Why professional forestry is a career requiring more than just a passion for the outdoors

There’s a clear difference between having a job to get by and working with purpose. Less than five minutes into our conversation with Dave Gill,  registered professional forester (RPF), the general manager of forestry at Westbank First Nation-owned natural resource company, Ntityix Resources, this hit home with us. Gill… has been working at Ntityix Resources for almost eight years now. “We manage Westbank First Nation’s two forest tenures: one’s a community forest, and one is what’s called a replaceable forest licence that we’re trying to roll into a First Nation woodlands licence.” Gill heads up an ambitious team of seven … professional foresters and foresters in training, including Syilx Nation members who contribute their Indigenous knowledge of the land and its cycles. He says every day brings a new challenge, an opportunity to learn something new, and also a broad responsibility, which is something he truly enjoys about his work.