CONFERENCE PRESENTERS


David deWit, Manager
Natural Resources
Office of the Wet'suwet'en
Smithers

David de Wit is a Wet’suwet’en member of the Laksilyu Clan belonging to the House on top of flat rock. He is the Natural Resources Department Manager for the Office of the Wet’suwet’en, representing the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief’s vision for their territories, working as one for the betterment of all.

David studied Integrated Resource Management in British Columbia and completed a Biology Degree at the University of Calgary. His background involves wildlife habitat assessment, sensitive ecosystem preservation and wildlife corridor design.

The Natural Resources Department is currently developing an ecosystem-based management tool that will enable the First Nation to manage cultural and natural resources effectively with community, industry and government parties.

David is also actively involved in a number of local groups to facilitate interests of the Wet’suwet’en. Some of these groups include: Wetzin’kwa Community Forest Board of Directors, and the Northwest Community College School of Exploration and Mining Steering Committee.


Dr. Brent Hall, Professor and Dean of School of Surveying
University of Otago
Dunedin, New Zealand
brent.hall@otago.ac.nz

Professor and Dean of the National School of Surveying, University of Otago, New Zealand. Brent completed his Doctorate at McMaster University in 1980. He served as Professor of Planning and Associate Dean, Computing in the Faculty of Environment prior to moving to New Zealand in 2007 to take up his current post. His interests are in the field of geographic information systems with particular emphasis on decision support and latterly the collection and assessment of local spatial knowledge via the Internet.


Dr. Patrick Reed, National Human Dimensions Program Social Scientist
WO Ecosystem Management Coordination
USDA Forest Service

An authority on U.S. National Forest land planning and Interface communities.


Dr. Ray Chipeniuk, Adjunct Professor
School of Environmental Planning
UNBC, Prince George

Ray Chipeniuk has a Ph.D in Regional Planning and Resource Development.  Until 2006, he was an associate professor in the School of Environmental Planning, University of Northern British Columbia.  Now he is an adjunct professor in two programs at UNBC.  He has published roughly twenty-five peer-reviewed articles in international journals.  He lives and conducts planning research in the Bulkley Valley.

Tim Pringle, Director
Special Projects
Real Estate Foundation of British Columbia
Vancouver

Tim Pringle frequently works with local government, real estate industry, and non-profit practitioners and organizations to address challenges related to attainable housing in communities in BC’s non-metropolitan regions. His focus includes the land use context and options for design of the built environment that can support housing objectives.  Tim is very familiar with commitments of provincial government ministries that broadly relate to the “Green Cities” agenda, including specific initiatives such as “Living Water Smart,”  “Smart Planning for Communities,” and “BC Brownfield Renewal.”  Recently Tim has produced a working paper titled “What Drives large Scale Real Estate Development in the Mid-Vancouver Island Region” and presented it (November 2009) to planners, engineers and representatives of non-government agencies and the development sector in the Comox Valley.  Other recent research includes (jointly with Dr. Ray Chipeniuk, -retired- Adjunct Professor at UNBC) Mismatch, Residential Needs, Housing Supply and Community Development in Northern British Columbia West of the Rockies, published by the Real Estate Institute of BC (2009), and Housing in Northern British Columbia: Understanding Needs and Supply, with Kate Mancer, in preparation for publication by the Real Estate Foundation. Tim also is a member of the team that prepared the Seniors’ Housing Needs Assessment District of Invermere; the report was released on December 9.


Dr. Scott Lehmann, Professor Emeritus
Department of Philosophy
University of Connecticut

Scott Lehmann taught philosophy at the University of Connecticut from 1970, when he received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, until he retired in 2003. His philosophical interests range from environmental ethics to mathematical logic. He is the author of Privatizing Public Lands (Oxford, 1995).


Dr. Bruce Stadfeld, Ph.D.
Mandell Pinder
Barristers & Solicitors
Vancouver

Has worked on several landmark cases decided by the Supreme Court of Canada including Haida Nation. As an historian, he is a Fulbright Scholar with a specialization in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal relations and the development of hydroelectricity.


Kathie Wagar P.Ag
Service Centre Manager
Integrated Land Management Bureau
Prince George


Karen Heisler, Ph.D. Candidate
Department of Geography
Simon Fraser University

Policy adviser to the Government of British Columbia on regional development Conducting research on the role of territoriality in regional planning in interior British Columbia.

 

WORKSHOP CHAIRS

 

Kerry Pateman
Adjunct Professor
UNBC School of Environmental Planning

Daryl Hanson

Daryl has worked in the mineral industry for 39 years after graduating with a degree in Geological Engineering from U.B.C. in 1971.  He has mining experience in the private sector as well as the public sector. Daryl’s experience in planning Crown land use comes from five years on the first Bulkley Community Resource Board during the creation of the current Land and Resource Management Plan.

Anne Hetherington
Ecosystem Specialist
BC Ministry of Environment

Working with strategic land-use planning and land-development proposals, in both Crown Lands and private, for 22 years in the Bulkley Valley.  Interest is in seeing the vision of the strategic plans make it down to the ground.

Daniel Sturgeon
Student
UNBC School of Environmental Planning

Roy Neilson
Student
UNBC, School of Environmental Planning

David Belford
Natural Resources
Office of the Wet’suwet’en

Liz Osborn
Consultant
Current Results Nexus

Ryan van der Marel
Ministry of Environment
Parks and  Protected Areas

Rick Heinrichs
Ecosystem Biologist
BC Ministry of Environment

Seventeen years in habitat protection with the Ministry of Environment. Thirteen years with the Ministry of Forests operations. Currently a land use planner for the Ministry of Environment in the Nadina Forest District and also the Conservation Coordinator for BC Parks in the Skeena Region.

Jay Gilden
Coordinator
Bulkley Valley Stewardship Coalition

Vice-President, Bulkley Valley Backpackers Society. Avid hiker, skier, canoer and backcountry enthusiast.