Andree Morneault
Forester
Callander, Ontario, Canada
I work with foresters to help maintain forestland.
When I was young, I wanted to grow things. I wanted to be a farmer. Today, I grow trees in forests. My job is to make sure that a forest regrows after the trees are harvested. Where I work, we harvest about 3,000 hectares (7,410 acres) a year. To give you an idea how much this is, most sports fields are one hectare in size. Two-thirds of this area grows back naturally with the same tree species that was growing there before the harvest. The other one-third needs to be planted, and that’s where I come in.
During the winter, I work in an office. I plan what we will plant in the summer, develop budgets, and hire contractors to do the work. Beginning in May, I supervise the tree plant. We plant between 600,000 and 1,000,000 trees per year during May. I monitor the survival and growth of these new trees and of the trees already there. Forestry is a complicated science. It requires knowledge in a wide variety of disciplines. I like using science to understand how the forest and everything in it grows.
Andree Morneault shows some newly planted trees.
Forestry also requires a person to think long-term. It takes about 80 years before many trees are large enough to harvest again. I will never get to see the trees that I plant today become the forests of tomorrow. But I know that I'm giving them a good start.
Kim Kennedy
GIS Resource Specialist
Lansing, Michigan
I love maps! I work with computers to create graphs and maps showing data, such as land use, tree cover, and environmental practices.
GIS stands for geographic information science, which includes map making and global positioning systems (GPS). These are used to visualize and describe the location of things on Earth.
My focus is mapping trails. In Michigan, there are more than 19,300 kilometers (12,000 miles) of trails. Michigan has many different types of trails used for hiking, bicycling, horse riding, skiing, snowmobiling, and off-road vehicle riding. The trails are scattered across Michigan on state and national forest land, state parks, and state recreation areas.
The work I do is important for recreation, resource management, and trail maintenance. People who want to use the trails need to know where trails are located. Knowing where the trails are also helps forest managers work during tree harvesting and other types of forest work. Planning for new trails or connecting existing trails is another way that mapping is important. Every day, my job brings something different!
Kendall Conroy
Wood Building Design Consultant
Portland, Oregon
I promote sustainable construction through the use of wood.
I help architects and engineers build with wood. I encourage them to use wood products in their buildings, because wood is one of our only truly renewable resources. Producing wood building materials is also more environmentally friendly than producing other building materials, like steel and concrete. I make sure builders are using the right products for the right job and that they are doing it sustainably.
I know that I’m making a difference. Helping turn just one building the size of a school from a steel and concrete design into a wood design can prevent more than 10,000 metric tons (2,200 pounds) of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere.
Wood products are easy to use, they’re cost-effective, and they trap carbon instead of releasing it. Since our buildings and their operations account for almost half of the United States’ carbon emissions, this is a place where change can make a big impact.
