Author: Heather Paterson

 

Ready for work?  We are SO excited to announce our spring and summer contracts based in Edson, Alberta!  We are now hiring for Vegetation Management positions including brushing and herbicide backpack spray crews.

REVIEWING APPLICATIONS FOR:

• • Supervisors with vegetation management experience
  • Brushing crews
  • Backpack spray crews

–PREFERENCE TO EXPERIENCED FORESTRY PERSONNEL–

Email admin@xylem.ca to apply

QUALIFICATIONS:

• • Available May – August
  • Previous vegetation management experience is an asset
  • Hard working attitude
  • Valid Standard First Aid (minimum)
  • Valid Herbicide Applicator certificate (will assist in obtaining training if needed)
  • Willingness to work outside
  • Ability to live communally with others in shared crew house if not local to Edson
  • Organized to mobilize for work on short notice
  • Previous experience driving trailers, utilizing GPS units, operating Argos/ATVs is an asset
  • Valid Class 5 Driver’s License and clean Driver’s Abstract

LOCATIONS:

Edson, Alberta

START DATES:

Mid May 2021 (approximate date)

Time is flying on by, and Xylem Silviculture is now entering our 14^th year of working in the Mountain Pine Beetle management sector. Come join our awesome team of well-seasoned MPB professionals and find out why last year 75% of our survey crew were return staff. Thank you to those that return to us year after year!

REVIEWING APPLICATIONS FOR:

• • Data Managers
  • MPB Surveyors and Quality Inspectors
  • Fall and Burn Subcontractors (email us for more information on requirements)

–PREFERENCE TO EXPERIENCED MPB PERSONNEL–

Email admin@xylem.ca to apply

QUALIFICATIONS:

• • Available December to March
  • Previous MPB experience
  • Hard working attitude
  • Valid Standard First Aid (minimum)
  • Valid falling ticket
  • Willingness to work outside during winter
  • Ability to live communally with others
  • Organized to mobilize for work on short notice

LOCATIONS:

To be determined – Various locations in Alberta.

START DATES:

Dec 10th, 2020 (approximate date)

We are designing our ‘dream team’ and are currently hiring a Nelson-based Office Assistant in a mainly work-from-home environment. (Training and partial office work in Blewett (outside of Nelson).

POSITION: OFFICE ASSISTANT

Opportunity Submission End Date: August 22, 2019

QUALIFICATIONS:

Education: post-secondary education desired, formal forestry education an asset

Work Experience: previous office administration experience or data management experience in forestry applications for a minimum of one year desired

WAGE:

$22/hr during initial 3-month contract position

$25/hr following initial 3-month contract review, if permanent position is awarded

HOURS:

8 hours per week April – October

24-40 hours per week November – March

Flexible schedule during April – September – can make own hours, more demanding workload during peak months of November – March.

Typically will work from a home office, some work and training at shared office space in Blewett.

QUALITIES OF CANDIDATE:

Meticulous

Organized

Works well independently

Good with numbers

Excellent communication skills

TECHNICAL SKILL ASSETS:

Knowledge of forestry surveying and/or data management for environmental planning or survey work

Experience with Adobe Acrobat Professional, Word, Excel

Experience in payroll, accounts receivables, invoicing

Experience with proposal writing

Possess strong technical writing skills

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILIITES:

Conduct clerical duties – email correspondence, filing, and document organization

Perform accounting tasks – including invoicing and budget tracking

Payroll

Human Resources – job postings, review of resumes and applications, email correspondence with new or potential employees or sub-contractors

Sub-contractor liaison

Proposal writing for potential forestry contracts

Data Management when company has fieldwork

Management of company’s internal safety program – attending training course, evaluation of current program, management of safety documentation, performing internal safety audits and writing audit reports (some travel involved)

Contract start-up tasks

APPLY:

Apply via email to info@xylem.ca with the Subject Line: Office Assistant Application by August 22, 2019

Please include a cover letter and resume with submission.

Start Dates for training: Second week of September 2019

There are exciting opportunities for the 2018/19 work season.  Get that job you’ve been searching for!

We are hiring for the upcoming Mountain Pine Beetle survey and control season in Alberta starting at the beginning of December.  Some of the ‘hot spots’ this year are Edson, Grande Prairie, Whitecourt & Rocky Mountain House.  We  are accepting resumes and online applications through this site.  Must be willing to be on the road and give er’ until the work is complete – some jobs could go until the end of March.

Positions available include:

• MPB Surveyors (must have previous experience and references)
• MPB Fall and Burn personnel (Fallers, Buckers, and Chuckers). All fallers must have valid tickets.
• Data Managers (must have Office Administration/Data Entry experience)

Apply Online

We are pretty into our new gig working with Parks Canada!

In September, we were excited to collaborate with Parks Canada and provide helicopter-assist tree planting crews to selectively plant the endangered whitebark pine tree.  We planted whitebark pine seedlings in Banff, Yoho, and Kootenay National Parks.

Flying in a helicopter over the Rockies to work on this project was breathtaking!

Here is some background on this special tree:

The whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) is a five-needled pine tree that grows in sub-alpine elevations and is an extremely important tree in our mountain ecosystems – mainly because it is a critical food source for so many animals and plays a huge role in watershed protection.  These unique needles are in fascicles (bundles) of five, which are different than the lodgepole pine tree (two needles per fascicle) and the ponderosa pine (three needles per fascicle).

Whitebark pines often mark the tree line in the mountains of western North America. They are found in the subalpine of the Sierra Nevada, the Cascade Range, the Pacific Coast Ranges, and the Rocky Mountains from Wyoming northwards and is the first tree to be listed on the Canadian federal government’s list of endangered trees in western Canada under the Species at Risk Act in 2012.

Never heard of the whitebark pine? Well, if you were a Clark’s Nutcracker – you would definitely know the whitebark pine.  The Clark’s nutcracker is the major seed disperser of the pine.  The whitebark pine is their most critical food source…and we planted the seedlings thinking like the nutcracker – often in clusters that mimic the seed caches that are created by the Clark’s nutcracker.  The trees often grow in clumps of 5-12 trees  in places forgotten by the critters once the snow melts.  The caches are also food sources for other birds, small mammals, and threatened grizzly bears.

Squirrels, mountain bluebirds, and northern flickers also survive on the nuts from the whitebark pine cones. (Now I know why the pine nuts in the bulk bin are so expensive!  I might switch to pumpkin seeds for my pesto and save those for the birds!) Check out the photo of us holding some of the nuts still in their shells.

The whitebark pine is an endangered species because of the destruction caused by white pine blister rust – a fungal disease introduced from Europe that has played a role in significantly reducing whitebark pine populations.

Seeds were harvested and then propagated from healthy whitebark pines that have shown genetic resistance to blister rust.  We planted seedlings from this stock. These trees will be surveyed over time to see if they too prove resistant to the disease.

Here’s hoping!  We’d like to go back to check on them.

click here to read about the project