote community events highlighting the high level of professionalism in managing BC’s forest resources. It provides free classroom resources and helps connect teachers and volunteers for field trips and presentations year-round.

Nick joined the coalition in 2017 after talking with one of its founding members, Candace Parsons, RPF(Ret.), at a Canadian Institute of Forestry (CIF) dinner. They knew each other from UBC. Nick shared a story of a classroom presentation he did for his mother-in-law’s Grade 2 class. It had gone well.

“’We would love to have you involved in National Forestry Week,’” she told him.

Last year, Nick spent a couple of days with new NFW volunteers, showing them the ropes.

He went to a Grades 3-4 split class at Archibald Blair elementary in Richmond with Victor Mate, RPF, a policy analyst with the BC Council of Forest Industries (COFI), to discuss the environment, forestry, and wood products. Nick wore his high-visibility vest, showed the students a slide presentation, then took them outside to look for leaves, needles, and cones to identify.

“It was great,” Nick says. “The teacher absolutely enjoyed it.”

So did Victor, so much that he joined the coalition.

Nick also led a field trip last year with the Vancouver Kids Club at Pacific Spirit Park in Vancouver with two other NFW volunteers, both of whom he had mentored through the articling process leading to registration as a forest professional.

Students, and the parents accompanying them, asked about old growth.

Most of the trees in the park — as big as they are — are second-growth, Nick told them.

He explained the different types of old growth and how they are protected, as well as what forest professionals do, how they understand the environment, and what goes into their decision-making.

Students also asked if trees were edible and wanted to know what animals lived in trees.

“The kids were fascinated,” Nick adds. “And almost all the parents came away with a better understanding about the discussion around old growth.”

Nick sees the value in volunteering to talk about forestry with students.

“I find it really rewarding to go out with 20 kids who are just excited to be outside,” like him.

It’s also fun.

When he went to his son’s French Immersion kindergarten class, he brought a laser range finder to measure the height of trees. And he got to speak French.

“I grew up in part of my childhood in West Africa, in the Ivory Coast, and so I do speak French. So going out with the French immersion students, who weren’t really anticipating that someone would have the words or language skills to explain some forestry things to them in French, was really fun.”

Giving back to the profession is another benefit. Nick spends five to 10 hours a year doing field trips and classroom presentations for NFW, often in the spring. He gets to show that there are ways to protect the environment other than getting upset.

“The best way to make change in a system is to join it and understand how the system works and see where you can make those improvements.”

National Forest Week is, at its roots, about forest education and awareness.

“Volunteering through the coalition is just a great way to bring better information into people’s hands.”

· Email info@bcnfw.ca for more information about volunteer opportunities with NFW, or submit a sign-up form to get involved.