Charles Friesen

Charles believes strongly in forestry guided by First Nations and local communities: “People living on the land care about stewardship.” He has worked to facilitate First Nations-led operational planning of industrial harvest, and worked alongside First Nations to move toward energy independence through the use of local biomass, while increasing community resilience to wildfire.

More than 30 years’ experience in forestry have seen a decade of research focusing on biomass and forest operations, including modelling biomass availability over large areas. His many published works cover a range of topics: best practices for hog pile management, avoiding sinking of western hemlock, machine productivity studies, and many biomass availability models.

Charles got his start in forestry by tree planting for years to put himself through a Masters in Theology, before adding a forestry degree at UBC, teaching statistics along the way. He then worked in industrial forestry for the better part of a decade in Mackenzie, BC doing layout, operations, and planning.

At Frontera he brings operational knowledge to community wildfire resilience planning. Outside of work he can frequently be found on his bike or the tennis court, geeking out over statistics, or reading voraciously.