Board of Directors
Dave Weaver / Vice-President
Dave has worked in field forestry for 37 years, for many BC organizations. He was a Registered Professional Forester (RPF) since 1981 and resigned from this association when he retired in 2016. He started his career right here on Vancouver Island, working for one of BC’s largest forest companies - MacMillian Bloedel - as a Field Forester for 11 years, but left realizing corporate forestry was not for him and moved with his family to Smithers BC. While in the northern interior for 14 years, he worked as a Forest Consultant performing pre and post logging assessments, but also worked part-time as a Forestry College Instructor, teaching applied ecology. He also held a joint Woodlot Licence in the Smothers area for 10 years, implementing low-impact forestry techniques. For the last 12 years of his career, he worked for the BC Ministry of Forests out of Victoria. During these final years he traveled all over BC, developing and leading innovative silviculture policies.
Currently in his retirement, Dave volunteers for non-profit organizations he believes will make a difference in coastal forest landscapes - WolfTree Rehabilitation, Strathcona Wilderness Institute and the Beaufort Watershed Stewards (BWS). He has completed and published three logged watersheds’ cumulative effects assessment reports with the BWS.
Thomas Heinrich / Secretary
Thomas Heinrich is an environmental designer and project manager working the deciduous forests of Southeastern Quebec. Holding a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Design from Concordia University (2021), he has worked in fields ranging from urbanism to social innovation, conservation and ecological restoration. Across these domains, he has focused on the cultural and economic shifts required for today’s societies to move gracefully into a historical moment of ecological turmoil. He is a strong believer in the active rehabilitation of protected lands, not only as a necessity to accompany them through these turbulent times but as an effective way to build a more profound relationship with them. Thomas is currently an environmental project manager for the Township of Stanstead, Qc.
Dr. Luise Hermanutz / Director, Research Advisor
Luise Hermanutz is a plant ecologist and conservation biologist. She was a Professor of Biology at Memorial University (St. John's, NL}, and continues her rare plant research as an Honorary Research Professor with funding from federal, provincial and private grants. She is the co-chair of the Limestone Barrens Species at Risk Recovery Team. She is currently a member of the Denman Conservancy Association Board of Directors, and is Chair, Board of Director of Intervale Associates Inc., https://intervale.ca. She has been a past member of the of Newfoundland and Labrador Wilderness & Ecological Reserves Advisory Council, the Scientific Advisory committee for Nature Conservancy of Canada NL, the Newfoundland and Labrador Species Status Advisory Council, and COSEWIC Vascular Plant Species Specialist Sub-committee. She resides on Denman Island and is interested in ecological conservation of forest landscapes and marine systems.
Tal Engel / President, Founder
Tal is a regenerative farmer and forest rehabilitation practitioner who lives in the Comox Valley, British Columbia, together with his family on their land, Honey Grove. There, supported by his family and a group of dedicated friends, interns and volunteers, Tal conducts his forest rehabilitation experiments, researches and studies ecology, and stewards an orchard of a thousand apple trees.
His days are spent striving to decipher the infinite complexities of forest ecology through a mix of a deeply intimate relationship with nature and extensive academic research, and in advancing the art and science of forest rehabilitation through the development of novel methodologies and approaches.