Before joining Ecotrust Canada’s Climate Innovation team, Michelle managed a northern climate solutions research program, and was a carbon specialist with a First Nations advocacy group. Michelle has worked with governments (First Nation, local, provincial, and federal) and non-profits to develop and communicate conservation policy, support land management and administrate tenure. Michelle spent a decade as a field technician, collecting data on ecological recovery after fire, surveying insects and pollinators, and locating and observing the behaviour of an endangered mammal.
Michelle has an MSc in forest disturbance ecology, loves primary forests and wildlife, and spends her personal time doing public education on the importance of naturally-disturbed forests. She grew up in central Alberta’s aspen parkland, among Surrey’s last old Douglas-firs, and now lives to experience the wet spruce forests of BC’s northern interior.