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REM students share journeys of discovery riding horses, finding turtles, and meeting interesting people
Like many students, Michaela Da Silva and Natasha Sing were figuring out what they wanted to do. They each set off on journeys to different parts of B.C. hoping to find interesting fieldwork. They both found so much more.
The School of Resource and Environmental Management (REM) continued its monthly Student Gathering as a casual event for students to get together and share stories linking their life, studies, work, and travels.
Michaela Da Silva and Natasha Sing, both fourth-year REM students, treated the audience to an evening of truly skilled storytelling about their individual experiences working in the field. The stories were about different jobs in different places, but there was a unifying theme – get out there and do stuff!
Da Silva started the gathering with a story about her summer exploring B.C.’s interior. She packed up and travelled from Vancouver to Williams Lake, down to Barriere, over to Cache Creek, and ended up at a magical place near Lone Butte.
“I knew that I wanted to work in that area, so I typed ‘wrangler jobs, Cariboo’ into an employment website and applied on the first posting that appeared – and I got the job!” Da Silva laughs.
“I worked on a guest ranch, slept in a canvas tent, and truly lived off the land. Over the next four summers, I worked my way up from wrangler, responsible for looking after the horses, to head guide, responsible for leading outdoor activities for guests from all over the world. I met amazing people, including corporate executives, surgeons, and journalists,” she says.
Photo: Michaela Da Silva
Many of the guests had never experienced such big, wild areas and Da Silva shared her passion for the land and her knowledge of wildlife, forests, and how humans use the landscape. Even after a huge wildfire impacted much of the ranch and burned the surrounding forest, Da Silva drew on her studies in REM to talk to clients about the forest ecology and how regeneration of the system would occur.
“I was having conversations about how global events affect local ecosystems and the communities that depend on them. The guests were smart, well-travelled people, but many of them were not well exposed to the effects of climate change and wildfires,” she says. “The many engaging interactions with amazing people reaffirmed my desire to continue work that helps people discover the social and ecological connections that I study in REM.”
Natasha Sing was next to share a story about her Co-op job in the East Kootenay region of B.C. The job was in the Creston Valley Wildlife Management Area working in environmental education with the Kootenay Columbia Discovery Centre.
Sing recalls, “On my first day, they said, ‘You should get out in the canoe and experience the wetlands.’ Next thing I know, I’m in this huge, 16-seater voyageur canoe with two new colleagues looking for turtles. The Western Painted Turtle is B.C.’s only native freshwater turtle and is an ‘at-risk’ species,” she says.
Photo: Natasha Sing
“One of my colleagues had done research on Painted Turtles and was an expert at catching them in wetlands. Turtles are surprisingly wary, and you have to be stealthy to get close enough to catch them. On a previous research project, this colleague would wear a wetsuit, cover his face in mud, and put wetland reeds in his hair. Then, he would sink into the water with his eyes just above the water level and slowly move towards the turtle. When he was close enough, he would slowly reach out, then grab the turtle.” Sing smiles, “But I didn’t have to do that on my first day.”
Sing’s studies in REM helped her manage the social and the ecological aspects of the job. Sometimes, she was leading groups on tours of the wetlands and surrounding areas. “It was great to watch peoples’ eyes light up when they see a new animal or learn a new fact about a plant,” she says.
Sing is thankful that she ventured across the province to take on a new adventure. “I was in a beautiful place and working on lots of interesting projects. To top it all off, I met some amazing people and had some great experiences,” she concluded.
Photo: Natasha Sing
Other times, Sing focussed on ecological projects. “We were encouraged to find projects that interested us and collect data to support conservation efforts,” Sing recalls. “I was captivated by those elusive Painted Turtles from that first day in the canoe. At first, I couldn’t spot anything, but as I learned more about turtle behaviour, I became pretty good at finding them.”
Sing used her skills to locate nesting turtles. The females leave the wetlands to find warm, gravel sites to dig nests. Unfortunately, these are the exact conditions along roads. “When we located a female digging a nest, we would monitor it until she left. Then, we would cover the nest with a cage to prevent the nest from being disturbed by predators. Although the nest cage wouldn’t stop the turtles from going onto the road, we were increasing their odds of survival.,” she says.
It was clear from the roar of applause after each speaker that everyone at the gathering appreciated learning about Sing’s and Da Silva’s personal journeys and discoveries.
Photo: Laurence Lee