Trainings

In Canada it is common that students take a job during summer break. At my internship placement for natural resources and forestry, there are around 20 other students that are starting their work here this summer. For my project with the ´forest growth and yield´ programme I form together with three other students the summer crew. We will go out into the field for measurements of different forest plots.

But first, most of us have to take some compulsory trainings. The most important one is the black bear safety training, since there will be many in the forest and not all encounters might be safe. After an afternoon of learning about bear behavior and examples of encounters we get to use bear spray on a stuffed black bear and have to learn how to react and spray as fast as possible. In the field everyone will get bear spray, a whistle and a knife. I hope that I won´t get to use any of them! Another fun training was the ATV (quad) training. Some forest sites will be very difficult to access and we might have to use quads to get to the different plots. Next week we will get our camping and other gear ready for our first 10 day fieldtrip near Red Lake!