One of two people newly appointed to the Forest Practices Board is from Williams Lake.
Gail Wallin, executive director for the Invasive Species Council of BC, will be on the board for a three-year term.
The Forest Practices Board announced Wallin’s appointment Thursday, as well as that of Cindy Stern, who worked with the ministry of forests from 1996 to 2006.
“I always think rural communities need to be recognized,” Wallin said of the appointment. “I am not a forester, but I’ve worked a lot on resource and land-based issues in my career, and I also come from a rural community and I think those things are both advantageous.”
Originally from the Lower Mainland, Wallin has lived in Williams Lake off and on since the late 1980s.
“I worked at Gavin Lake Education Centre, that’s what actually brought me to the Cariboo. It was called something different then, but I managed Gavin Lake.”
Over the last 40 years Wallin has worked in the natural resource management field as an educator and a facilitator and as an executive with non-government organizations.
Since 1991, she has been a consultant specializing in multi-party facilitation on natural resource management issues, has served in senior leadership roles with the BC Forestry Association, Fraser Basin Council and as a volunteer to many boards, including the BC Rural Network, Canadian Council on Invasive Species and Sustainable Forest Initiative.
“I’m hoping I can make a difference by bringing that broad natural perspective to the board,” Wallin said.
The FPB is B.C.’s independent watchdog for sound forest and range practices that does investigations and makes recommendations to the public and government.
Read more: B.C.’s backroad bridges being built better, forest watchdog says
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