British Columbia foresters are not exactly what you would consider American Idol-style celebrity material but, borrowing on the popularity of the vote-in show, their professional association wants the public to choose this province's all-time most influential forester. Between now and the last week of October, the Association of BC Forest Professionals is holding an e-mail voting contest to identify who, in British Columbia, has had the most influence on forestry.
And to help get the ball rolling, the association has nominated its own top five picks, from industry tycoon H.R. MacMillan to Czech resistance fighter and botanist Vladimir Krajina, whose pioneering work at the University of B.C. laid the foundation for ecosystem-based forest management.
The public opinion poll originated after a meeting at the association's Vancouver headquarters when talk turned to the question of who has had the most influence.
The top five chosen internally by a poll of the association members are:
- Vladimir Krajina, an honorary member of the association who died in 1993. A botanist and political activist, he fled his Czech homeland in 1947, arriving at the University of B.C. in 1949. He is remembered for mapping the province's biogeoclimatic regions.
- H.R. MacMillan, the province's first chief forester and a key driver behind the establishment of the forest service in B.C. He is remembered primarily as the industrialist who built the MacMillan Bloedel forest empire but he was also a philanthropist and had a progressive approach to forest management.
- Dr. Peter Pearse, the province's best-known forest economist who led the Pearse Royal Commission on forestry in the 1970s and more recently reported to the B.C. government on the crisis and opportunities within the coastal forest industry.
- Sopron School of Forestry, which fled Hungary in 1956 as a unit. The entire school, students and professors, escaped the crackdown that followed the Hungarian Revolution and re-established the school at UBC.
- William Young, the province's chief forester from 1978 to 1984. Young pioneered multiple-use of the province's Crown forests.
Amanda Brittain, communications director for the association, said the five nominees are not all foresters.
"We wanted to honor the people who came before us and we knew they wouldn't all be members. We wanted to see who had had a strong influence in forestry in B.C."
Anybody, including organizations could be nominated, she said.
The Sopron school was nominated because association members believed it deserved a nomination for bringing a new way of thinking about forestry to B.C.
Other nominees, such as Vladimir Krajina, "set the stage for what forestry is today," Brittain said.
"This is the public's chance to tell us whether they agree with the list or not, she said.
The association is asking those interested in voting, or in nominating their own most influential forestry leader, to e-mail the foresters at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
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